Photo by Christian Gooden (Post-Dispatch)
Hiro Asian Kitchen
This restaurant has closed
Hiro Asian Kitchen closed in May 2019. Owner Bernie Lee opened a new restaurant, Akar, at 7641 Wydown Boulevard in Clayton in June 2019. Hiro Asian Kitchen isn’t a ramen restaurant. A good, if imperfect, description of its menu would be pan-Asian, with an emphasis on the fare of chef-owner Bernie Lee’s native Malaysia. But this is Hiro’s fifth consecutive year in the STL 100, and again I return to ramen. Lee was ahead of the St. Louis ramen curve when he opened Hiro in Downtown West six years ago, and the shrimp-based seafood ramen remains my favorite dish here. In 2018, Lee introduced Hiro Poke Co., a weekday-only lunch counter at the Eatery in the One Metropolitan Square building (211 North Broadway), and here, too, ramen is the star: to be specific, tori paitan ramen, a chicken-based ramen with the creaminess of a pork broth.
Hours: Dinner Tuesday-Sunday, lunch Wednesday-Friday, brunch Saturday-Sunday
Last year's ranking: Rest of the Best
Opened: 2013