Inside the kitchen of Jared and Miki Ferrall, the owners of Crafty Ramen

Crafty Ramen may be a relatively new name in Toronto’s soup scene—they opened their first GTA location on Ossington in March 2023—but in Guelph, it’s the OG spot for a comforting bowl of rich broth and chewy noodles. Jared and Miki Ferrall, the husband-and-wife team behind it, have been introducing Wellington County to the unofficial national dish of Japan since 2017. Since adding e-commerce into the mix—selling frozen ramen kits—their slurpable empire has rapidly expanded. It now includes three brick-and-mortar locations and a ramen factory.

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Unlike a pack of three-minute Nissin, their success story has been simmering for nearly two decades. It all started in 2005, when the two met at a language exchange centre in Vancouver. (Miki was eager to improve her English; Jared was boning up on Japanese.) The couple quickly fell in love and moved to Japan, Miki’s homeland, where Jared worked in Michelin-starred kitchens despite his comically limited grasp of the language. After that, the two took gigs on a mega-yacht. A side perk was eating noodles around the world, including crab ramen in Cancun and truffle ramen in London, England. Their research culminated in a one-month tour of Japan, where they ate more than 50 bowls before enrolling together in the Yamato School of Ramen. Thus was Crafty Ramen born.

Since setting roots in Guelph, Jared and Miki have seen their sleepy meat-and-potatoes city embrace multiculturalism. “Guelph has always been an agricultural powerhouse, but it used to be hard to find Japanese ingredients here,” says Jared. “Now, you can find daikon and Chinese cabbage at places like Zehrs, and there’s even a grocery store called Ethnic Supermarket, which has dedicated aisles for Korean, Vietnamese, Mexican and Chinese products.” That being said, they always pop into Sanko when visiting Toronto—they say its selection of imported Japanese condiments is unparalleled.

Their fridge is stocked with heaps of condiments from local makers. Brands lining the shelves include Abokichi (miso-based sesame oil condiments), the Wooden Boat (Vietnamese sauces), Rootham (salad dressings), Acid League (broth concentrate), Muskoka Brand Gourmet (whose garlic sauce makes for an amazing white pizza base), Willow River (sauerkraut) and the Great Canadian Sauce Co. (which, according to Jared, makes the best mustard in the world).

Their go-to spots for groceries include Tomme for cheese and charcuterie board fixings, gourmet grocer Market Fresh (Miki especially loves their dips), and the Guelph Farmers’ Market. Jared has only one complaint about the market: “I wish they were open more days per week!”

Because Miki’s schedule is unpredictable (she often travels between stores), she’s not always home in time for supper, so Jared handles most of the home cooking. On a weeknight, he keeps things simple, typically making their six-year-old daughter, Hana, her favourites: mac and cheese or pasta with rosé sauce. On weekends, Miki and Hana sometimes ask for a full English breakfast (Jared is British and spent his formative years in Essex). For dinner, they’ll barbecue, or Miki will request one of her favourite dishes: mushroom risotto. When Miki does cook, she typically makes one-pot Japanese dishes like okonomiyaki, curry or nabe (hot pot).

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Jared’s recent food obsession is the esoteric mushrooms—chestnut, phoenix oyster, bear’s head—grown at Noki Farms, a local hydroponic grower of fungi and microgreens. Perennially inspired by Guelph’s bounty, Jared is now looking at potentially introducing a mushroom soup into Crafty Ramen’s lineup.

Below are a few of the soybean-derived condiments found in their fridge. Miki, who grew up in Iwate prefecture, prefers white miso, which is most common in her region of Japan. She likes its sweeter, more mellow flavour profile and typically finds red miso too pungent. Jared, however, likes to use red miso for glazes when cooking. Its flavour is more concentrated, so you don’t need as much paste to get that umami punch.

And here are just a few of their unopened jars of chili crisp. In this house, it’s a universal condiment—it goes on everything from grilled cheese to weeknight pasta.

This haul of packaged ramen is the result of a recent trip to California. Always on the pulse of instant soup trends, Jared has strong opinions—and he’s not buying the hype around “healthy” ramens. He says they’re mostly just marketing. “Healthy food comes from using natural ingredients, like real bone broth and natural toppings,” he says—not high-protein noodles made from unpronounceable ingredients. Of these packages, he’s most excited to crack open Tapatio’s birria ramen. He’s even contemplating adding a non-instant version of it to Crafty Ramen’s menu.

The nondescript hand-labelled containers in their freezer are broths, tares, misos and other Crafty Ramen ingredients. Occasionally they’ll do some recipe-testing at home.

Miki is a big tea drinker. She buys this hojicha online, and her mom sends sencha from a local shop in Fuji.

This house is avowedly pro-carb—don’t ask them to choose between pasta and rice. Here’s their workhorse rice maker and an onigiri mould Miki uses to make stuffed rice for Hana.

Jared’s knife collection includes both German and Japanese blades, and his favourites combine Western-style ergonomic handles with razor-sharp Japanese edges. He currently owns over a dozen quality knives, but there was a time when he didn’t have a single knife to his name: as a young chef, his only knife was stolen, and he couldn’t afford to replace it. Luckily, his mother-in-law came to the rescue, sending him one of her kitchen knives, which he still treasures. Eventually he bought himself a Misono knife—with his name engraved on the handle to make its ownership explicit.

Jared honed his skills in kitchens owned by culinary icons like Alain Ducasse, Gordon Ramsay, Luke Mangan and Seiji Yamamoto, so it’s no surprise that his bookshelf is a who’s who of top chefs. His go-to culinary bible is On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee, a deep dive into the science of food. He also makes a point of picking up any new books on ramen. Tim Anderson’s Ramen Forever is the most recent addition to the collection.

This impressive assortment of Japanese whiskey is all Jared’s doing—Miki prefers plum wine or cassis mixed with orange juice. Neither are big drinkers, so many of these bottles have been kicking around since before Hana was born.