Ramen shops are rare in Vermont, but the number is growing, thanks to a new restaurant in Manchester. Popular pop-up Neighborhood Noodle opened a permanent spot at 4776 Main Street on Tuesday, March 17.
Owners Emily and Ian Shore met working at a Japanese restaurant in the Lake Tahoe area a decade ago. The Shores hosted their first Neighborhood Noodle pop-up at the Crooked Ram in Manchester — where Emily, 35, remains the general manager behind the scenes — in January 2024. They built a strong following, selling more than 100 bowls of ramen at each event.
The couple and their young daughter were preparing for a trip to Japan last April when they learned that the former New Morning Natural Foods space was available. Emily had inquired about it a couple months earlier, she said. The week before their trip, Vermont Kitchen Supply owner Kerry Mackinnon, who owns the building, offered a lease.
“We said yes, then we went to Japan,” Emily said with a laugh. There, chef Ian, 38, took an intensive ramen course and staged at a Tokyo ramen shop.
Neighborhood Noodle blends the quick-service style common in Japanese ramen shops with the more social vibe found in drink-and-a-snack izakaya spots, Emily said. Shareable options such as hand-formed gyoza, poke and sunomono — a cucumber salad — will continue to expand.
The initial ramen selection, which can be made gluten-free, includes light shoyu ramen with chashu pork or tofu and vegetarian dashi; winter squash miso; and rich, creamy sesame tantanmen with ground pork or tofu. The shoyu will be a year-round staple, supplemented by seasonal offerings with local farm produce.
“The ramen changes from prefecture to prefecture in Japan, because they’re basing it off what is available in their area,” Emily said. “That definitely translates to Vermont.”
When the Shores returned to Emily’s Londonderry hometown during the pandemic, Ian took a construction job, and he put those skills to use building the 25-seat restaurant and open kitchen from scratch.
For lunch and dinner, Neighborhood Noodle offers takeout and counter-service dining with “a blended approach,” Emily said. Staff brings food to the table and will happily refill drinks. The bar menu features organic and biodynamic Japanese wines sourced by Vermont distributor Nippon Naturals, with additional Alpine-style wine by the glass. Sake, beer, nonalcoholic beer, hot tea and SavourÉ sodas are also available.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Neighborhood Noodle Opens in Manchester”
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