Five Minutes with Rina Miyata, Muku Ramen Bar

Who are you?

Rina Miyata, I’m the owner and the chef at Muku Ramen Bar at Scullin Shops.

Tell me about Muku Ramen Bar.

Muku mixes flavours from Hokkaido – an island in northern Japan – with Shojin cuisine which means temple food, basically plant based. We make as much as we can in-house including our noodles, dumplings and seasonings.

How did you get involved in hospitality?

I was a strange kid; normally kids love lollies or deep-fried foods but I loved very traditional foods like my grandma’s temple-style veggies, wild mushrooms, pickles and foraged foods. I’ve been cooking for my family and friends since I was four years old and have always been food obsessed.

In 2017, with the support of Patrick from Sly Fox, I started a market stall. Then I did some pop-ups and started working in a vegan bakery in Sydney and for Sweet Bones.

If you weren’t in hospitality, what would you be doing instead?

I’d like to be a food scientist. Because I am a vegan I want to make a nice vegan cheese: a very stretchy cheese. And also plant-based meats. I loved fish and seafood before I became a vegan seven years ago, so I’d like to make plant-based seafood.

What is your food philosophy?

I don’t like anything to be wasted. We use things like onion skins for our broth, and then we take all the scraps home and we make compost at our house.

When our customers have leftover soup we also offer them the short noodle offcuts to take home with them.

What is your favourite ingredient to use when cooking?

I love fermented foods, like miso paste. My food always has something fermented like chopped pickles, miso, kombucha, soy sauce …

What’s an underrated Canberra venue that you love?

Dumpling King in Garema Place. We go two or three times a month for a cheap and quick meal. We always order pan-fried eggplant dumplings and sizzling cauliflower hot pot with szechuan chilli. And I also love their salt and pepper tofu – they add a lot of spices and fried onion and garlic so it’s really crunchy and flavourful.

Who do you admire in the Canberra food scene?

Hannah and Vanessa from Cafe Stepping Stone. They’ve really achieved something amazing with their mission-driven cafes, and Emily and Russel who are our neighbours at Sweet Bones. They’re very generous with their time and knowledge; before we opened here we did a couple of pop-ups in their kitchen to raise money for our renovations.

I also really admire all of the lesser-known mums and grandmas working in a lot of Canberra’s restaurants. You see these women folding hundreds of dumplings, they’re amazing.

Where’s the best place for a coffee in Canberra?

Best coffee I like is Ensemble: it’s a coffee van in Charnwood. His coffee is so fragrant.

Who is your dream dinner party guest, and what would you make them?

It sounds silly but I want to invite Billie Eilish. I like all her stuff.

I used to cater for my friends’ family at Lunar New Year and I made an eight-course meal at their place, so I want to do a fine dining style Japanese and Chinese fusion yum cha style meal. That’s what I want to make for her; she’s a vegan too.

What is your current food obsession?

Ramen! I’m crazy about ramen. I’m always researching or watching videos about ramen, how to make different types and finding out which ones are popular.

Sometimes people say, ‘This ramen is not authentic’, but there are so many kinds: every shop in Japan is different.
For good ramen, chewy noodles are important and the flavour is very important. You also need a really good fat so when you drink the soup the flavour isn’t flat, you get a lot of depth to it.

I really like the ramen at White Chaco, it’s similar to mine with very strong flavours.

What’s the best thing you ate this week?

Delicious pastries from Ma Petite Patisserie. This time I had their mousse cake with passionfruit.

Where do you go to eat for special occasions?

I love fine dining restaurants. I used to love Aubergine, their vegan menu was incredibly good!

What’s a food that reminds you of your childhood?

My grandparents were farmers; they had rice fields and grew fresh vegetables and fruits. So I always ate a lot of fresh seasonal food. I also grow vegetables at home, and when I harvest and eat them fresh it reminds me of my childhood. I love the very long spiky cucumbers and sweet, flavourful tomatoes.

What’s a normal breakfast for you?

I love steamed rice with natto fermented soybeans, and nori sheets. Natto is very slimy and a bit stinky but it’s a very traditional Japanese breakfast.

Where are you travelling next?

We’re going to visit my family in Hokkaido next year in April. We might also do a pop-up restaurant in Takayama; we have a friend there who is a chef and we’ve been talking about collaborating with her.

Tell me something you love about living in Canberra?

I love Canberra’s people; they are very friendly and it’s such a good small community. People seem really happy; when I walk people are always smiling and saying hi, even to strangers.

What TV show are you watching right now?

I watch a lot of YouTube and Japanese anime. It sounds childish but there’s one where a cat is the owner of a ramen restaurant; I love cats and I love ramen so it’s the perfect anime for me!

An easy one to finish – what’s your go-to coffee order?

Strong, small oat latte.

Muku Ramen Bar is located at Scullin Shops, 5/9 Scullin Pl. Follow it on Instagram.