Ramen Kulture — Restaurant in Oxford

Ramen Kulture is a wonderful and delicious restaurant. Usually, I don’t really enjoy eating ramen, but I’m proud to say that my mind was blown eating this ramen and I loved it a ton.

We waited outside in line for about 30 minutes before we were seated, and when I went in I ordered the Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen, the Takoyaki Balls and the Edamame beans. Food arrived fresh and hot, and the takoyaki balls looked heavenly, dug right in and all the components fit so well together. The Edamame beans were seasoned nicely, and the main part of the meal, the Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen, was a complete showstopper. The broth had a really rich flavour to it, and the noodles were exceptional. The egg was cooked to perfection, and the additional veggies like corn and bean sprouts fitted so well with the ramen.

Service, again, was spectacular, with cheerful waiters who were super nice! Although the restaurant was pretty small, it was designed with a modern taste and fitted the overall vide.

A fun thing was that before the food arrived, I was reading “Doughnut Economics” which I had bought from a nearby bookstore, and I met an Oxford student who told me that her Professor wrote that book 😂 Needless to say I was really shocked yet grateful to be able to meet such people.

In summary, the food and atmosphere in Ramen Kulture really brought the feeling of Japan to life. The long wait is super worth it! A wonderful experience, one to look forward to for sure if you’re visiting...

We made a note to try this place seeing the long line of Asian students and hearing a few good reviews from people. Unfortunately, the experience left a (literal) bad taste in our mouths.

This experience was a couple of weeks ago, we shared some unmemorable starters and their signature tonkotsu ramen and the spicy kimchi tonkotsu ramen.

Though neither of us were familiar with this style of ramen, there were a couple of glaringly obvious points which ruined the bowl. Firstly, the tinned sweetcorn had not been rinsed, and imparted the whole bowl with a strong taste of tinned sweetcorn water. Secondly, the flavour of the actual broth was completely unpalatable. The unpleasantness of cheap pork and chicken bones was unmistakable. You can’t make a decent broth with cheap bones - especially pork and chicken.

The condiments were non functional. It would have taken eight minutes to shake a reasonable amount of chilli flakes from the shaker to slightly improve the meal. The (supposed) chilli oil was just a red oil. No immersed flakes etc. neither could improve the bowls unfortunately.

Service was fine. Can’t complain. Atmosphere was decent but slightly spoiled by the lady sitting next to us who was giving off a highly offended vibe in response to us critiquing the food. She must be one of the crowd of uncritical fans of this place.

Disappointed and would avoid at all costs. Hoping to find a local ramen place which respects the value of quality...

Visited for lunch and had the most terrible service. We were ignored waiting in line and all the way throughout there was not any sort of hospitality. Shortly after our starter arrived, our mains were given to the people sitting next to us in error. When they found out that error, it was simply passed on to us. I felt extremely uncomfortable eating meal that had strangers talking over it and inspecting it if it was theirs, they could have taken a bite and I would not have known. Instead of addressing their error, the server only moved their wrong bowls over to us and hastily gave us the spoons. I wish we could have had new bowls made for us instead as I could not enjoy my meal. Not only that, the servers were clearly more friendly to people on other tables, asking if they wanted any other condiments or telling them about the other branch Ramen Korner. My partner enjoyed the Chicken Karaage, it had a nice crispiness. I found my main Teriyaki Duck Ramen satisfactory but my partner had the Spicy Tonkontsu ramen which had weird flavourings akin to adding curry powder in the broth. It feels as if both our broths did were not developed as well.

I felt terrible I chose this place to celebrate a special occasion for lunch. I get that it was during a busy period, but service should still be at an acceptable level. I have visited before previously and it was not so bad but I won’t be coming again unfortunately as this has confirmed my opinions...