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San Antonio Jinya Ramen Bars flex new collab with brawny TikTok chef

JINYA executive chef Kazuya Takebe collaborated with QCP on the dish.
Gianluca Conte might rarely wear a shirt, but he seems to know how to button up business opportunities. The TikTok influencer, known to millions of his followers as QCP, has teamed up with JINYA Ramen Bar on its latest menu item, Ciao Ramen, a noodly fusion of Japanese and Italian cuisines.
The cross-cultural dish is now available at select JINYA restaurants, including the San Antonio outposts at 5311 N Loop 1604 W. and 7010 W Loop 1604 N. And, no, Ciao Ramen isn’t just a blob of spaghetti thrown into tonkotsu broth.
“At JINYA, we’ve always believed in pushing the boundaries of what ramen can be, and our 15th anniversary is the perfect moment to celebrate that spirit of innovation,” says JINYA founder and CEO Tomo Takahashi in a release. “Collaborating with Gianluca to create the Ciao Ramen allowed us to merge the comfort of Japanese ramen with the bold, vibrant flavors of Italy in a way that’s never been done before.”
Although arguably adored more for his biceps than his recipes, the brawny internet personality does have some culinary chops. He learned Italian cooking from his father, who owns a chain of Italian restaurants in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is also the author of Italian/American: It’s a QCP Cookbook, Betch!, a cookbook that combines bro-ey energy with instructions on how to make a decent caponata.
Ciao Ramen combines a tomato purée soup base with JINYA’s creamy chicken broth and can be festooned with sous vide chicken breast, spinach, dehydrated cherry tomatoes, chili oil, garlic, or basil oil. As a final flourish, appropriately attired servers will grate fresh Parmesan tableside. Showmanship!
Whether the dish will go as viral as Conte’s collabs with Paris Hilton and Will Smith remains to be seen, but those wishing to deepen their parasocial relationship with the social media star better act quickly. Ciao Ramen will only be on the menu for a few months.
