We Pig Out at Harumama Noodles + Buns

Let’s say you’ve just had an adorable teddy bear latte at Jubilee Café in Carrollton but still haven’t sated your cute edible character fix … what to do, what to do? Calm down: We’ve got you covered. Just walk a couple of doors down to Harumama Noodles + Buns and dig into one of their delightfully whimsical character buns that include pigs, chickens (both hangry and otherwise), cows, bunnies, a public-domain “Willie Mouse” and even a unicorn. Oh, they have noodles, baos, poke and ramen as well.

Harumama Noodles + Buns is a family-owned Japanese/Korean fusion restaurant that originated in 2019 in La Jolla, California, and has since grown to seven locations, all in the Golden State until now. Enter Carrollton stage right.
We started off with some crunchy shrimp bao buns, which come two to an order: Tempura shrimp topped with a sweet and spicy unagi sauce, cabbage, onion chip, pickled cucumbers and yuzu aioli, all in perfectly steamed soft buns that created a great contrast in texture to the shrimp. Spam, pork belly or karaage are other protein choices.
The character buns come either savory (chicken, cow or pig) or sweet (bunny, Willie Mouse or unicorn), with a spicy (hangry chickie) also available for a $1 upcharge. Unfortunately, you can’t mix and match: they follow Noah’s Ark rules and come in matching pairs only.
We opted for the pig, which are stuffed with pulled pork and caramelized onion and arrived in their own little bamboo steamer, staring up at us innocently and exceedingly adorable. That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.

For those keeping score at home, the chicken has onion, mozzarella and chicken; the cow has ground barbecue beef, carrot and shiitake; the bunny has Nutella; Willie has cookies n’ cream; the unicorn has ube; and the Hangry Chickie has crunchy fried chicken with mozzarella and is served on a skillet. Return trips are obviously necessary.
For our mains we went with a couple of ramen bowls that hit the spot on this cool winter’s day: the crispy chickie ramen and the flying pig ramen. The chicken was prepared with a classic tonkatsu broth topped with a panko-breaded sliced chicken cutlet that was kept dry on a little shelf above the bowl that included Brussels sprouts, bamboo shoots, black garlic oil and half a soft-boiled egg. The chicken was expertly cooked and the Brussels sprouts were a wonderful addition to an above-average bowl of ramen.
The flying pig ramen was prepared in a shoyu sesame tonkatsu broth and topped with pork belly, fried garlic, sesame seeds, scallions, leeks and, thankfully, also had Brussels sprouts. The chashu was a bit thinner than the norm, but had a wonderful flavor and texture nonetheless.

Other ramen choices include Me So Hot (ground pork in a spicy peanut tonkatsu), Garden Party (a veggie-centric ramen with coconut broth, spinach noodles and tofu) and High Noon (spicy chicken tonkatsu with chicken chashu and shiitake).
Noodles are in the name, and there are four varieties: bulgogi beef udon, masala creamy udon, drunken noodles and yakisoba. Several sides are available as well, including kimchi, edamame, fried rice, karaage, Takoyaki (octopus), pot stickers and corn cheese (roasted corn, cheese, onion, mayo and fried garlic).

It is definitely a fun and tasty place, and remember, you can get that teddy bear latte a couple of doors down if you haven’t endured cuteness overload after devouring your spicy, hangry chickie bun or whatever. You know you want to.

1060 W. Frankford Road, Ste. 200, Carrollton. Sunday – Thursday, 11:30 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Friday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.