Last week I went for an early lunch at Tonkotsu East. I went
to Tonkotsu Soho for lunch on my birthday and as a fan of Ramen was really
impressed by the rich meaty flavoured ramen there.
This time we decided to try the East one to see how it
compared. Located just by the canal in Haggerston, the interior of their East
location is actually much nicer than the one in Soho. The ercol furniture –
very East London chic. Also the open kitchen running along the side of the bar
gives a nice busyness to the place (especially as we were first in at 12.20).
We started with some edamame and the fried softshell crab.
Soft Shell crab as always isn’t a win for everyone – the idea of eating a
crustacean whole does not delight all, but this one was very good with a light
as anything tempura batter. The edamame – well obviously a classic but it was a
nice big portion. Nothing annoys me more than paying a fiver for about 10 beans
– unless they were going to grow me a bloody big stalk.
The main menu is short and sweet. 3 different ramens and
their speciality which you can only get at the East branch – Tsukemen noodles.
These are cold noodles serves with a separate bowl of warm broth so you eat it by
dipping your noodles/ meat into the broth.
I went for the Tokyo Ramen - having not had breakfast I
was in no mood to warm up my own noodles.The Tokyo Ramen has a soy sauce based broth with is slightly less rich and meaty than the Tonkotsu one but by no means less tasty. Big chunks of falling apart pork belly and the classic half egg. ~My only criticism is that a lot of my meat was just pork fat, but with pork belly you sort of expect it. Apart from that it is just what you need on a rainy February lunch time.
Amelia having already tried it previously, went for the house special again. As I slurped away she was dipping her noodles into the rich meaty broth. I did try some and have to say its also a winner.
And just so we had one of each, Tom went for the signature Tonkotsu Ramen. A meaty base with slightly leaner rolled pork pelly slices, (though he prefers the bigger thicker cut slices in the Tokyo one - classic man).
Tonkotsu East is going to be a firm favourite. Convenient
East location, nice atmostphere and bowls full of warming ramen. What else do
you need to get you through the last of the winter months?
Arch 334, 1a Dunston Street
Haggerston
E8 4EB
0207 254 2478
