KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 19 -- Ramen Takahashi, a new ramen spot that opened in Sunway Velocity two weeks ago, is the latest arrival in this year's steady wave of smaller Japanese restaurant brands landing in Malaysia.

The brand's speciality is yakiago ramen, built on a distinctive broth made with grilled flying fish (yakiago), pork bone and chicken stock.

Fish-based ramen broths are more typically made with niboshi, dried anchovies or sardines, but flying fish are a speciality of Sado Island in Niigata, where there is a long tradition of making dashi from yakiago.

In the spirit of this tradition, Niigata native Yuka Takahashi, founder of Ramen Takahashi, chose to build the broth around yakiago.

The group has nine locations in Tokyo, but th...