Dong Sheng and Wendy Weng of Gu Gu Ramen
Simon Dong: We decided to have our grand opening on Friday, April 4th.
So the soft opening probably on Thursday and the grand opening on Friday.
Simon Dong: We’ve been doing ramens over 20 years.
Wow.
Simon Dong: And she is a professional. She’s doing…
Wendy Weng: We’ve been doing restaurants for a long timeand ramen we do a couple years already, like four or five years. We make it like a homemade noodle and make it homemade like a soup broth. We cook it a long time… 8 to 10 hours. Eggs come through the soup broth. That’s important for the long run. For the soup base. And the soup base and the noodle is more important for the ramen. Of course, it’s not only for the ramen. We have rice dishes and fried chicken too.
Anything is new here for Nebraska. Mostly, we’re doing great. But you know, the normal taste is a little strong. That’s normal because the soup base is a little strong but we’re trying it to see what the Nebraska people think about it.
I think people are very ready for new flavors, authentic flavors, all of those things. And I’ve seen so many of these types of flavor things starting to come, and hopefully they will do well and you will do incredibly well.
And the population base has gotten so much bigger.
Simon Dong: Yeah. That’s much, much bigger. That’s why we want to put the ramen in this area and for all the people around this area. They want to try all different foods. And that’s where we come from.
How did you two meet?
Wendy Weng: We were kind of business partners a long time ago.
And what did you do before?
Wendy Weng: Oh, we did traditional Chinese food.
I mean you personally. I know a little of Simon’s story.
Wendy Weng: Yeah, me too. I’ve known him for a long time.
Simon Dong: That’s why we come together. So we have a big group..
Wendy Weng: We’re part of a bigger group. Everybody has stuff.
Like specialties?
Wendy Weng: We’re trying to build a big management team. Each person can take care of some part so they can do it better… make it professional and make everything good.
So tell me about the decor. It is beautiful. Again, way past any expectation I had, and I had high expectations after your last place.
Golden dividers in front of wooden tables and chairs with red seats with beautiful ceiling ornamentation and lanterns (Continue to bottom of page for more images)
Simon Dong: We have a team in China, and they’re architects. They designed the concept for the ramen, and that’s where we come from. And we do all this stuff together, even the construction part and the drawing of the crane.
It’s amazing.
Simon Dong: Customers who come in are going to feel like they’re at home having a meal with their family.
Yes, I could feel that vibe when I came in, and yet it was still extra special.
Simon Dong: Oh, yeah, yeah. Nice and clean.
Wendy Weng: Yes, that’s important. Service, clean, make good food. That’s important for the restaurant to continue going, right? Yes, we are. You can see the style is really different.
Right. I don’t know how it can be traditional and modern, but it is.
Simon Dong: Yeah. Before we get into grand opening, we have all the employees stand by for training.
Wendy Weng: We need the training right now.
Simon Dong: Make sure everybody is on the same boat and gets the right taste and gets everybody laughing and enjoying all the ramen and the fried chicken too.
Tell me about the ramen a little bit more, and the fried chicken.
Simon Dong: We’re doing specials like a Korean fried chicken with a bubble tea. And the chicken with the beer; it tastes better. A lot of young people like it.
Wendy Weng: Yeah, fried chicken. There are many places that serve American traditional fried chicken. but we’re trying to bring in a little Asian style so we can see how it goes over. People can come here to try different flavors and try different tastes. We’ll have maybe eight different flavors so people can try different things.
New stuff is coming out too, for the ramen. I think a lot of people know ramen already. A lot of people know Chinese food, but they don’t know that Chinese food has a lot of different stuff. Different areas have different flavors, and ramen has different flavors too. Like tonkatsu, they can make it different flavors too. With tonkatsu, the soup base is very, very important, and it needs to be cooked for a long time. And the bowl and the heat is important, too.
So it is very good when you come in and try things. You don’t know if you like something until you try it, right? Sometimes it’s hard to say what flavor you like, or maybe you don’t like, because the flavor is different. It’s the same with noodles. We make homemade noodles with flour that’s all from Japan. It’s expensive because flour from Japan is very expensive.
Flour is extremely different in different countries.
Wendy Weng: Yes.
I’ve known many people that will get flour from the old country, whatever that might be. Because the family food does not taste the same with out the same flour.
Wendy Weng: Because the family food is coming out. Yes. Like with noodles: when you put some kind of noodles in a soup for five minutes or three minutes, the noodle gets soft and big, right? But we want to keep the noodles like strings.
Simon Dong: That’s why we get the flour from Japan even though it’s expensive.
What kind of flavors do you have for the ramen?
Wendy Weng: We have tonkatsu, we have miso, and then we have shoyu, and we have gluten free too. You know, a lot of people are trying to be gluten free here right now, right?
Wendy Weng: So in the specials now, we do have bubble tea here, house bubble tea. We make a signature milk tea and then we make a lemon tea, green tea, something like that, so people can try it. We were thinking about doing it for weekly specials, too. Every week we’ll have different stuff, so come in and give it a try.
So some special of the week is coming.
Wendy Weng: Yeah, yeah, that’s what we’re thinking now. But for first week maybe not, because we’re training.
Well, you have so much stuff.
Wendy Weng: Yes, yes, yes. I think a gluten free option is good because a lot of people worry right now about the wheat stuff. But we do have this item too.
And I see on the menu there you also have vegan.
Wendy Weng: Yes.
A lot of people are looking for that.
Wendy Weng: Yeah, we do have vegan items, too.
I’m assuming you’ve tried everything by now and perfected everything by now. Do you have some personal favorites?
Wendy Weng: Yeah, tonkatsu, that’s my favorite.
Simon Dong: I like it, too.
Wendy Weng: Tonkatsu a little strong, but it’s a flavor that people should try. It’s good. We have very good [pork] belly…
Simon Dong:We order it from a pork farm in Iowa.
Wendy Weng: We have homemade cooked belly too. The flavor is good. Okay.
Simon Dong: There’s so many different types of bellies. The one she explained to you we call black pork. Next down, black pork, but Top. It’s a different company. Same portion, but the feeding is different.
Oh.
Simon Dong: Okay. So the black pork we call kuro… Buddha kuro, like this color. The other one is more pink and white like you can buy from grocery store. Okay. That’s why it’s tough. Not sweet.
Yes. Okay.
Wendy Weng: We use Kurobuta belly. We want people to try some different kinds of meat.
I’ve tried pork belly a couple different ways recently, and it’s very good. And much better than I had as a child growing up, I’ll tell you.
Wendy Weng: People like different things.
And it’s good to explore, try new things, and have your favorites… new favorites.
Thank you.
Visit to see for yourself and try their delicious ramen or chicken!!
Gu Gu Ramen
9820 S 71st Plaza, Suite 101
Papillion, NE 68133
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And now a sneak peak at the beautiful decor!
For audio image descriptions, please call 402.932.7243.
