Menya Hanabi – The Original Nagoya Mazesoba
Inventor of Japan's mazesoba dry noodle trend follows LA debut with first OC location
As legend has it, Japanese chain Menya Hanabi came up with the concept of mazesoba (pronounced mah-zay soh-bah, Japanese for “mixed noodles”) at some point after its 2008 founding in Nagoya, Japan. Seeking to distinguish itself from countless other ramen shops, it pivoted from ramen soup served with shio (salt) broth to a Taiwanese-inspired ramen with no broth, instead flavored with wet, spicy ground pork, a poached egg, green onions and chives. The concept caught fire in Japan, sparking multiple locations across Asia, then the U.S. with a 2019 launch in Arcadia, California. In 2024, Menya Hanabi opened its first Orange County location in Irvine.
There’s no doubt that Menya Hanabi was earlier globally to the mazesoba trend than LA-based competitor Mogu Mogu, which borrowed the concept and launched it in LA (2016), then Costa Mesa (2021), beating Menya Hanabi by three years each time. Mogu Mogu calls their version Mazemen (paralleling ra-men), but the noodles both chains use are substantially thicker than typical ramen noodles. Once the ramen broth and ramen noodles are gone, is it really “brothless ramen?” Are mazemen and mazesoba really so different from any other mixed noodles?
Kind of. Menya Hanabi serves an original version with spicy minced pork, green onions, chives, fish powder, seaweed, garlic, and a poached egg, a chashu version that adds chashu pork slices, and a deluxe version that adds seaweed and sauced eggs to the chashu. It also serves curry and curry cheese ones – you can guess the primary differences – a Tan Tan version with sesame sauce, a Kimista with diced pork belly, and two vegan versions, one plain and the other curry. There’s also a seasonal version, currently Mentaiko Cream with a creamy base, mochi noodles, roe, and seaweed. Menya has you order digitally through your phone, and you can specify spiciness (either yes or no, not degrees), as well as ingredients to leave out for any ramen.
Note that similar rice bowls are available, subbing out the noodles. There are also a few very basic salads and a bunch of appetizers, largely fried izakaya-style fare such as takoyaki, fried karaage chicken, fried tofu, and french fries.
At Mogu Mogu, you’re instructed to stir the ingredients aggressively for 30 seconds, then add vinegar halfway through, and use rice to sop up the remaining flavors. Menya Hanabi says to stir for 20 seconds, add special sweet vinegar and/or spicy chili powder as preferred, then use a free scoop of rice with the remaining sauce after finishing the noodles. We ordered the base version, which tastes better than Mogu Mogu’s standard “Tokyo,” plus the curry version, a wet but not soupy alternative to curry soba or udon. In each case, we enjoyed Menya’s bowls enough without modification that we never considered adding other ingredients, and never made it to the free rice.
We also sampled the super messy and equally tasty Hanabi chashu buns – Momofuku-like soft buns with pork belly cubes and spicy minced pork inside, mayo and onions on the top. Less exciting were two large and fairly plain potato croquettes, and Hanabi’s tender karaage fried chicken, which sat on top of an otherwise plain leafy green salad with a few cherry tomatoes and sesame dressing. Two drinks, matcha iced tea with passion fruit and yuzu, were each less exciting than they might have been, with bits of yuzu peel in the bottom of its cup.
Like Mogu Mogu, we’re glad we tried Menya Hanabi’s mazesoba once, but as suggested above, the concept of mixing noodles with spicy pork and onions doesn’t seem so novel once you separate it from the “brothless ramen” marketing – it’s certainly tasty and not terribly expensive, but then, there are tons of places (Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and otherwise) that have been mixing noodles, spicy pork, and onions together for years: Shin-Sen-Gumi’s fantastic curry udon is just one example. Our recommendation is to give Menya Hanabi a try for yourself, but set your expectations to “good;” you’ll be either satisfied or pleasantly surprised by the results.
Stats
Price: $$
Service: Table
Open Since: 2019 (LA), 2024 (OC)
Addresses
5408 Walnut Ave. #A
Irvine, CA 92604
949.418.7013
Instagram: @menyahanabiusa