San Antonio doesn't get a long winter, but it gets real cold snaps — the kind where a genuinely hot, heavy bowl of ramen goes from "nice to have" to what you actually want. When that hits, here's how to lean into it at Bakudan.
Go for the Richer Broths
Garlic Tonkotsu is the heaviest bowl on the menu — a rich pork broth on a tonkotsu base, with pork chashu, fried garlic chips, and fried onion. Spicy Umami Miso adds chili oil and paste into a pork miso base for both heat and richness at once. Either is a better cold-weather order than something lighter like Cilantro Lime Chicken.
Add a Spice Bomb
If the broth alone isn't enough heat for how cold it is outside, Spice Bombs ($0.75 each) work on any bowl on the Ramen menu. Pairing one with Spicy Shoyu or Spicy Umami Miso stacks heat on top of an already-warm bowl, which is exactly the move on a genuinely cold day.
Starters That Fit the Mood
Katsu Bun and Chicken Karaage both lean into fried, warm comfort food rather than anything light — a reasonable pairing if you're ordering for a table that wants the whole meal to feel heavier during a cold snap.
It Doesn't Have to Be a Whole Season
San Antonio's cold snaps tend to be short, and that's part of the appeal — you don't have to commit to "winter eating" for months, just adjust your order for the handful of days it's actually cold. The rest of the menu is still there once it warms back up.