Inside, the restaurant is casual, cozy and lively. It can be a date spot or a fun night with friends. If you're a solo diner, you'll love the semiprivate bar area. Most of the interior is wood and with the dim lights, dare we call it touch romantic?
The menu has plenty of variety, but not so much as to overwhelm. The large laminated menu starts with small dishes, then moves into traditional ramen bowls, rice dishes and, finally, drinks.
You can get out of your comfort zone right off the bat with small dishes like korokke (Japanese deep-fried mashed potato), takoyaki (fried octopus balls) or squid leg fry. If you want something on the familiar side, there's edamame, age (chicken and pork) gyoza and shrimp shumai (dumplings).
The same protocol goes for mains. Miso ramen, fried rice or the rice sandwich are staples. Otherwise, one bite of the chicken curry don, tan tan tsukemen ramen or karaage curry don will make you reconsider your regular order.
For drinks, choose from Coke products, carbonated and uncarbonated Japanese sodas, house sake and wine, draft beer and Japanese beers.
A fun option with dinner are the Ramune carbonated sodas. Opening one is half the fun of drinking it. If you haven't had one, you will be confused about how to open the bottle. Luckily, it's a universal experience and there is a how-to online.
We ordered a lychee Calpico soda ($4), karikara chicken ($9) and shrimp ramen ($15) with extra veggies ($1.50). The veggies aren't mandatory, but mentally it negates the amount of sugar and sodium in whatever else. Where do we even start with this chicken appetizer? It's deep-fried chicken breasts marinated in a sweet and spicy sauce and topped with green onion. We wished it came out before our ramen because once we tried it, it was impossible to stay away. We had to alternate bites to accommodate the new addiction. Chicken. Ramen. Chicken. Ramen.
The sauce is rich and more sweet than it is spicy. Although, we like a bit of heat in our food. If you don't, you'll probably be happy. Each bowl is made to order so it comes out piping hot, and despite being served in a pool of sauce, it remained crispy throughout our entire meal, which is saying something.
The shrimp ramen has a base of shrimp-flavored spicy tonkotsu broth and is topped with soft-shell shrimp, bamboo shoots, ajitama (egg) and green onions. Only two shrimp come in the bowl, so we recommend adding chashu (pork) or extra shrimp for more sustenance. Or you can add mixed veggies ($1.50), extra noodles ($1.50), ajitama ($1) or spicy ground pork ($1).
Shrimp ramen at Hanabi Ramen.
Aaren Prody
The restaurant sits in a small town center with other Asian restaurants, cafes, bakeries and shops. Kung Fu Tea or 85°C bakery are great spots for dessert afterward. You're never too full for boba tea. It's a universal law.
There's a lot of parking, but it's usually full. If you sneak to the back closest to Old Denton Road, there are usually a few spots to spare.
Hanabi Ramen, 2540 Old Denton Road, Carrollton. Sunday – Thursday, 11:30 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Friday – Saturday, 11:30 a.m. – 10 p.m.
