Maneki Ramen Birmingham — Restaurant in Birmingham

I have been waiting to go to Maneki Ramen for a long time time after following them on Instagram for several years and let me tell you, it did not disappoint!

I walked into Maneki Ramen and was welcomed into a beautifully industrial designed restaurant that still held a comfy field with the benches to sit and share with friends. My five work colleagues and friends. Then sat down and had a look at the menu. All of which looks delicious so we decided to order one of every small plate and a bowl each. The small plates came out two by two, this was just a preference, though so we could enjoy and discuss each dish as it was being presented to us and all of these dishes were insane. However, I will say my favourite stand out with a vegan gyozas with scallion aoli, I am not vegan but you could not clock that they didn’t have any meat at all so juicy and flavourful! Other favourites of mine were the smashed cucumbers, pork belly bites and crispy tofu. You can tell how much effort has gone into making each dish and to get the individual flavours to shine through. put again, everything was so tasty, I could eat anything of that menu again and again!

Next our bowls came out. I went for a special that was on that day which was the Tonkotsu gyokai this was like the regular Tonkotsu, but cut with some Dashi stock to lighten the thick broth. The stock alone was incredible itself was so light filling! The toppings that came with this dish were the Char Sui pork belly that was so soft and flavourful it literally melted in my mouth. In the centre of the ball was a perfectly cooked piece of smoked mackerel that was probably one of the best pieces of mackerel I’ve ever eaten this smell alone, hits you as soon as the ball touches the table. It’s not fishy at all that smokiness just hits you right in the face. The other toppings were some juicy chicken dumplings, beansprouts, beautifully cut green scallions and of course a gooey Ramen egg with a square of nori sticking out the side of the ball. When I tell you, once I started it in this bowl I barely came up for breath. I mean, it only stopped to add some of the delicious house made chilli oil at the end as I drank down the last of the stock definitely worth the wait!

During our meal, we were recommended some beautiful natural wines we went for a red wine that was called young and sexy and was definitely a very sexy wine tasted amazing, and I’m not a massive fan of reds but this chilled red was delicious! We then also had a bottle of skin contact and a bottle of white again, all amazing.

The staff themselves are warm and welcoming and obviously care a lot about the food and experience they giving people. I only left yesterday, but I cannot wait to return honestly, the best meal I’ve had in quite some time. Thank you Pete and all the staff members you’ll definitely be seeing...

Visiting Maneki Ramen as Birmignham Jewellery Quarter residents, we arrived an hour early to request the restaurant bring out a birthday cake that we provided for the birthday girl as a surprise later on, to be told the restaurant would do so, but only at a £5 charge. Very odd, but after speaking with several members of staff (one who was completely shocked this was a policy) and finally a manager, it was eventually agreed that this would be dropped, but not without leaving a sour taste, before we’ve even sat down… My understanding is that this is a policy of the owner, and the on-site staff did their best to assist and their service was excellent outside of this, providing advice and recommendations.

For a starter we had the cucumber salad, which was very nice it felt very fresh with a nice spicy kick, and fried tofu which was okay.

As a main, I had the Sesame Miso Shoyu, with an egg. I asked for this to be spicy (which is an undisclosed surcharge of £1), but frankly i’ve had spicier meal deals… The sauce was very creamy and quite heavy, but lacked any real flavour other than cream, no miso/umami flavour was coming through, and the tofu in the ramen was sickly and not enjoyable. After about half of this dish, I had to call it quits and take the loss unfortunately.

My partner had the same dish, substituting the tofu for chicken, who agreed that this was not an enjoyable dish, and also left the majority. Both of us enjoy east asian cuisine as a base line, however left disappointed in this experience.

The tofu substitute was charged at an additional £2, which whilst expected was another charge that wasn’t disclosed at the point of ordering. Therefore a £13.50 dish, had £1.50 added for half an egg, £1 for spice (of which there was none), £2 for a meat substitute, and all quickly crept up to £18.

Overall, we’ve been SO excited for Maneki Ramen to open, but have had a disappointing and underwhelming experience, from what was advertised as “the UK’s best Japanese restaurant”, and we wont...

The restaurant was extremely loud, had to shout to talk to our friends, the restaurant wasn't full as there were empty tables surrounding us, we had to ask for cutlery, you shouldn't have to ask. The beer on tap was out, but they did give two 330ml Asahi for the same cost, they said in a reply it's been out for a while... then update the menu! The Gyoza is really expensive for how mediocre it was, worst Gyoza I've had in Birmingham. The Gyoza wrapped was too thick and stodgy, the darker side that should be crispy was soggy, all the gyoza were stuck together so as you separated them they ripped holes out of the other, then half the gyoza was empty as there wasn't much filling and what was there wasn't very nice, was dry, I can only assume it's been steamed for far too long, so the meat overcooked and that's why the wrappers were soggy.

The Ramen was nice though, the pork was soft, although it could be better, felt like when I do a high temp slow cook instead of a low and slow, the broth was decent. Staff were incredibly friendly though and when we did ask for things (such as cutlery) they were happy to accommodate.

Overall it was enjoyable but given the cost compared to other ramen in the area alone it's hard to justify. A service charge of 10% was added, sure they can be "removed" but asking makes you look like an arse, so of course you don't. And even then we were charged £10 more than on the bill (after service charge) like the server typed the wrong number in the card reader or added in a tip for herself on top, when we already paid the 10% extra! I won't be going back. Can get better at Ramen Don or Toppoki (even though it's Korean), or Pho in New Street or at Miss Vietnam. I'm actually shocked at how mediocre it was given the...