ROBIN EDWARDS
London

Thai Curry Tonkotsu

By now if you’ve read my blog long enough you’ll know my favourite ramen chain in London is Tonkotsu. This year they are celebrating their 10th anniversary of their founding. As part of the celebrations they have partnered with Anglo Thai chef John Chantarasak to offer a Thai Curry Tonkotsu. The dish, available at all Tonkotsu restaurants from the 8th to 30th of June, features their signature 18-hour pork broth enriched with lardo and a spicy northern Thai curry paste. It’s topped with thin-cut homemade noodles, braised pork belly, pickled mustard greens, spring onion, coriander, a lime wedge, seasoned egg and crispy fried noodles. I tried it yesterday and it was very good. Not too spicy, some really interesting flavours and the crispy noodles added a lovely texture contrast.

Bone Daddies

A New York inspired ramen shop, of all the London ramen restaurants this is probably the coolest/ trendiest. This is also not my first visit and like Tonkotsu this is now a chain of ramen shops all over London. Today to mix it up a bit I had the yuzu tonkotsu. A twist on the original by adding citrusy yuzu juice to the classic pork broth. It was interesting, but for me not as good as the original classic tonkotsu. Bone Daddies ramen is good, the meat and all the accompaniment are all great, but for me the broth is a little lacking and sadly just not quite as good as the broth at my favourite Tonkotsu. So given the choice I’d always choose them over Bone Daddies. However maybe if you’re going out for dinner with friends and wanted a bit more of a lively venue this is a good choice, and although not my favourite ramen spot it’s definitely up there. As well as Bone Daddies the restaurant group behind it also has the equally excellent Flesh and Buns of which I’m also a big fan.

London

Tonkotsu Soho

I absolutely adore ramen. It’s one of my favourite things in the world to eat. It’s so delicious and comforting, even thinking about it now I’m salivating. I get proper cravings for it. If you’ve got a cold or feeling a bit under the weather there’s honestly very little better than a hot steaming bowl of ramen. There’s now handily many great ramen restaurant in London to choose from, however my absolute favourite has to be Tonkotsu. I’ve tried loads of different places, but I always end up coming back here. They’re famous for their tonkotsu ramen that the restaurant is named after. They enrich their broth with extra lardo and it’s just the best. Invariably I almost always go for it, though their chicken ramen is also great. They’ve got several different branches across London now. The one in Selfridges Food Hall is particularly useful after a hard day’s shopping in the West End. I do wish they had non-mushroom gyoza on the menu there though as they have in their other branches. Also worth picking up while you’re in the restaurant is a jar of their delicious ‘Eat the bits’ chilli oil which is delicious to keep at home and used to add spice to just about anything.