Opening in the up-and-coming EDGE District, Buya Ramen (pronounced boo-yah!) will provide an izakaya, or Japanese gastropub, atmosphere that focuses on much more than just a bowl of Japanese comfort food. In addition to ramen, owner/operator Michael Sponaugle says, “We will have the largest selection of Japanese whiskey in the Tampa Bay area, if not Florida. By the time we are done, we hope to have the largest selection on the east coast.”

Buya Ramen is a 104-seat eatery decorated with a modern industrial interior that includes 12 foot long community tables made from salvaged American elm, a 32 foot seamless concrete bar top, distressed concrete walls, and St. Pete’s iconic hexagonal floor. Perhaps the most eye-catching though is the mural work of local artist Michael Vahl. At the back of the restaurant is a charging longhorn bull with a Japanese fighting bantam rooster on it’s back and the Japanese sun in the background. “I’m originally from Texas and my partners grew up in the midwest as well. We thought what better representation than that of a longhorn bull. Merging the cultures with Japan, we have an audacious-looking Japanese bantam rooster on its back,” explains Michael Sponaugle.

The food menu at Buya Ramen will offer up various types of gyoza, kamameshi, and of course, ramen. There will be several different bowls of ramen available, each garnished with a different topping such as crispy duck, pork belly, braised oxtail, and mushroom. A creamy tonkotsu broth (pork-based) will be made in-house, as well as a vegetarian miso-based broth. Even the noodles will be made from scratch using a top-of-the-line ramen machine being shipped to St. Pete straight from Japan. The ramen machine, Michael tells me, is the only way to get a noodle that is dense enough. If made by hand, the noodles would soak up broth too quickly and get soggy. The price per bowl will vary, but most will fit in the $16 to $18 range.

As with the ramen, the gyoza, or Japanese dumplings, are also crafted with the help of a gyoza machine from Japan. Buya will grind their own meat and the machine will perfectly assemble the house-made dumplings. There will be an assortment of gyoza available filled with pork, chicken, seafood or vegetables. The third section of the menu is kamameshi, which is a traditional Japanese rice dish cooked in an iron pot with a variety of meats, seafood and vegetables. Additionally, there will be small plates available such as chargrilled bok choy, seaweed salad, and edamame.