Downtown Brooklyn Is Losing Neighborhood Ramen Shop Ganso This Month

After nearly six years of serving steamy bowls of ramen in Downtown Brooklyn, Ganso Ramen is closing. Owner Harris Salat did not provide a concrete reason for the decision to close, but he says that the restaurant will be flipped into a new concept entirely later this summer.

It’s the final Ganso-branded restaurant to close in Salat’s mini-empire. The restaurateur closed the ramen shop’s sister restaurants Sushi Ganso and Ganso Yaki in 2016, shortly after Ganso Yaki hired Morimoto alum Rick Horiike as the new chef. That same year, opening ramen chef Tadashi Ono left.

The restaurant’s signature bowl was a soy-and-chicken-based broth ramen with Tokyo-style noodles, pork belly, and a pile of bitter greens. Most of its ramens were chicken broth-based, and in addition to bowls with Tokyo-style noodles, there were bowls with thicker Sapporo-style noodles, the menu pulling from different regions of Japan. Besides ramen, snacks like Japanese fried chicken and steamed buns were also on the menu.

It was one of the only ramen shops in Downtown Brooklyn and garnered a reputation as a casual, affordable dining option in the neighborhood since opening in 2012. For the past four years, it has been a Michelin Bib Gourmand, a designation given to restaurants where people can have two courses plus a glass of wine or dessert for $40 or less.

Salat is maintaining ownership of the space and plans to reopen a new restaurant at 25 Bond St. at Livingston Street. He did not provide details about what kind of restaurant it will be, but he says it won’t be another Japanese restaurant. Ganso will close at the end of May.