Written by Martin Seymour | Editor, The Mayfair Foodie | About Me
London’s best ramen restaurants span eight distinct venues and several neighbourhood clusters across the capital, with bowls typically priced between £12 and £18. Bone Daddies — which opened on Peter Street, Soho, in 2012 and now operates eight London sites including Soho, Victoria, Bermondsey, Bond Street, Old Street, Kensington and Leicester Square — is widely credited with launching London’s new-wave ramen scene and also operates Flesh & Buns izakaya in Covent Garden. Shoryu Ramen specialises in Hakata-style tonkotsu across eight London locations including Soho, Covent Garden and Carnaby Street, with head chef Kanji Furukawa brought directly from Fukuoka, Japan. Kanada-Ya, with sites at Angel, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus and Carnaby, serves a tonkotsu broth made from pork and corn-fed chicken bones, alongside a notable truffle ramen. Tonkotsu the restaurant (separate from the broth style) has been operating since 2012 across Soho, Bankside and Battersea, making fresh noodles in-house daily using vintage Tokyo machines and cooking them for precisely 32 seconds. Monohon Ramen at 102 Old Street, EC1V 9AY (nearest tube: Old Street) is a no-reservations single-site counter restaurant founded by Ian Wheatley, who trained at a ramen school in Osaka; the mentaiko cream ramen with spicy marinated cod roe is its signature dish. Kinoya, located inside the Harrods Dining Hall at Brompton Road, SW1X 7XL (nearest tube: Knightsbridge), holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a listing on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Middle East list; most of the menu is halal-certified and the duck ramen is the standout dish. Ippudo London — founded in Fukuoka in 1985 and now operating over 100 restaurants worldwide — has four London sites at Central Saint Giles, Canary Wharf, Goodge Street and Villiers Street, serving classic tonkotsu with noodles made on-site. The newest entry is Maki & Ramen at 9 Old Compton Street, W1D 5JF (nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road or Leicester Square), which opened in March 2026 in a 110-cover space; twice named Scotland’s Best Japanese Restaurant by Deliveroo, it serves a Black Garlic Tonkotsu, Hell Ramen and Halal Steak Tataki Ramen, operates a basement bar with a 1am Saturday licence, and donates £1 from every ramen sold on select days to The Felix Project.
London Has Become a Ramen Lover’s Paradise
London has quietly become one of the best cities in the world to eat ramen. What was once a niche Japanese export is now firmly embedded in the capital’s food culture, with dedicated ramen bars tucked into almost every neighbourhood — from buzzy Soho backstreets to the most unexpected corners of the city.
I’ll be honest with you: ramen isn’t a dish I know inside out, but I quickly became a convert. I love Japanese food and eating at Japanese restaurants, eating at Ramen restaurants was an easy progression, that’s the great thing, food in general, a different cuisine is just around the corner to grab you.
For the uninitiated, ramen is a Japanese noodle soup built around four key components: the broth, the seasoning sauce (called tare), the noodles, and the toppings. It sounds simple, but a truly great bowl requires serious skill and time — some broths are simmered for 20 hours or more. The main styles you’ll encounter in London are tonkotsu (rich and creamy, made from pork bones), shoyu (soy sauce-based, lighter and more delicate), miso (earthy and nutty), and shio (the most delicate of all, seasoned with salt).
The London ramen scene is also evolving quickly. March 2026 saw the long-awaited London debut of Maki & Ramen, a brand that has built a devoted following across Scotland and the north of England, opening its first capital outpost on Soho’s Old Compton Street. It’s a sign that appetite for quality ramen in London shows no signs of slowing — and that there’s never been a better time to explore what the city has to offer.
Whether you’re a ramen devotee or, like me, a newbie, there’s a bowl here with your name on it.
Bone Daddies — Multiple Locations
Address: Soho, Victoria, Bermondsey, Bond Street, Old Street, Kensington and Leicester Square Nearest Tube: Various
Bone Daddies is widely credited with sparking London’s new-wave ramen craze, and over a decade on, that wave shows no sign of breaking. The first rock ‘n’ roll ramen bar opened on Peter Street in Soho in late 2012, and the concept — serious Japanese ramen served to a thundering rock soundtrack — struck a chord with Londoners in a way that nobody quite anticipated. Eight sites later, it remains the capital’s most recognisable ramen brand.
2026 has been a big year for the group. A brand new Old Compton Street site has just opened in Soho, bringing Bone Daddies to eight locations across the capital. And if ramen bars weren’t enough, the Bone Daddies Group also includes Flesh & Buns, their Japanese izakaya in Covent Garden serving hirata steamed buns and Japanese-inspired small plates, as well as their own sake brand.
