LDNGuide

Where To Eat The Best Ramen In London

The 10 best bowls of ramen in London.
Where To Eat The Best Ramen In London image

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Ramen is the ultimate comfort food. A piping hot broth filled with soft noodles and other wholesome toppings—from ajitsuke tamago to enoki mushrooms—is our go-to when the weather drops below 10 degrees. From creamy peanut-based broths to beef birria numbers, these are the best bowls of ramen we’ve had in London. 


THE SPOTS

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Japanese

Dalston

$$$$Perfect For:Quick EatsCasual Weeknight DinnerDining Solo
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Formerly a popular pop-up, Supa Ya Ramen’s permanent Dalston location still serves their excellent cult takes on ramen. Never claiming to be anything other than ‘traditionally unauthentic’, Supa Ya is one of London’s most reliably flavourful ramen spots. Bits like buttered chilli corn and roast garlic chilli oil are delicious, unusual, and very welcome accoutrements. There’s plenty of attention given to vegetarian dishes as well, like a slow-roasted tomato mazesoba with burrata and fried garlic.

The world of competitive ramen cooking is one that, sadly, we’re not yet familiar with. You may be though, in which case it’s worth noting that Ramo’s oxtail kare kare is a former championship winner. What we can say is that a bowl from the Filipino spot in Kentish Town can make anyone feel invincible. The creamy, peanut-based broth is thick and luscious and, combined with soft oxtail and a fudgy orange egg, makes for something brown in colour but golden in flavour. Beyond the medal winner, the lamb tantanmen is a warming and cumin-laced creation that’s a real winter pick-me-up.

A bowl of Seto’s delicate miso ramen is a perfect, relaxing solo meal any night of the week. The low-key Japanese restaurant in Camden has a multitude of options on its menu, but it’s the noodle soups you should be paying the most attention to. The carefully made broth is a pork and chicken mixture, and you can get it topped with chewy chashu pork, moist chicken breast, as well as piles of bamboo shoots, spring onion, and gooey ni tamago egg. With both light broths and creamy tonkotsu options covered, Seto is one of north London’s realest ramen destinations.

A ramen specialist on Great Russell Street, Uzumaki is the perfect spot to head to with the anime fan in your life. The whole restaurant is themed, with a huge colourful mural, references to Naruto on the menu, and a gift shop at the front with figurines from popular shows. The ramen is great too. Huge bowls of piping hot, beefy gyuniku broth with egg ramen, topped with your choice of anything from enoki mushrooms and menmma bamboo, to chashu pork and wagyu beef slices. The spacious dining room has plenty of benches for groups, as well as sharing tables.

Kanada-Ya makes consistently excellent bowls of tonkotsu ramen. They've got spots around central and north London—with the Covent Garden one being our go-to—but there's still always a line outside any of their Japanese ramen shops (even in the cold), and it’s absolutely worth the wait. There’s not a whole lot for vegetarians, so don’t bring them with the hope that there’ll be plenty of veg stock or tofu options. Do go for a casual, no-reservations spot where the atmosphere is full of the sounds of conversation and people slurping noodles.

Shoryu makes a very good bowl of ramen for just over a tenner, and you can easily get a beer and share a couple of sides for less than 30 quid. The noodles at the Japanese ramen spot are tasty and servings are generous—it’s a big bowl of comfort that’s perfect for a solo dinner or a chilled-out dinner with friends. They’ll do you a solid plate of yakitori or sashimi if you want a bigger meal, and it’s usually easy to get a table as a walk-in at one of their locations across London, including in Soho, Kensington, and Liverpool Street.

Since opening their original Japanese restaurant in Soho, Bone Daddies has expanded all over the city, and their dense, meaty ramen is some of the best in town. We’d happily recommend any location, but the Kensington one is worth pointing out as a good spot for a shopping break or a great-value meal in a west London postcode that doesn’t have a tonne of casual options. The pork broth is a 20-hour job, so don’t expect a light, airy soup—this is a thick, hearty bowl of food. They also provide you with bibs and hair ties, in case there was any confusion about this being a dainty meal.

When it gets to thermals-under-pyjamas level of cold, the hearty birria ramen from Birria Tacos in Kensal Rise is the answer. The tacos at the Mexican restaurant are excellent, but the rich broth, soft ramen noodles, and tender, stringy, slow-cooked beef and lamb birria is the kind of comforting dish that will warm you from the inside out. It’s also notorious for leaving its mark on whatever you’re wearing, so we’d recommend assembling a makeshift bib with tissues before getting started. Head here the next time you feel a sore throat coming on.

You should know that cool and casual Hakata Ramen is walk-in only, and the queue is no joke. The good news is that the line moves quickly, there’s almost always room for solo diners at the bar, and any wait is entirely worth it for a big old bowl of love. Ramen, we mean ramen. The noodles are served ‘hard’ with a proper bite, and you can’t go wrong whether you get a bowl with a 12-hour pork broth or shiitake mushroom broth base. There are plenty of vegan options, gluten-free noodles, and they’ve got a bunch of cocktails for £9.50. The Japanese spot is one of the best restaurants in Bermondsey.

There will probably be a wait at walk-in only, Japanese restaurant Ippudo, but it’s worth it when a ramen craving hits. You can select the firmness of your noodles (we recommend firm) and the broth is consistently rich with a good depth of flavour. Our favourite bowl is the karaka-men. It comes with spicy miso paste, which adds a pleasing kick to the creamy tonkotsu broth, and is loaded with slices of fall-apart pork belly, mushrooms, and bean sprouts. Ippudo’s relatively spacious location near Covent Garden is especially helpful if you’re moving with a group.

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