Akira Ramen has held a soft opening for its new Hyattsville restaurant.

Located at 5334 Baltimore Ave., in the new Canvas Apartments, the Japanese restaurant’s specialty is ramen with house-made noodles and rich pork, chicken or vegetable broth.

The ramen typically includes ingredients such as hard-boiled egg, fish cake, bamboo shoots and corn, while variations come with braised pork belly (Chashu), deep-fried chicken or shrimp tempura.

Akira serves two other noodle dishes: soba, a thin noodle, and udon, a thicker one, with different toppings, including sliced beef, chicken cutlets and salmon.

The restaurant calls itself an izakaya, a kind of Japanese bar that serves inexpensive small plates, similar to Spanish tapas, with a selection that includes fried tofu, spring rolls and edamame, or steamed soybeans.

Akira is a Japanese chain named one of the best ramen shops in the D.C. area by the Washington Post in consultation with staffers from the Japanese embassy.

It is open from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, until 10:30 on Fridays and Saturdays and noon to 10 p.m. on Sundays.

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