The Ramen Shop on Riddiford Street is where a Wellington craving became an institution. It began in 2013 as a pop-up, started by people who wanted to eat ramen that didn't come out of a box or a packet and couldn't find any. After takeover nights at generous local venues like Golding's Free Dive and Rogue and Vagabond, they opened their first real shop in Newtown in 2014 — the flagship of what is now a small family of shops across the city.
The pitch is 'a ramen joint with a Kiwi twist': the principles of traditional Japanese ramen, altered with a bit of local ingenuity. Everything that can be made in-house is, because the team wants to know exactly what's in the food they're serving you. Affordability matters here too — high-quality food and drink at a reasonable price, without sacrificing quality.
The menu centres on tonkotsu and spicy ramen bowls alongside soft steamed buns, with dine-in, takeaway and delivery all on offer. Around 570 Google reviews rate the shop GOOD, praising fast service, clean-tasting broth and generous pork, and it has been featured in Top Reviews NZ's round-up of Wellington's best Japanese restaurants.
The Ramen Shop in Newtown didn't begin as a shop at all. It started in 2013 as a pop-up, born of a simple frustration: the people behind it wanted to eat ramen — real ramen — and nowhere in Wellington was making it from scratch. Everything available seemed to come out of a box or a packet. So instead of settling, they started cooking their own.
The early days were a roving tour of the city's venues. Bars and cafés handed over their kitchens one night at a time, and a following grew bowl by bowl. The team credits those hosts outright — Golding's Free Dive, Hasigo Zake, Rogue and Vagabond, Flight Coffee Hangar and Six Barrel Soda all get a public nod, because, as they put it, those businesses are the reason The Ramen Shop exists. In 2014 the pop-up finally became a real shop at 191 Riddiford Street, and Newtown has been home base ever since. A CBD store followed on Victoria Street in 2018, and there are now sister shops in Karori and Johnsonville — but Riddiford Street is where the story took root.
The shop calls itself "a ramen joint with a Kiwi twist", and the idea is simple: keep the principles of traditional Japanese ramen, then let a bit of Kiwi ingenuity loose on the results. That philosophy runs through the whole operation. Everything that can be made from scratch is made from scratch, because the team wants to know exactly what's in the food they're serving you. The payoff is broth that tastes clean rather than processed — a point more than one reviewer has picked up on.
Accessibility is the other half of the promise. The Ramen Shop is unusually upfront about affordability, saying it aims for high-quality food and drink at a reasonable price without sacrificing quality. The room matches that ethos: fun, unfussy and welcoming, equally suited to a fast solo bowl or a long, brothy catch-up with friends.
Four names do the heavy lifting. The Tonkotsu Ramen is the house classic, built on rich pork broth and generous with its pork topping; one Google reviewer called it "perfect for a cold day", which in Wellington is about the highest praise available. The Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen turns up the heat on that same foundation, and it's one of the bowls the shop itself leads with. The Spicy Chicken Ramen offers the chilli hit on a chicken-based broth instead. And then there are the Steamed Buns — soft and dangerously easy to keep ordering. "I ate far too many Bao buns," one happy customer confesses, "and everything. Food is amazing and feels cooked with so much love."
The numbers back up the affection: around 570 Google reviews rate the shop GOOD, with diners praising fast service, generous pork portions and clean-tasting broth. The Ramen Shop has also been featured in Top Reviews NZ's round-up of Wellington's best Japanese restaurants.
The Newtown shop serves dine-in, takeaway and delivery. You can order online for pickup or have bowls sent to your door through Easy Eats, which makes it an easy weeknight option when the trek to Riddiford Street isn't on the cards. General opening hours run 11:30am to 9:00pm, seven days a week, though the contact page also lists lunch (12:00pm–2:00pm) and dinner (5:30pm–8:30pm) service windows — worth a quick call to the shop on 04 389 2263 if your timing is tight.
However you time it, the pitch holds: proper ramen, made from scratch, priced fairly and served without fuss. Wellington wanted a ramen shop that didn't come out of a packet. This is the one it got.