Monday, January 20, 2020

Tonkotsu Ramen Bar 骨 (London, UNITED KINGDOM) ★★★☆☆

I thought having Japanese ramen in Paris last year was the lowest point of my foodie career and little nugget reminded me of that horrible experience tonight when he demanded having ramen this time in London. It felt like rubbing salt into my wounds. Out of all the great food we have in London, I can't believe he picks this time to have his Japanese soup noodles.



We were again patrolling in Soho and thank goodness, I knew exactly where to get him his ramen, at Tonkotsu Ramen Bar (骨). I like their slogan here - "If you don't make your own noodles, you're just a soup shop.". Sounds like they are pretty serious about their ramen.



Tonkotsu (£11.50) - Their original flavor. You can't go wrong with a namesake dish, right?

The pork broth was enriched with lardo and sea salt base so there's a bit of a mix between tonkotsu (pork bone based) and shoyu (salt based). I thought for a pork bone soup, it's more on the light side and it sure doesn't have the volume one normally sees from a tonkotsu soup.



The homemade thin-cut homemade noodles weren't bad though and they worked reasonably well with the roast pork belly, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, spring onions, burnt garlic oil and seasoned egg.



Tokyo (£11.00) - Chicken broth and soy sauce base. Classic homemade noodles topped with marinated braised pork belly, bamboo shoots, spring onions and seasoned egg. I thought the broth tasted a bit like lo shui (鹵水) and not surprisingly, no sign of the chicken broth at all.

If I have to pick just one bowl of ramen, I take Tonkotsu in a second.



Our ramen noodle experience in London didn't turn out as badly as I once feared. Yes, it's by no means a delicious experience but I was already very grateful that little nugget managed to find something so close to an authentic Japanese ramen.




Food Rating: 4.3/10
Price: £££
Address: 63 Dean Street, Soho, London, United Kingdom
Closest Tube Station: Leicester Square
Tel: +44 20 7437-0071
Website: www.tonkotsu.co.uk
Opening Hours: 11:30am - 10:30pm (Mon - Sat), 11:30am - 10:00pm (Sun)



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