Ramen Musashi Opens Next to Neung Thai Kitchen in Ardsley
Ramen Musashi Opens Next to Neung Thai Kitchen in Ardsley
The two restaurants offer many options for great meals to dine in or take out
by Shana Liebman
Ardsley — Two excellent Asian restaurants have recently turned an unassuming Ardsley strip mall into a worthy dining destination: Neung Thai Kitchen and, opening July 5, Ramen Musashi.
Neung Thai Kitchen, a small family-owned and operated restaurant serving extraordinarily fresh Thai food, opened in late 2022. First-time restaurateur Chalermravee Yamsiriwong (a former teacher nicknamed Neung) is committed to high-quality ingredients and willing to travel for authentic spices and condiments.
The menu consists of Neung’s friends’ and family’s favorite Thai dishes, including the traditional massaman curry, pad thai, pad king, and pho. Each dish embodies Neung’s ideal combination of sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and spicy. The vegetables crunch, and the herbs are fragrant. Even the takeout arrives hot and tastes like it was crafted with care.
Now, Neung Thai Kitchen is getting a new neighbor. Ramen Musashi, a popular Japanese spot in Scarsdale, is opening its new Ardsley location next door.
Paul Luce, who co-owns Ramen Musashi along with head chef Hiro Teraki and Hitoshi Miyawaki, said he and his partners were looking to expand their business and knew many of their customers were coming from the Rivertowns. “So we just sort of thought about it and thought that we'd give it a go,” he said.
Scarsale’s Ramen Mushashi opened in 2016 in the back of the long-standing Fuji Mart. The new Ardsley spot will also have a miniature Fuji Mart with some of the original store’s best-selling items. “It's a small retail section of Japanese snacks and goodies and cute plushies and toys and things like that,” Luce said.
The menu will be the same as the Scarsdale restaurant. Ramen with tonkatsu (pork) broth or chicken broth comes in several flavors like shoyu and spicy miso. There’s also an excellent curry over rice; pork, chicken, or shrimp katsu; boneless fried chicken (karaage); cold dipping noodles, pork chashu don; and gyoza dumplings. Vegetarians and vegans will find options as well. “One thing that's slightly different is we're going to be adding Japanese shaved ice called kakigōri. It’s like a snow cone, but fluffier and more snow-like,” Luce said.
There is seating for 12-16 people, and Luce predicts a busy takeout/delivery business. (Fortunately, Ramen Musashi packages the noodles and broth separately to avoid the inherent pitfalls of traveling ramen.)
The new location has been in the works for a while, and Luce said that Neung and her team have been generous in paving the way. “They have been helping us and assisting us and asking if we need advice on anything,” he said. “They even invited me to their New Year's Eve party!”
In fact, Luce said he was inspired by Neung Thai Kitchen’s success and hopes to follow in their footsteps. Luce, whose Japanese mother encouraged his love for Japanese cooking, said that he actually “chose Ardsley because there is a very small Japanese presence there already…I’m interested to see just how the Asian community supports us,” he said.
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