Back at the ramen bars, the menu is built around a core of signature bowls that have earned cult status over the years — the Yuzu Tonkotsu, the Pork Pork Chilli and the T22 among them. There are also rolling monthly ramen collaborations with some of London’s most exciting up-and-coming chefs and restaurant brands, which keeps things fresh for regulars. Save room for dessert: their kinako matcha ice cream French toast has taken on a life of its own and is not to be skipped.
What to order: The Pork Pork Chilli for a Bone Daddies classic — charred pork belly, pork mince, chilli oil, bamboo and a half soy egg — or ask what the monthly collab special is when you arrive.
Shoryu Ramen — Multiple Locations
Address: Soho, Covent Garden, Carnaby Street and more Nearest Tube: Various
Where Bone Daddies puts its own spin on things, Shoryu is more purist in its approach — and that’s exactly what makes it special. The restaurant specialises in Hakata-style tonkotsu, a style that originates from the southern Japanese city of Fukuoka, where pork bones are boiled low and slow to produce a rich, milky white broth with serious depth of flavour.
The founder, Tak Tokumine, brought head chef Kanji Furukawa over from Hakata itself to ensure the recipe was the real deal, and it shows. One of the nicest touches is that you can choose the firmness of your noodles when you order — from futsu (standard) through to barikata (very firm) — a level of detail that ramen purists will appreciate.
Beyond the tonkotsu, the kimchi prawn ramen is worth a look if you want something with a bit more heat, and the takoyaki — crispy octopus balls with Japanese mayo and okonomi sauce — make for an excellent starter. With eight London locations, Shoryu is never far away.
What to order: The Shoryu Ganso Tonkotsu — the original and, many would argue, the best thing on the menu.
Kanada-Ya — Multiple Locations
Address: Angel, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, Carnaby and more Nearest Tube: Various
Kanada-Ya has a genuinely interesting origin story. Founder Kazuhiro Kanada was a competitive athlete in Japan when a serious sports injury forced him to change direction entirely. He turned his hand to ramen, perfected his craft, and eventually brought his restaurant to London — where it has built a fiercely loyal following.
The tonkotsu here is widely regarded as one of the finest in the city. The broth is made from a combination of pork and corn-fed chicken bones, which gives it a slightly lighter but still deeply flavourful quality compared to a straight pork tonkotsu. For non-meat eaters, the vegetarian option uses a broth of shiitake mushroom and porcini soya milk, which sounds unusual but has attracted considerable praise.
The truffle ramen is the dish that tends to generate the most excitement — earthy, indulgent and not something you’d expect to find in a ramen bar. Worth ordering at least once.
What to order: The classic tonkotsu to benchmark the broth, or the truffle ramen if you’re feeling indulgent.
Tonkotsu — Multiple Locations
Address: Soho, Bankside, Battersea and more Nearest Tube: Various
Not to be confused with the broth style of the same name, Tonkotsu the restaurant has been a reliable fixture on London’s ramen scene since 2012. What sets them apart from many competitors is their obsessive attention to their noodles — made fresh in-house every day using mid-century noodle machines imported directly from Tokyo, and cooked for precisely 32 seconds to achieve the ideal bite.
The broth is equally considered. Their classic tonkotsu uses pork bones enriched with lardo and a sea salt base, producing a bowl that’s rich without being cloying. Alongside the ramen, their gyoza are consistently praised — a good test of any Japanese kitchen — and the sides menu is worth exploring rather than just treating as an afterthought.
With locations across London from Soho to Bankside, Tonkotsu is one of the most accessible options on this list, and the quality remains consistent across sites. A solid, trustworthy choice if you’re new to ramen and want somewhere that won’t disappoint.
What to order: The Tonkotsu Original — pork broth with roast pork belly, bamboo shoots, beansprouts, spring onions, burnt garlic oil and a seasoned egg. The benchmark bowl.
Monohon Ramen — Old Street
Address: 102 Old Street, EC1V 9AY Nearest Tube: Old Street
Monohon is the most personal entry on this list — a single-site, no-reservations counter restaurant founded by Ian Wheatley, who gave up his career to travel Japan eating ramen, study at a ramen school in Osaka, and spend six months making broth in his kitchen every day before going public. The name means ‘the real thing’ in Japanese. It’s an appropriate claim.
One of the things that makes Monohon technically impressive is its noodles. London’s hard water makes replicating authentic ramen noodles genuinely difficult — the mineral content changes the dough — but Wheatley has cracked it, using specialist flour imported from Japan and his own noodle machine to produce noodles with the proper springy, alkaline character.
The menu is concise and focused. The mentaiko cream ramen — featuring spicy marinated cod roe — is the dish that serious ramen fans travel across London for. The abura soba (a soupless ramen you mix at the table) is also worth seeking out if you want to try something outside the usual. Be warned: they don’t take reservations, and queues on Friday evenings are a reality of life here.
What to order: The Mentaiko Cream Ramen for something unique, or the Spicy Tonkotsu if you want the classic done brilliantly.
