Nanban
Overview:
Nanban is an Asian restaurant located at 4407 Butler Street in Lawrenceville, a neighborhood of Pittsburgh. They describe themselves on Google as a "Straightforward BYOB stop serving fried chicken, empanadas & globally inspired sides". Originally this was two separate restaurants, Ki Ramen and Ki Pollo. However, with the two restaurants combined, you can now order chicken and ramen in one place. Nanban specializes in fried chicken so you can expect delicious chicken sandwiches, nuggets, and even chicken ramen. They offer many ramen dishes, empanadas, and bao buns if you want something different.
You can order Nanban for a sit-down, takeout, or delivery meal. Since Nanban is BYOB it can make eating there a little more fun. However, if you want delivery they only partner with DoorDash to bring you the food. They are open 12-9 Mon-Thurs and 12-10 Fri-Sat and are closed on Sunday.
The Food:
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| Shoyu (Soy Sauce) Ramen |
We decided to get takeout from Nanban and everything came packaged well in the bag. They separated all four ramen dishes with the noodles in one bowl and the broth in another. This kept the noodles from getting soggy because the broth was hot.
The first dish we got was the one I ate; I had the shoyu ramen which has a soy sauce broth. The dish had fried chicken nuggets, menma, scallions, and a soft-boiled egg. The menma are fermented bamboo shoots which are commonly put on ramen in Japan. I thought the dish was really good. There was a nice contrast between the crispy chicken, soft egg, and crunchy menma. One thing I noticed was the broth was a bit salty. Although, that is expected with a soy sauce broth. I did appreciate them separating the broth from the noodles. It made it feel like I was eating the dish right there in the restaurant.
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| Miso Ramen |
I only tried the rest of the ramen because they were ordered by the other people in my group. The first was the miso ramen. Nanban's miso base was very salty but tasty. It has a deep umami or savory flavor. It has beer-battered firm tofu, bean sprouts, kikurage mushrooms, and scallions.
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| Inferno Ramen |
We also had the inferno ramen. It comes with inferno tonkotsu broth, cabbage, caramelized ground pork, crispy shallots, chili oil, and lazi dust. Of all the soups we had, this one was the most spicy. The spicy pork reminded me of mabo tofu, a popular Chinese dish.
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| Shio Udon |
The shio udon has crispy pork cubes, kikurage mushrooms, miso butter corn, a nitamago egg, and scallions. Udon noodles are thicker than ramen noodles which makes for an interesting texture. The pork cubes reminded me of squares of bacon. This dish has a mild bone broth base which tastes like a mix of shoyu and miso. In Japanese, shio means salt. So the broth probably gets its salty taste from the chicken and fish bones they use to create the base.
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| Mayu Hot Chicken Bao |
I really liked the mayu hot chicken bao bun. This dish made for a perfect appetizer. They put crunchy chicken on a soft bao with bean sprouts and scallions. You can have one as an appetizer or two to three for a meal!
Service:
I decided to get takeout from Nanban so we did not get to experience sit-down service. Instead, we ordered on DoorDash and picked it up. I was excited to get Nanban through DoorDash because I found a 50% off up to $15 coupon. With what we ordered I was able to get the full $15 off and it made the bill a good bit cheaper.
When we got to the restaurant our food was already done. The lady working behind the counter was very friendly and got our order as soon as we stepped inside. They packaged our order very well with everything being placed in sealed plastic containers. I liked how they separated the broth from the noodles and toppings. This kept the noodles from getting soggy in the broth while we brought the food back.
Atmosphere:
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Nanban has very cool theming inside the store. When you first walk in, you immediately notice the Ki Pollo and Ki Ramen decals on the back wall. This is a tribute to the previous two restaurants that were combined to make Nanban.
The wall decorations were simple and the wall colors popped giving the place a warm and inviting feeling. I thought there were a decent number of tables inside for people to eat at. However, when they get really busy it has to be hard to find a seat inside.
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| Bierport |
After we picked up the food, we brought it over to Bierport to eat. It is just a block or two away from Nanban and here you can bring your own food and get beer as well. They have many beers on tap and a sweet basement room where you can hang out and drink. This made for a great dinner as we had great ramen dishes with cold beers.
Rating: Excellent |⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐|
Nanban is a fantastic Asian fusion restaurant that is definitely on my short list of best places to eat in Pittsburgh. All four of the ramen dishes we got were incredible. The shoyu ramen I got was delicious. I loved the fried chicken on my ramen so much that I went home and tried to make it myself with instant ramen! All the broths were clearly made from scratch and the toppings were high quality. I loved the mushrooms they put in the ramen it gave the dishes a rich umami flavor. To quite literally top everything off, the soft-boiled eggs, or "nitamago", were also great and cooked perfectly.
The service at Nanban was also fantastic. From the friendly staff who brought out the order, to the great way they packaged our meal, I was impressed. Inside the restaurant has a nice warm atmosphere with vibrant colors on the walls and decorations. I have to also give a small shoutout to Bierport as that is the place where we ended up eating. They allow you to bring in outside food as long as you get a drink there. The beer they have paired perfectly with the ramen we got! So if you are looking for a new ramen and fried chicken place in Pittsburgh, definitely give Nanban a try!
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