Kanada-Ya 金田家 — Restaurant in London

Much much work needed to be done for improvement.

I and my friend waited for 2hrs outside the restaurant and 55mins after we had made the order.

We knew it's the soft launch thus already prepared to wait for long, just not expected it would be nearly 3hrs.

Staff number was just far from enough compare with the number of seat in the restaurant. So the staff were just very busy but still not able to catch time with the orders.

The environment: Quite a lot of dust could be seen on the light fixtures. The number of light is just too few that the whole restaurant looks too dark, so dim that the light intensity may be lower than half of that in other restaurant, makes it looks so old/used for many years. The stoneware bar table just not consistent with the wood table, for a Japanese restaurant I would expect more of wooden design/decoration.

The music was also very weird. I could hear it's in Japanese, but just some middle-east-like style, and sometimes EDM, which just not fit the style of the restaurant. you can choose some J-pop, J-rock, or even just some softer instrumental/ambient music.

There's a QR code on the desk, but so strange that the code brings to a website which customers can only see the menu and pay the bill, but not for ordering food. You still have to order via the staff. And actually you have already got a physical menu on the desk, then what's the purpose of the website? just for paying the bill?

As for the food, it's generally okay. While we ordered 1 Tonkotsu original Ramen, and 1 X Ramen, we got both the original. We didn't ask for exchange as we couldn't bother to potentially wait for another 55mins. The one with toppings (added all), could not found/taste any Takana and seaweed, but too much ginger, and acceptable amount of sesame. The soap and the texture of the noodles was quite good, but not hot enough.

The staffs are nice and provided hot matcha while we were queueing.

Anyway the restaurant just need to improve in many aspects. Need more staffs, optimize the whole process from the moment when the customers get their seat until the final bill paying, clean the restaurant (afterall it's a Japanese restaurant in which they are so serious on hygiene and clean stuff), better lighting setting (increase the light intensity), and have better selection on the music.

May try once more sometime later. But with this price if not much improvement happen, it would be too hard to get the...

Plot twist: DEFINITELY NOT a good ramen bar in London unlike the reviews - if you think so, you’ve definitely not had authentic ramen before 😢 feel sorry to write my first 2-star review in London …

Felt like a fast-food restaurant to me with a crazy price. As a true Asian, I have been to all parts of Asia and had great authentic ramen. There have been other shops in London that are good too, but this is definitely not one ⚠️

Will break it down: we ordered 2 ramen; Tonkotsu X and Gekikara, and also a side dish Karaage (fried Chicken).

We witnessed the lady in the kitchen made our broth by a pack of soup base in a plastic bag. And then the noodles. “Just means it’s not homemade and fresh, doesn’t mean it’s not good.” - I originally thought.

Our ramen came within 2 minutes. In Japan, the most traditional method to enjoy ramen 🍜: 1️⃣ Drink the broth using the spoon and savour the flavour; 2️⃣ Slurp the noodles and dip it in a bit of the broth; 3️⃣ If it is good, the entire bowl including the soup will be finished and nothing is left.

BUT Kanada-ya soup broth was SO thick, obviously taken out from a packet. Noodles: are very thin, not the authentic type of ramen noodles I see, it’s the first time I saw this in a ramen shop, it was more like Chinese style noodles 😅 Egg(?!) usually comes on top included in the ramen, but here Kanada-ya you need to add a hefty 2 pounds to have an egg on top. Char-su was so thin, light could seep through.

The fried chicken Karaage was dry and the fried skin was hard.

The interior design of the shop was dark, and tables made of stone, understandably modern but it contradicted the original atmosphere of an authentic ramen shop (wood interiors with the cook serving at the bar table, the feeling of home).

The ladies who served were nice, but this proves even if the service is great but the food is terrible I won’t give the place a second chance 😅

Overall - expensive luxury-price served fast-food, and not the authentic ramen you expect.

(I had to go eat something else afterwards to fill...

I had a very unpleasant dining experience at Kanada-Ya. After eating the Gekikara Ramen for dinner, I became severely ill with stomachache and diarrhea at night. This is still affecting me, today is Christmas Eve. I still feel sick! The timing and presence of foreign matter raises concerns about the restaurant's food hygiene practices. Between Chasu pork slices, I found what appears to be blood clots, which probably weren't properly removed when preparing the meat. (3rd photo) Also, a ball of grinded spicy meat or tantan pork was included in the Ramen dish (1st photo), I disassembled it and mixed it with the soup. The ball of meat was very cold, tasted a bit funny. I am suspicious that this meat could also have been problematic. As a person of Asian background, I have eaten numerous bowls of ramen, in more than three countries, and am a big fan of spices and spicy food. So I think I normally do not have any problem with Ramen or spicy food.

Kara-age was too oily. Portion was outrageously small. The Kara-age piece was shorter than a man’s finger, and there were five of them. (2nd photo) yet they charge £6.95 plus 12.5% service charge. What’s worse is that I am pretty sure that the chicken was not properly drained of oil. It tasted nice but you could feel that the frying oil was excessive.

I have been to other Kanada-ya’s in central London, altho that was before Covid. Had good impression then, thus another visit to Ealing’s, but was very disappointed. I got so mad that I started writing this review after lost hours of sleep.

I was woken up 4am because of the pain, and wasn’t able to sleep afterwards because I had to keep running back and forth to the bathroom. Embarrassing, but for greater good I post this to let people know. I would advise caution and recommend the restaurant address these issues to ensure the safety of other diners.

Service and atmosphere was okay. I liked the lightings. But never...