Dubai’s Filipino-owned IchiRyu Ramen House is up for Best Asian dine-out at the Careem Awards 2026

Dubai’s IchiRyu Ramen House, founded by Filipino brothers Nicolai, Raul and Karl De Guzman, has been nominated in the Best Asian (Dine Out) category of the Careem Awards 2026, with public voting closing on 9 November.

Dubai’s IchiRyu Ramen House has been nominated in the Best Asian (Dine Out) category of the Careem Awards 2026, The Global Filipino Magazine (TGFM) reported on 4 November. The Filipino-owned restaurant is asking diners to vote before public voting closes on 9 November.

According to TGFM, the restaurant announced the nomination on its Facebook page on 4 November, telling patrons it was counting on their support “to help us bring home the win.”

How to vote

• Open the Careem app and go to the Food section.
• Select Careem Awards 2026, then choose Dine Out.
• Cast a vote for IchiRyu under the Best Asian category.
• Votes can also be submitted online at careem.me/awards, according to TGFM.

About the awards

TGFM said the Careem Awards started in 2025, were the first restaurant awards in the UAE to cover both delivery and dine-in, and are decided entirely by public vote through the app. Careem said the first edition had over 180 nominees and hundreds of thousands of customer votes, and that the winners were celebrated at a flagship event in Dubai.

In that first edition, Careem named Gazebo its Restaurant of the Year, while Din Tai Fung took Best Asian in the Dubai food delivery category.

The restaurant

IchiRyu was founded by Filipino brothers Raul “Chef Touru” De Guzman, Karl De Guzman and Nicolai “Nico” De Guzman. Expat Media reported in August that Chef Touru, the restaurant’s executive chef, has been making ramen since 1989, while Karl serves as president and chief operating officer and Nico as chairman and chief design officer.

The restaurant is known for introducing bocchi seki, the Japanese solo dining concept, to the UAE, with semi-private booths for individual diners. Its first Dubai branch is at Wasl Port Views in Jumeirah 1, and it later added a second branch at Marina First Building in Dubai Marina. Expat Media said the brand opened its first Japanese location in Chichibu, Saitama, in June 2026.

The nomination follows other recognition for the brand. IchiRyu was named Ramen House of the Year at the Entrepreneurial Elite Awards 2026 on 28 August at The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai International Financial Centre, where Expat Media said it was the only Filipino-owned group recognised. TGFM said it was also named Best Ramen Restaurant at the Arabian Best of the Best Awards 2024 and Best Ramen Restaurant UAE 2025 at the World Business Outlook Awards.

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