For the past 35 years, Sun Noodle has
been facilitating the ramen boom that
swept the US. These guys provide
noodles for hundreds of restaurants
across the US, Europe, and even in South
America. They built the factory first in
Hawaii, then in California, and later in
New Jersey, which when combined make
over 200,000 servings per day — that's
crazy! But in 1981 the company actually
started out probably making saimin, the
staple noodle of Hawaii. It's similar to ramen
but the noodles are made using a flour
that's higher in ash, and egg, that give
these noodles much more flavor and a
firmer texture. So the recipe dates back
to the plantation era in Hawaii: it's a
perfect example of the type of food that
can only come together out of the blend
of immigrant cultures that exist here on
the islands.
It's like a blend of Chinese, Japanese,
and Portuguese in a bowl.
Thank you for having me! "Welcome to Sun Noodle."
When we make wontons at home,
it's always the Sun Noodle brand. It's
very much a part of the Hawaii culture.
So how did Sun Noodle end up in Hawaii? "My
grandfather had a noodle factory in Japan.
My dad was 19,
he wanted to explore the road, he
came here with one machine — that one suitcase
story —
and started a little noodle
operation. He went door-to-door to each
restaurant that he could, couldn't speak
English, and so had to do it by showing
the noodles. That's how it all started.
In Hawaii we have Chinese,
Filipino, all kinds of cultures. This factory makes more
than just Japanese noodles. We make
chow mein, chow funn, wonton, gyoza skins.
It's very diverse here. He came here expecting
to sell more ramen noodles, but as we
know there's like a saimin shop at every
restaurant, so he learned how to make
saimin noodles by speaking to the local
chefs. I would say a majority of our products
that we make out of this factory is
saimin."
I grew up eating saimin my whole
life, and I still don't know what the
roots of saimin is. Is it Chinese? Is it Japanese? It is
Okinawan? "For a lot of people, the plantation is
where you had a mix of Japanese,
Chinese, Portuguese, Filipino people
living in the same house, and so I think
it's a blend of different people coming
together to create a bowl of soup noodle.
But the biggest difference is the
noodles. The saimin is a lot greyer, or
darker in color, and ramen is all more
yellow. For our saimin noodles we use a
flour that has a lot more ash content,
so much more flavor. That's why it's a
bit darker. So chef we're gonna try to
cut a wonton, 4 x 4." I'm ready!
Make like I'm gonna cut the whole thing.
Oh man already screwed this up. But this
is the only factory that does the
wontons? "Yeah.
Out of all 3 for us. These are only
very special, as the customer wants it.
All the parts that they're making here
today is for the local market. All the
saimin shops in Hawaii." I love that.
"They're still at that aspect of it all
being hand-cut." But the reason why we're a
little different from other
manufacturers is that we're very chef-driven.
We listen to what the chef is wanting
and we come back to the factory and try
to recreate a noodle that works for
them. And that's how we can do our
business here in Hawaii. But 2004 we
moved to California because a local
ramen shop from Hawaii wanted to open in
Southern California." So rad.
"That opportunity now has given us the chance to grow
on the mainland." Where's like the craziest place your
noodles have traveled? "For me growing up in
Hawaii, but seeing a Sun Noodle truck
delivering in Manhattan has been
pretty amazing." Rep that 808.
Selling noodles to all of these hipster
ramen shops in all of New York and all
of that.
How was it growing up with your dad and
all
that? "He's just the true entrepreneur and that
work ethic that you can see in a
factory, fixing and helping people, I
think is why a lot of people respect
him from here all the way to New York City."
What's the next 3-5 years? "We start to
export to Europe now in seven different
countries, ramen and you know just
noodles in general — it's very popular but
one thing I think for sure that my
father wants to do before he retires is get
saimin in the spotlight."
We're in the heart of Kelihi, where
Palace Saimin is one of the oldest
customers for Sun Noodles. Home for
70 years to locals where they come
and get a bowl of the most comforting
thing in the world. You only find saimin
here in Hawaii. It's a blending of so
many different cultures, but it's all
coming together just like the people
here in Hawaii, put into a bowl and in
the end it's something delicious. I grew
up eating saimin for breakfast, I didn't
know what cereal was. The noodles are
cooked perfectly, still crunchy, the
broth is light, it's clear, perfect amount
of salt parked in the background, simply
topped with chau siu and green onions.
That to me, that's heaven.
Saimin's one of the foods that when you
eat it, it doesn't go to your stomach,
somehow it finds its way to your eyelids
and it's sitting right here. You have a
pillow of saimin. I'll take saimin over ramen anyday.
Ramen's trendy. Saimin is life.