Here’s a First Look at Moshi Moshi Tacoma’s Noodle-Filled Menu | Eater Seattle

"I got a first look at Moshi Moshi's big debut in Tacoma (110 N Tacoma Ave.) and its opening menu, which focuses on Japanese dishes made entirely on-site — from ramen noodles in a vegan broth to miso, vinegar, and shoyu. Chef Aaron Grissom, a Tacoma native and self-described “ramen head,” is leading the kitchen for owners Buoy Ngov and Yu Nanakornphanom (Indo Street Eatery) and brings Los Angeles noodle-soup influences, including a vegan ramen broth made by soaking shiitake mushrooms, kombu, and wakama seaweed overnight, then blending that water with brown rice miso and black soybean miso aged for half a year each plus shio and shoyu koji (koji is the sweet inoculated rice grain that ferments miso and other Japanese products). At the moment the vegan ramen is the only bowl served with Moshi Moshi-made noodles while Grissom gathers equipment to ramp up on-site noodle production with a kitchen team that includes “ramen all-star” Adam Mickelson (formerly of Ramen Tatsu-ya). The rest of the menu is carnivore-approved — pork belly bao with kumquat, dashi-fried chicken karaage, a pork katsu sandwich with dried prune sauce, and four yakitori skewers (like pork meatball and chicken thigh) — and the restaurant’s signature broth is a milky pork bone–based tonkotsu influenced by Kyushu but rounded with true fermented skipjack tuna katsuobushi and kombu, finished with wood ear mushroom, tamago, and kakuni. Everything is meant to pair with Japanese alcohol like sake and shochu or creative cocktails such as the Paper Crane (Japanese whisky, Aperol, Cardamaro, and yuzu), and Grissom says he hopes spots like Indo Street Eatery and Moshi Moshi show Tacoma is trying to be progressive about food without being pretentious while remaining blue-collar and gritty." - Adam H. Callaghan