Ramen – my favourite noodles
Noodles is a staple in many Asian cultures and recently I engaged in a rather passionate debate with my brother about the best type of soup noodles.
Arguably, soup noodles are just as dependant on a good quality flavoursome soup base as the type of noodle itself.
I think the winner which successful blends these two ingredients is the Tonkotsu Ramen.
Soup Base – Consisting of a pork bone broth slow cooked over 12 hours which packs in a range of flavours. The slow cooking process releases all the flavour from the pork whilst the fat and collagen is emulsified over the intensive cooking period creating the cloudy/white look.
The Ramen – some restaurants make their own or they buy it from specialist Japanese suppliers. The tip is always look for ramen with quality ingredients as this will ultimately be the deciding factor between a good or bad ramen noodle. The ramen should never be over cooked so as to leave you with an ‘Al dente’ feel. It should be cooked in separate pan with bowling water. Another tip- if you’re making a few bowls, prepare the ramen for each bowl individually as this reduces the chances of over cooking.
The noodle coupled with the soup based gives a soul to this bowl of warm flavoursome goodness you are about to devour.
I recently tried ramen from a Bones Daddies, soho branch, which word on the street is the best Tonkotsu ramen in London.
I can reassure you that its reputation was left in tact. I ordered the traditional Tonkotsu ramen. I always order the most traditional dish when I try a new restaurant as i have found if a restaurant can’t do the basics right, it’s doubtful whether the rest of the menu is worth going back for.
Back to Bone Daddies, the pork bone broth was very flavoursome, a great blend of spices with the pork. The chef informed me the broth is slow cooked over 20 hours. The noodles were cooked to perfection.
The toppings for the Tonkotsu was as expected – egg with molten centre, bbq pork slices, spring onion. Having nailed the soup base and the noodles, you know the chef has executed it perfectly and all topping are then treated as more of a garnish.
I would highly recommend giving this place a try!
Enjoy!
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