Tonkotsu East — Restaurant in London

I used to walk past Tonkotsu in Soho every day on the way to and from work, watching the bubbling vats of broth in the window and people queueing to sup and slurp on the noodles from beautiful black bowls. I never made it there as Koya always steals the prize for best ramen in Central, but catching up with H meant we decided to give its East outpost in Haggerston a try.

Tucked under the railway arches, this is a busy little place. An open bar kitchen along one side is lined with bottles and bowls, steaming and spitting over the stoves, whilst the back of the restaurant makes a feature of their prized noodle machine. We were shown to a tiny table tucked away at the back and threw ourselves into ordering almost straight away.

Ramen was a given so we decided to share the Tokyo - pork and chicken stock with medium thick noodles, mirin and soy pork belly with the classic soft-boiled egg and menma (bamboo shoots). This came out last, thankfully, as we'd also decided to order some sides to tuck into first that meant we could catch up without splashing the broth all over ourselves (or myself, as it turned out). The noodles had a great firm bite and the pork belly was melt in the mouth good; the only gripe I'd have would be the broth itself. I eat a lot of Vietnamese pho which is packed full of flavours, herbs and spices and is a world ahead in terms of depth of flavour so I felt the broth here was a little lacking and underwhelming, but of course Japanese and Vietnamese cooking are very different from one another.

But broth aside, onto the rest: we chose the prawn gyoza first (which came out last) and loved the perfectly cooked dumplings that split open to reveal the really moreish filling that cried out for its soy accompaniment, then the crab korroke which is described as a Japanese version of a crab croquette (read: crabcake) with homemade tartar sauce. Nicely seasoned and with three huge balls, this was a perfect little serving. Next up, the yellow tail sashimi with jalapeno and yuzo ponzo sauce and I have to admit, this may be the best yellow tail I've had with the expertly thin slices and the bite from the accompanying pickled veg that added that little bit extra. Last up was the salt and sansho pepper squid (always one to order) with lightly fried proper squid (no shop bought rings here) in a tangy lemon batter that could have benefited from something to dip on the side but no great loss nevertheless.

Drinks were pints of kirin ichiban, naturally, and dessert was the creme brulee. Decidedly unJapanese but the note on the menu admits they're bored of green tea ice cream so I applaud them for not taking themselves too seriously at all and I do love a good creme brulee. Our waitress was really friendly and apologetic when explaining a bit of a kitchen backlog and the wait between dishes wasn't too onerous anyway so more than happy to concede to a popular kitchen. Would I be back? For the ramen, maybe not but for the sides, yes. Four...

Noodles are my absolute weakness, so when a friend arranged for a night out at Tonkotsu East, I was on board the ramen train.

We shared a round of appies around the table: chicken kara-age, prawn katsu, gyoza, fried squid.. most of the items were good, but the fried squid was fried poorly and forgettable.

Half the table ordered the Tonkotsu ramen, where the broth was nice, rich and fatty (just how I like it), though it did lack a bit of flavor. Le sigh, but I thought it could be remedied by their award winning chili oil sauce. Once again, disappointed! I do like chili, and granted I can't handle too much of it - but it seriously lacked salt and heat and I wondered, how on earth it could have won an award for it. Everyone was powering through the chili oil, hoping that the more we added, the more flavour the soup would have. But no, the soup was turning into more of an oily slick than anything. I probably should have stopped after 4 heaping spoonfuls. I normally don't leave my soup behind, but I had to this time. Aside from the soup, the noodles were nice and bouncy, topped off with lots of spring onion (my favorite), and a runny egg and 2 slices of pork belly.

I'm a sucker for all things fatty. Grant had a piece of pork left in his bowl, and I was shocked that he left it behind, and hopeful since I thought I was gonna snag it. But nope, he was really just saving the best for last. You leave a piece of pork fat behind, I will hop on it like a fat kid in a candy store. I feel really disgusting about it sometimes. But hey, you only live once!

A few others ordered the Tokyo ramen, I didn't try this, but it seemed everyone was happy with their choice.

If you live around this area, or have an easy way to get to Haggerston, then great - because I don't think there are too many ramen bars around this area. Otherwise, its a pain in the butt to get here. A trek from Angel took 50 minutes. I came from Chiswick Park (straight on the overground), which took me nearly 1 hour 15 minutes. It was ridiculous.

Anyway, I can't fault them on their location, so my rating is based on their food and service. Soup could use some improvement - if its a hassle to get out to Tonkotsu East, then just head to Soho /...

Cool location, enjoyable outdoor terrace, welcoming staff, draft Kirin. The noodles are OK, and are apparently homemade, which is great. On my first visit, I tried the Tonkotsu broth is a bit too rich to my taste, lacks finesse, and left me sweating all night... Tamago are OK, though I prefer them more marinated than the ones that were served to me. Tonkotsu Chashu was OK, nothing special though. Yesterday I tried the shoyu, and I was very disappointed, that's why ultimately I am writing this average review. The broth was lacking depth and had no umami. But what really shocked me was the unacceptable quality of the chashu. It really was something of a joke. Some chewy piece of low quality meat that I could not even cut in my mouth. I literally had to spit it out. I reported the issue, and was immediately offered the "Tonkotsu chashu" instead, which were the ones I had few days before. I do not really get the point to have 2 types of chashu, especially when one is clearly known to be of a very poor quality. I like ramen, and I will for sure go back to Tonkotsu, as I really hope the team will adjust their recipes and the quality of the...