MANCHESTER has been slow to pick up on the ramen frenzy that has consumed London. Until recently our options for bowls of noodles in bone broth were limited to chain offerings that were pale shadows of the umami-rich real deal.
One authentic chain up from The Smoke changed all that. Maybe that stretch of Piccadilly Gardens it chose to open in wasn’t the coolest but Shoryu Ramen upped the ante. Created by Tak Tokumine, CEO of the Japan Centre in London’s Piccadilly, it didn’t cut corners, insisting on in-house long-simmered broth bases.
Now with the emergence of two NQ rivals, both created by Brit enthusiasts – Cocktail, Beer, Ramen + Bun and Tokyo Ramen – it has real competition. Donning bibs and loosening our belts, ToM has been measuring up the competition. The plan was to taste the same dish in each venue and compare, but it didn’t quite work out like that. Scores out of 10 after each ramen dish. Totals scores for each venue: 17.
Seafood ramen?
Shoryu make a mean Kimchi Seafood Tonkotsu (£14.50). It’s a fiery broth featuring the Korean fermented cabbage, prawns, scallops, squid, kikurage mushrooms, nori seaweed, spring onion, seasoned beansprouts, sesame, fried shallots and, of course, topped with a nitimago – hard-boiled egg, cooled, plunged into a sauce of tsuyu, cooking sake, soy sauce, mirin, pepper and ginger, then left for a couple of days. 8/10
It is fierce, but not quite as fierce as CBR+B’s generously crustacean-packed Soft Shell Crab Curry version. Cilantro, bonito oil, padrons, not quite authentic, but who cares? 9/10
Tonkotsu or not to tonkotsu?
CBR+B co-owners Ben Gretton and Tom De Santis are not hidebound by any sacred Japanese rule book. Which is a good thing when they guarantee their pork is free range from Cumbria – both bones for their collagen-rich broth and the double char siu pork belly and crackling that sits atop their signature Tonkotsu (£12). Xo sauce adds umami and there’s sesame oil and spring onions contributing their flavours. 8/10
Tokyo Ramen, a block away, base their ramen on chicken broth, also replenished freshly each day. Pork belly features in their mellow, well balanced Shoyu (£11.75). As the name suggests, there’s soy sauce (along with mirin) in the tare seasoning, so the perfect launchpad for torched but still moist belly, powerful mustard greens and a nori seaweed wafer. 9/10
Stock exchange – vegan ramen
Miso Ramen (£11.75) is the veggie option at Tokyo Ramen, a a delicious tangle of sharply pickled shiitake, crispy enoki mushrooms, brown butter and sweet potato in a broth of mushroom dashi with burnt onion miso. 8/10
But it is pipped perhaps by Shoryu’s creative White Natural (£11.90) featuring the chain’s unique tonyu soy milk, miso, konbu and shiitake broth, atsuage fried tofu, kikurage mushrooms, spring onion, memm bamboo shoots, nori. For a quid extra get it hotted up with spicy miso broccoli and garlic mayo. 9/10
Shoryu Ramen, 1 Piccadilly, Manchester M1 1RG.
Tokyo Ramen, 55 Church St, Manchester M4 1PD. Tue-Sun, 12pm-3pm, 5pm-10pm. No bookings.
Cocktail, Beer, Ramen + Bun, 101-103 Oldham Street, Manchester M4 1LW.