Everyday People — Restaurant in Nottingham

"Everyday People" tries to shamelessly pass itself off as some sort of cutesy western style modern cha chaan teng 茶餐廳. Frankly, the noodles here, which is supposedly the main highlight and selling point, is an insult to our culture. Here's why:

An Asian soup is traditional clear and light (清湯), but also full-bodied, this is especially important for soup noodles in order to compliment the ingredients of the meal. It may be hard to perfect, but a good broth will have the customer zealously down it to the last gulp after finishing the solids, cleansing the palate and leaving a refreshing and wholesome feel. Some would argue that this is a pinnacle to soup noodle, a sentiment that I do on occasion agree with. Clearly, having been weened off Heinz tomato soup, the Gwailos have no comprehension of this concept, what we're given is this murky substance that if you try even sipping, it would taste akin to gurgling salt water. An attempt to down this would make someone think you're using it to alleviate a throat infection, or you are trying to raise your blood pressure and give yourself a heart attack. Not sure where they learnt how to make broth, but I feel embarrassed for them.

The very common culinary mantra - "let your ingredients speak for themselves" - is cliché and overused, but easily rings true in this case. Ramen is a simple dish, it uses only a handful of ingredients, but is steeped in tradition. And the few ingredients involved should shine and compliment each other. For "Everyday People", none of these ingredients speak out in a good way: The noodles and vegetables: sub-par The meat: exaggerated slices, overly thick, chewy & inconsistent The soup: oversalted sewage

Greasy spoons (cha chaan teng) all over Asia are very popular and prevalent, a wonton soup noodle or beef brisket noodle can be only £3-4. The taste is what one would expect: flavourful, satisfying and filling. The service is famously brusque, but patrons are not there to make friends, the focus is the food, and the staff deliver. Which leads me to my next point.

For some absurd reason, "Everyday People" have the audacity to charge £15-20 a bowl, imagine inflating the price of a dish as simple as ramen (one of the most common and accessible foods in Asia), because the chef has been in competitions or the interiors look snazzy. I wouldn't have minded the pretentiousness, if in lieu of authenticity and pricing, the food they served was actually palatable and respectful. It is neither.

Any Chinese/Japanese who hold pride in their culinary traditions should steer clear of here if they value authenticity, same goes for everyone who understand this tradition and culture. Leave this place to the Gwailos who buy into this pretentious farce. But those who heed this review and don't want to follow the sheep, I recommend they choose somewhere else that doesn't appropriate our cuisine, lest they begin to think this is truly the norm, and that would be a very sad thought indeed.

Edit: Wow, just saw the cringey "come fight me in real life" response from the owner, how pathetic. I've started watching Masterchef to see what it's all about, and you're not even on the professionals format, let alone win the competition, just some wannabe amateur. Marked down to 1-star for the childish response. Maybe swallow your hubris every once in a while Mr Hewitt, you might learn something new, and develop as a person. Then I could possibly give your restaurant another chance, just don't go eyeballing every Asian that enters, that won't make a very...

The shop is quite small, very hipster. The only male waiter greeted us at the entrance and seated us. Then he proceeded to have a 5-10 minute casual conversation with another table. Without giving us menus first. We were so baffled, I've never received such oblivious and shoddy service before, it was just strange. None of the other waiting staff seemed to care/notice too.

Anyway I could get over it if the food was good. I was looking forward to this because of the great reviews. The starter I had was the croquetas. The quantity is rather small but I enjoyed it, I found the flavour profile to be rather elaborate. There were a lot of different textures and flavours that worked well together.

For a main I had the tonkotsu but I added chilli, smoked tofu and narutomaki. Unfortunately this massively disappointed me for the most part. There were some good things. I thought the quantity was ok. The chilli crunch was really good, there were like crunchy bits of caramelised onions or something in it. The half egg was cooked amazingly and had a great flavour to it. The marinated bamboo was interesting. However, I thought the star of the show, the broth, was lacking in flavour and seasoning, it was so unimpressive... The worst part was the smoked tofu. I added tofu because I wanted to see how it would taste when professionally cooked. It was hideous, both pieces tasted like jellied water, no exaggeration. It was utterly flavourless with an unappetising texture. The pork collar and belly wasn't bad, but also lacking in flavour (probably because of the broth), and they were super thin pieces. I thought for £16.50 they would be a bit thicker.

Overall, impressive starter, disappointing main though with some good quality parts and hideous service. Not...

Came here Saturday evening after hearing great things and was not disappointed! My bf and I are vegan and you could definitely tell the vegan dishes were not just some afterthought. We got two starters to share, the banchan, which was a this beautifully fresh and perfectly spiced Korean cucumber salad, and the mushroom tempura, which is honestly the best tempura dish I have ever had. The batter was so crisp and flavourful, and the miso sauce added such a wonderful umami undertone. There was only one vegan main, the aubergine parm ramen, so we both got that, but it wasn’t a problem because it was incredible. It was basically this Italian inspired ramen dish, which I wouldn’t necessarily be drawn to, but this fusion dish was executed perfectly. The tomato broth was rich and complimented the delicate aubergine and artichoke so well. I’m not usually a fan of aubergine, but in was so tender and had a deep umami flavour. The tokyo noodles had the perfect bite and went so well with the fresh basil oil. I love ramen dishes and this was truly one the most unique ramens I’ve ever had. The couple sitting beside us were not vegan, but ordered the same dish and were gushing over how much they enjoyed it. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any vegan friendly desserts available, which is a shame because their desserts sounded so unique. But I do know their menu changes quite frequently, so hopefully it is in their future! We thoroughly enjoyed our time here, service and all! Can’t wait to come back and will definitely be telling all our vegan and non vegan friends to check this...