今、ロンドンではラーメンがトレンディ、中でも豚骨ラーメンが人気のようだ。以前書いたTonkotsuに続き、最近オープンした2店・Shoryu（昇龍）とBone Daddiesはメディアから高い評価を得、また回転寿司チェーン・Yo! Sushi（ヨー！スシ）でもラーメンがメニューに加わった。寿司屋がラーメンとは何事かとは思うが、まあそこはイギリス。で、昇龍とBone Daddiesの2店で2回ずつラーメンを食べてみた。今日は昇龍、明日はBone Daddiesについて、私なりの感想を書きます。
11月24日にピカデリー・サーカスの少し南にオープンした博多ラーメンの店・昇龍は、向かいにある日本食スーパー・Japan Centre（通称ジャパセン）の系列。むき出しのレンガ壁やユニークな形のランプシェードなど、従来のラーメン屋のイメージを覆すモダンな内装で、店のロゴもなかなか洒落ている。正式開店の前にしばらく半額セールをやっていたので、FacebookなどのSNSや口コミで、かなり美味しいらしいとオープン前から在英日本人の間ではかなり話題になっていた。
メニューには、通常の博多風とんこつだけでなく、味噌を加えた昇龍とんこつや、わさび、高菜、ゆず胡椒を加えたもの、またPiri Piriとんこつというかなり辛い一品と色々なレパートリーがあり、東京風醤油や札幌味噌ラーメン、また餃子や枝豆等のサイドディッシュもある。博多出身のシェフが作る豚骨ラーメンは、ちょっともやしが多すぎるのがもやし嫌いの私には難点だけれど、スープは旨味があり、見た目よりさっぱりしていて、お腹にもたれず美味しい。ただPiri Piriは私には辛過ぎて、お水をいくら飲んでも口の中から辛さが取れず、汗だくになってしまったので、辛いものが苦手な方はご注意を。
たまたまシェフが誰かと話しているのを盗み聞きしてしまったのだが、彼はラーメン作りにかなりこだわりがあるらしく、麺は最初に使っていた麺が気に入らず、日本の東洋製麺（と言っていたと思うが）から取り寄せたものに変え、麺を茹でる機械も最初の物がこれまた気に入らず、2千ポンドもする新しい機械を買い直したという。
日本の行列ができるラーメン店とまではいかないけれど、イギリスで美味しいラーメンが食べられるなんて、大袈裟に聞こえるかもしれないけれど、ここに来た10年前は思いもよらなかった。日本食ブーム様々だ。
Japanese street food, “ramen” noodle soup now has become a new big thing in London, especially ‘tonkotsu (it means pork bones in Japanese)’ ramen, among other kinds such as miso, shoyu (soy sauce base), or shio (salt in Japanese). After Tonkotsu, which I wrote in the past, two new places, Shoryu (rising dragon in Japanese) and Bone Daddies, have opened recently and received good reviews from UK media. Even the sushi chain YO! Sushi using the Japanese style ‘kaiten’ conveyor belt, has included ramen on their menu lately. I tried Shoryu and Bone Daddies twice each and would like to compare them – today Shoryu, and tomorrow Bone Daddies.
Shoryu ramen, specialising in Hakata ramen or Tonkotsu ramen, is opened on Nov 24th by Japan Centre, a Japanese food store across the street near Picadilly Circus. They had half price campaign for a while before its grand-opening, and good comments about their ramen has been spread among Japanese in London via Facebook or by word of mouth. Shoryu’s modern interior such as bare brick walls and stylish lamp shades, doesn’t look like a typical ramen restaurant in Japan, which is often plain and shabby. In fact, ramen in Japan is sort of a fast food and cheap, costing normally not more than £7.
Their menu lists not only normal Hakata Tonkotsu but also a variation of Tonkotsu such as Shoryu Tonkotsu with a bit of miso, spicy Piri Piri, Wasabi, Takana (spicy pickled mustard greens), Yuzu citrus, as well as regional variations of Tokyo Shoyu (soy sauce base) and Sapporo Miso. They have also some side dishes such as Gyoza dumplings and Edamame soy beans.
Their Tonkotsu ramen, created by Hakata-born chef, was quite tasty and it was not heavy as it looked (Tonkotsu tend to be a bit thick and heavy), though there was a bit too much Moyashi bean sprouts on a top. However, if you don’t fancy spicy food, be careful with Piri Piri – it was very hot, at least to me, and I sweat so much while eating and had to drink a pint of water together to sooth my mouth.
I overheard the conversation between chef and someone, and he seems to be very enthusiastic about making a good ramen. He replaced previous noodles because he thought it was not good enough, and now uses noodles of his choice, imported from Japan. He was also dissatisfied with the machine to boil noodles and replaced this with new one that cost two thousand pounds.
I wouldn’t say that Shoryu is as excellent as the most popular ramen restaurants in Japan where people are willing to queue for hours to eat a bowl, but I’ve never thought that one day I would be able to eat decent ramen in UK, when I came to London 10 years ago. Bravo!
everydaylife.style 