Waimea’s Noodle Club draws on a variety of palate-pleasing flavors

WAIMEA, Hawaii >> In these times of celebrity chefs who globe-trot as a matter of routine, it’s rare to find one of their ilk who just wants to stay quietly put.

But ever humble, ever laid-back Edwin Goto is that guy.

“I like to keep my world small,” he said.

Goto is chef and owner of the Noodle Club, a ramen shop he opened a year and a half ago at the Parker Ranch Center. It is situated at the far end of the strip mall from his other eatery, the acclaimed Village Burger, which opened in 2010. He says the close proximity makes it easy for him to keep tabs on both kitchens.

Better yet, “it’s a four-minute commute to work. I can take my daughter to school and pick her up. It’s convenient.”

Goto’s seemingly modest shop, set a door away from a supermarket, belies the outsize flavors coming from his kitchen.

Sure, there is standard saimin and wonton min. But that’s where the expected ends. Goto’s Bowl of Seoul, for instance, is a lively, spicy offering filled with braised short ribs, daikon, leeks, kim chee and kochukaru (Korean chili powder) that turns the stock fiery red. All Things Pork Ramen runs the gamut of pork, starting with a bacon tare (broth flavoring) and finishing with toppings of shoyu pork and chicharon.

The Big Pho King Bone is a bowl of rice noodles in stock topped with bean sprouts, sweet onions, cilantro, Thai basil and a generous piece of beef bone marrow that takes the dish from hearty to decadent. Vegans, meanwhile, will find a truly satisfying meal in the Garden “Ramen,” daikon “noodles,” konbu, pea tendrils and more served in a surprisingly umami-rich broth.

Goto stresses that his stocks aren’t traditionally Japanese. “I put together a lot of flavors, whatever tasted good to me,” he said. “This is not a Japanese soup. I wanted it to reflect Hawaii. It’s a hodgepodge of different things.”

He’s got the Hawaii part down with sourcing. Stocks are made from Hawaii island vegetables, pork and beef bones.

The process takes time.

“We’re schlepping pots of heavy bones that we fill with water and boil. Then we discard the water. This is to wash the bones. Then we start another pot and let it go for 1-1/2 or two days,” he said.

Starting out, he read up on stocks and watched a lot of YouTube videos, but there was “a huge learning curve.” Still, what he learned was fascinating.

“It’s amazing what Asians have to bend flavors — konbu, katsuobushi, shiitake,” he said. “I like the processing of flavors, how they change from two hours to three hours and the following day.

“Developing the soups is an ongoing process. We’re still shaping it; it constantly evolves.”

He also considered making his own noodles, but after attempts at home he realized that task would have added a level of craziness to his kitchen. Instead, his shop relies on Sun Noodle, which he said delivers a great product.

There are also cold- and cake-noodle offerings. Sides to all those noodles include pork and shrimp gyoza, Korean fried chicken wings, bao buns, teriyaki skewers and twice-cooked baby back ribs. Desserts of yuzu pudding cake and panna cotta round out the menu.

Goto is entrenched in food and a lifestyle far removed from the gourmet cuisine and high-powered work that consumed his attention for decades, on Lanai at Manele Bay and the Lodge at Koele, and later at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows.

When he tired of the hotel scene, he turned his attention toward a longtime passion, the hamburger, using Big Island beef. In 2010 he opened Village Burger, which captured attention beyond Hawaii’s shores.

Then, several years later, Goto realized there were no dedicated noodle shops on the island outside of Hilo.

“I thought, we need noodles in this town,” he said. “This appealed to me, and I thought it would be fun. Discovering new things — that’s what chefs like to do, or we get stagnant.”

Goto’s menu draws folks from far and wide. Lisa Taniguchi of Kealakekua says every visit she pays to Waimea includes a stop at the Noodle Club.

“The broths are basic but good. They don’t rely on anything being overly salty,” she said. “And I like the quality of the noodle. It’s a good, chewy noodle. My favorite is the pork ramen, and I love the gyoza — it’s crispy.”

Taniguchi said her husband, Brad Kimura, loves the place so much that he’s told her they should take the extended family there for dinner after an upcoming event in Waimea.

“There’s variety, something for everyone,” Kimura said. “There’s mellow stuff like wonton and saimin for guys like me who don’t like spicy, and more interesting stuff like the Korean-style bowl. My dad would probably try the exotic stuff, and my mom would go for the saimin.

“Not many places serve saimin on the Kona side. Some restaurants order S&S noodles or something like that. We’re starved for real saimin. This is the real deal.”