Hey there. My name is Payesone Myatmon, and I make my ramen dream come true at a small family owned shop named ZAO Stamina Ramen in Bethesda, MD.

I thought this would be a great opportunity to talk about myself and the shop.

My parents were immigrants from Burma, and we all lived in Tokyo for quite a long time. Since I was a baby, my dad had a career at this local ramen shop. And that’s where I had my first bowl of ramen, and I wanna say I was about 4 years old back then. Ever since then ramen has been my favorite thing in the world. I even got more addicted to ramen after I had a bowl from the ramen shop that was in my neighborhood when I was 7. They were loved by the locals, and soon became a famous ramen chain nation wide, eventually worldwide favorite. They now have multiple locations in the states, in big cities like New York and LA. Y’all probably know them too. I was so blessed to have their OG location in my neighborhood. If they didn’t exist, I wouldn't be crazy about ramen as I am today.

I had my first ramen in the US when I was in high school, and I got upset and mad how low the quality was. I didn’t want to believe that the bowl I was tasting was the definition of ramen in this country. Every time someone tells me, “I love ramen”, I always had a doubt in my mind and thought I wanted to be the person to change their impression towards ramen, because I knew they never had a real ramen before. In my opinion, ramen needs to be comforting, junky, somehow nostalgic, and more importantly, not in a powdered form.

After graduating high school, I started working at restaurants in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area.

After 5 years of gaining kitchen experience, I decided to go to The Culinary Institute of America in New York so that I can have at least some degree to live with, and I met a friend who changed my life there. 

He was a ramen nerd like me as well. He was an apprentice of numerous different ramen shops which included the famous ones. We instantly got along, and went out to the city eating bowls and bowls of ramen.  As we were walking towards our next destination, he asked me if I ever made my own ramen before. I was like yeah of course I have, I made bunch of ramens for customers before. Then he goes, “No. Not taking orders. Have you MADE your OWN ramen before?” 

This question blew my mind. I always have been talking loud and bragged about how much I love ramen, but I actually have never made my own ramen. I got little embarrassed too. On the way back home, his question kept on ringing in my head. “Have you made your own ramen before, own ramen, own ramen…”.

I started building my own recipes, so that I can bring the bowl of ramen I adore and missed from Tokyo. To replicate a bowl that changed my life so I can impress people who never had real ramen. It wasn’t easy at all. It took many years to develop what I have today, and developing never ends. That’s how my ramen creating started, and now I have a shop in Bethesda, MD.

I apologize for a long introduction, but finally moving onto my shop.

People ask me a lot, what does “ZAO Stamina Ramen” even mean?

In our name, the first kanji, “蔵” represents “a place traditions kept with care” and the second kanji, “王” represents “the best or the strongest of its type”.  

With the passed on recipes straight from Japan which my dad earned from his past career, giving some of them a twist with modern culinary techniques I learned through developing recipes, we specialize in comforting bowls of ramen by using homemade noodles, broths, tares, and toppings with ingredients sourced from local and Japan. 

Why Stamina Ramen? What even is Stamina Ramen?

“Stam·i·na -/ˈstamənə/” is a common word used in Japan to describe a dish with garlic-y and spicy notes. 

Dishes with “stamina” flavor are believed to give people extra “stamina”. 

There are various types of Stamina Ramen in Japan like Tenri-kei Stamina Ramen, and so much more.

Our signature Stamina Ramen came from a ramen shop in Tokyo that was owned by a Japanese chef from Zao, Yamagata prefecture. This is where my dad used to work at for 30 years. We kept their roots in our name as a respect. Without this bowl, my dad wouldn't be here, and if he wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be here. 

So “ZAO” has double meaning. It’s a cool play word my wife and I came up with, but also represents the roots of my dad which affects mine.

At ZAO, we take a lot of pride in our standing menu that meats everyone’s favorites and preferences. Through years of study and experiment, ZAO crafted a series of authentic, comforting bowls with our own style. Each type of chashu, eggs poached or marinated, noodles curly or straight, every ingredient impacts the bowl differently. We work to improve, to grow, and to appreciate ramen, all with the goal of making our customers happiest. 

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