Kinoya — Harrods Dining Hall
Address: Harrods, Brompton Road, SW1X 7XL Nearest Tube: Knightsbridge
If Monohon is the most stripped-back entry on this list, Kinoya at Harrods is unquestionably the most glamorous. Founded in Dubai by self-taught chef Neha Mishra — who built a cult following through an underground supper club before opening her first restaurant — Kinoya was awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand and named as one to watch on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Middle East list before bringing its ramen to London.
The setting, inside the renovated Harrods Dining Hall, is a world away from the no-frills counter seating of a traditional ramen bar. But the cooking is anything but ostentatious — careful, precise and genuinely focused on flavour. Most of the menu is halal-certified, which gives Kinoya a point of difference that matters to a significant number of London diners who might otherwise find it difficult to enjoy Japanese cuisine.
The duck ramen — rich, deeply savoury, served with confit duck on the side — is the dish that most reviewers single out. The shio chicken paitan ramen is the lighter alternative, and the izakaya-style small plates (try the burnt butter scallops) are worth ordering alongside your bowl.
What to order: The Duck Ramen for a truly indulgent bowl, or the Shio Chicken Paitan if you prefer something more delicate.
Ippudo London — Multiple Locations
Address: Central Saint Giles, Canary Wharf, Goodge Street, Villiers Street Nearest Tube: Various
Ippudo is one of ramen’s great global success stories. Founded in Fukuoka, Japan in 1985, the brand now operates over 100 restaurants worldwide and is one of the few Japanese chains to have successfully maintained its standards at international scale. London has four sites, all of which consistently attract long queues — a reliable indicator that they’re doing something right.
Their signature is a creamy tonkotsu pork broth served with thin, straight noodles made on-site with imported Japanese equipment — and diners can adjust noodle firmness to their preference, which the serious ramen crowd appreciates. Beyond the classic tonkotsu, the miso-infused version and the spicy miso paste option both have their devotees.
The menu extends beyond ramen into bao buns, takoyaki, karaage, gyoza and donburi bowls, making Ippudo a good option if you’re eating with someone who isn’t convinced by noodles. The atmosphere is energetic and the service fast-paced — this is ramen as a proper dining experience rather than a quick lunch stop.
What to order: The Shiromaru Hakata Classic — the original tonkotsu, pork belly chashu, beansprouts, spring onions and a seasoned egg. The dish that built the reputation.
Maki & Ramen — Soho
Address: 9 Old Compton Street, W1D 5JF Nearest Tube: Tottenham Court Road or Leicester Square
The newest name on London’s ramen scene, Maki & Ramen, has been something of a cult favourite across Scotland and the north of England for over a decade — twice named Scotland’s Best Japanese Restaurant by Deliveroo — and its long-awaited London debut finally arrived in March 2026 on Soho’s Old Compton Street.
The 110-cover restaurant takes over the former La Bodega Negra site and has been designed to reflect Soho’s after-dark energy, with natural wood finishes, warm lighting and neon signage nodding to traditional Japanese ramen shops. The menu is broad and genuinely inclusive — vegetarian, vegan and halal options all feature — spanning sushi rolls and ramen bowls in equal measure. Standout dishes include the Black Garlic Tonkotsu Ramen, the fiery Hell Ramen and the Halal Steak Tataki Ramen, which gives Maki & Ramen a point of difference from many of its central London competitors.
There’s also a late-night dimension that sets this one apart. The basement — a cave-like bar with a 1 AM licence on Saturdays — serves Japanese-inspired cocktails and their own Makiburi lager, making it a rare ramen spot that works just as well as a night out as it does a dinner stop. The brand also partners with The Felix Project in London, donating £1 from every ramen sold on select days — a nice touch worth knowing about.
What to order: The Black Garlic Tonkotsu is the obvious starting point, but if you’re feeling adventurous, the Hell Ramen is there for those who like things properly spicy.
A Few Tips Before You Go
Ramen is a fast-paced, casual dining experience by nature — don’t expect white tablecloths or lingering three-hour dinners (unless you’re at Kinoya in Harrods). Most London ramen bars are compact and fill up quickly, so arriving early or going mid-week at lunch will save you a wait. Monohon in particular is notorious for Friday evening queues.
Prices typically run between £12 and £18 for a bowl of ramen, with Kinoya at the upper end given its setting. Most restaurants offer a selection of small plates — gyoza, karaage, bao buns — which are worth ordering alongside your main bowl rather than treating ramen as a one-dish meal.
Finally, a word on the egg: the soft-boiled soy-marinated egg (called ajitsuke tamago) that tops most ramen bowls is not an optional extra to be pushed to the side. Order it, eat it, thank us later.Looking for more London food guides? Check out our Best Pizzas in London guide and our complete restaurant guide to Heddon Street.
