Hi, I’m Nam.

I was born and raised in Berlin.

2020 is when Ramen became my passion. During lockdown, I started researching and making ramen. At first, I started to make Ramen Kits for everyone then I transitioned to making popups before taking a spot permanently at Markthalle Pfefferberg in 2023.

I’m passionate about creating Berlin Ramen - Ramen that is multi-cultural, and tasty above all else.

My First Steps

Lockdown turned me into a noodle maker.

I was finishing my degree in Food Technology when Lockdown hit. Many people became amateur bakers; I became a noodle maker.

I started researching all the components that go into a good ramen, and over 4 days I made everything from scratch: Noodles, soup, tare flavorings, toppings, all of it.

And it came out so much better than what I had in restaurants before.

Every ramen is a complex project; seeing all the elements come together so nicely is such a great feeling for me.

I shared my passion on my Instagram, where before lockdown I also posted food reviews.

Pop-up after Pop-up

The dream of owning my restaurant never occurred to me, until I started running pop-ups.

I invited my friends to collaborate on unique ramen bowls, taking inspiration from flavors from Thailand, Mexico, and other places round the world. The Berlin foodie scene loved it.

Pop-ups are challenging. I spend 40 - 50 hours preparing for each pop-up, just so the customers can have a bowl of ramen ready in 5 - 10 minutes. But seeing people enjoy my ramen makes it all worth it.

Then, Markthalle Pfefferberg invited me to open my first store. I was ready for the next chapter. Kuma means Bear in Japanese. The close relationship to El Oso, which means Bear in Spanish is the reason why I chose this name.