Earlier this year, Mexican restaurant Ixtapa Fine Mexican Cuisine closed its doors in Overland Park.
After that, the space was quiet for a few months. But now it’s alive again, trading Mexican dishes for bowls of ramen and rolls of sushi.
Those dishes are the main attraction for Quanbin Yang and Tommy Tang’s new restaurant, Kiwami Ramen & Sushi. The two friends and business partners opened their new restaurant in Overland Park on Monday.
Kiwami opened at 7305 W. 95th St.
- The restaurant occupies a space just off 95th Street and Metcalf Avenue, next to Lavada Wine Shop.
- Ixtapa previously occupied that for five years, before the restaurant closed in February.
- Kiwami is open from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for lunch and to 9:30 p.m. for dinner Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for lunch and 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. for dinner Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.
Kiwami serves “authentic” Japanese cuisine
At the heart of Kiwami’s menu is its ramen bowls — for which Yang and Tang said the broths are prepared through a 10-hour process multiple times a week.
“With ramen, the key is not about the noodles — it’s about the broth,” Tang said. “Once you make the broth right, the whole noodle bowl tastes different.”
The tonkatsu ramen with pork broth has already proven to be a popular menu item, Tang said. Other options include shoyu ramen (with a soy broth), spicy chicken ramen and miso veggie ramen.
Kiwami also serves a variety of sushi rolls, from more standard spicy tuna and California rolls to deep-fried specialty rolls.
On the menu, customers can also find items like fried rice, udon noodles, and appetizers like gyoza, fried oysters, chicken karaage and vegetable tempura.
The name of the restaurant comes from the Japanese word for “extreme” — which Tang said alludes to Kiwami’s ramen being “extremely delicious” or the best.
Tang said the restaurant’s menu has a focus on authentic and homemade Japanese cuisine.
“It’s all homemade — it’s not from a package,” he said. “We don’t use any powders or anything for our broths. We use fresh bones, and it takes hours to make.”
Kiwami may eventually expand
Though Kiwami is Yang’s first restaurant, he’s not new to the food-and-drink world. He has worked in restaurants for roughly the past 15 years, both internationally (in Japan) and more recently in Fort Worth, Texas.
Ultimately, the duo hopes that Overland Park is just the first chapter for Kiwami. They said they’d like to potentially expand it to other cities in Johnson County or the wider Kansas City area, though nothing is yet set in stone.
Kiwami serves as their first restaurant of their own, which Tang said comes with lots of new learning hurdles. But it’s a challenge that he said he and Yang are up for.
“Ramen and sushi are more and more popular here,” he said. “We’re getting a lot of reviews, and all of the customers are happy.”
Want more food and drink news? Newest Popeyes in JoCo now open in Overland Park
