Sake to Me: Try BeShock Ramen & Sake Bar in Gaslamp for Lunch

Find Your Perfect Pairing at BeShock Ramen & Sake Bar

Written By: Jessica Young BeShock Ramen & Sake Bar

Combat this month’s May Grey with a steaming bowl of ramen and a perfectly paired sip of sake. You can stay beach ready with BeShock Ramen & Sake Bar’s light, but filling food offerings, ranging from flavorful ramen, to sushi and even fried chicken called Koji Chicken Karaage. If you want to match your dining delight with the perfect beverage, there is a sake master on hand to help craft an all-around experience.

Regardless of when your ramen craving hits, BeShock has specials to help hamper your hunger. Lunch combos are served daily from 11:30 a.m. until 3 p.m., and include ramen with a sushi roll, chashu bowl or pork bun for only $14. Weeknight happy hours are from 3 until 6 p.m. and include $1 oysters and appetizer specials. Wednesdays are especially exciting because there are sake lessons from on-site Sake Master Ayaka during happy hour.

Diners can learn about the significance of sake, which is the national beverage of Japan. It is a rice wine, made with rice, koji, yeast and water. Koji is steamed rice that has had koji-kin, or koji mold spores, cultivated into it. This creates enzymes that break the starches in the rice into sugar, which allows for fermentation.

On the first of every month, BeShock is giving diners a chance to learn more about sake. These events will lead up to and culminate on Oct. 1, the official Day of Sake. “There have not been any sake related events that ever happened in San Diego for that day, and it’s time to make something happen,” BeShock owner, Ayaka Ito, said.

According to Ito, sake can be roughly categorized into three basic groups: aroma, smoothness and traditional. Depending on what a drinker desires, they can find a sake that will satisfy them.

The aroma selections are, “focused on floral or fruity aromas, similar to white wine. Japanese people call the smoother sakes ‘dry’ sake, with a good crisp and smooth finish. Traditional sakes are full body style of sake with earthy richer flavor. People who like full body style of red wine or big IPA drinkers tend to like traditional sakes,” Ito said.

BeShock offers flights that allow curious customers to explore different sakes. There’s one flight in particular aimed at helping tasters nail down their favorite flavor profile; The “Find Your Favorite” flight introduces tasters to one iconic sake from each category to help them match their tastes to BeShock’s offerings.

In addition to creating the perfect sake experience, BeShock has also focused on building a delicious dining experience as well. Their team spent two years focusing on ramen research in Japan, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego to create the perfect bowl.

“Surprisingly, many of us got sick from concentrated sodium, fat and artificial flavoring. We decided to create our broth recipe with pork bone, chicken bone and lots of vegetables to create lighter tonkotsu, that you can enjoy on a daily basis,” Ito said.

This approach, according to Ito, has been well received by locals and visiting Japanese customers alike. The mild flavors allow customers to appreciate the quality of the ramen without feeling heavy.

For the epitome of a perfect meal, Ito recommends starting with the sashimi platter, paired with the Nine Headed Dragon Sake. That should be followed by the Bagna Cauda and Tonkotsu Black Ramen. Next up, the Koji Karaage and Kague Blanc beer. Order up your ramen and pair it with Ichiro’s Malt, a malt and grain whiskey. Then, finish everything off with some mochi ice cream and Princess’s meal, a sweet sake.

“Our team welcomes you to experience our ramen that are equally beautiful as they are good for you,” Ito said.

BeShock Ramen & Sake Bar
1288 Market St
San Diego, CA
619.501.9612
Let’s Sake Things Up With BeShock Ramen & Sake Bar in Downtown San Diego

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