Tomo no Ramen — Restaurant in Bristol

Grab yourself a cup of tea, cos this is gunna be a good one

It was a cold winters evening, my partner and I had finalised a project, and decided to celebrate, we thought to buy noodles at lidl and make our own, but we had a draw to go out and celebrate the proper way!

We had always wanted to try Tomo no Ramen, but it was always busy on the days we felt spontaneous, and for good reason! We took our chances with a walk in, I don't know if it was a full moon or if Venus was in retrograde, but the stars where aligned that night and we got a seat just as soon as someone was leaving!! :')

The staff where so lovely and accommidating, we where sat down promptly, and the menu was explained to us with no hesitationan! The menu is on the dearer side, but for bloody good reason, it was possibly one of the best ramens ive ever eaten, if I ever want a cheap noodle dinner, I would have gone to chili daddies and served myself, but no, Tomo no ramen accommodate you to the fullest exstent.

Now, let's get into this!

We both ordered a vegetarian ramen, myself the black garlic, and my partner got the special. The black garlic was creamy, and mild, smokey and just 100% packed with flavour! The noodles where cooked to total perfection, and I know this sounds stupid, but the best egg ever. The special had the most amazing flavour, the minced mushroom was devine, and the minuet i put my lips to that broth, i let out an audible gasp, followed by a 'WOW', if u dont believe me, ask the waistress that walked into the act, or anyone within a 10m radious of my table.

We had a side of some cripy aubergine, and i seriously havent put something that good in my mouth before and ive put a lot in my mouth over the last 29 years. I srsly need to know, is it crispy, is it soft, does it melt in the mouth, was it sticky, sweet or savoury, it was EVERYTHING!! Please leave a comment below if u have anything on the case of the tasty aubergine.. I awaite ur responce!

Now, look at me going on like I have nothing else to do on a saturady morning, let me leave u with some advice, book in advance, and dont hold back! We left with a smile from ear to ear, and bellies so full we had to waddel home!

Thank u Tomo no Ramen, i owe u my life, and if not that, then i owe u something!

Till next...

Read so many great reviews we were looking forward to eating here. Despite having booked we were seated in the window at a "bar". The bar was too high for the seats and we did ask to be moved. This type of seating is OK for a quick coffee but not so good for a full meal. We were given a "normal" table but told it was booked out at 8.15 pm. No problem - we were finished in plenty of time. Ordering is done via an app. No menus, no help from waiting staff - you are on your own. It is always good when you go to a restaurant for the first time, to have some advice on how much to order, but no such luxury at this establishment. Personally I do not want to have the menu read to me from my husband's phone. I like to read from a menu you can hold in your hand. If this is a covid thing why is it so well entrenched and becoming the norm? Choosing should be part of the experience, not a chore. It appears from looking around the room, that individuals order on their own phones just for themselves - even couples were each studying their phones - no social interaction. Finally we made a decision and ordered. A pea shoot snack and a chicken starter - all OK but nothing to get excited about. The chicken had a nice catsu type sauce but there was only a drizzle along the plate. We chose two bowls of Ramen, the meat one was fine but the tofu dish was bland, the tofu which had received such praise for its taste, was, soggy and slimy and tasted of nothing at all. Having paid on the app, we finished the meal and left. A very expensive, average fast food outlet. Overall, very disappointing. Hard to find a positive element to...

I came here on the final day of the pop up (it closed and I was sadly quite disappointed. I had heard great things about Tomo No Ramen so was excited to good, especially as I’ve followed Matsudai for a while.

We got the chicken karaage, which was delicious and very juicy. We both then got a bowl of ramen - mine promised smoked mushroom and lots of deep flavour, but it was actually incredibly bland. Likewise, my partner ordered a spicy ramen and again just bland. We weren’t getting any of the punchy flavours described on the menu, and instead it just tasted like bland, generic ramen with weak broth. We had the chocolate and whisky tart for dessert which was delicious, albeit overpriced for such a small serving.

All in all, the starters and desserts are all amazing. However, we were really disappointed with the ramen and almost asked for it to be removed from our bill (decided against this as it is a small business in difficult COVID times). I don’t know if we went on a bad day, or if, being people who eat a LOT of ramen in authentic Japanese restaurants, and make a lot of ramen from scratch, we maybe have higher standards than most people to whole good ramen is a novelty? I REALLY wanted to love Tomo No Ramen but we were both upset to have spent £15+ per bowl of ramen that we didn’t even want to finish.

It may be worth noting that it’s a very small venue with tables very close together (some guests sharing benches). I understand this is for the communal Japanese ramen bar vibe, but I personally prefer a bit more privacy and it was a bit uncomfortable to be so compact with people during a COVID pandemic peak, so keep...