Monohon Ramen, EC1.. a Review
My latest Japanese restaurant review took me to Old St, EC1 and Monohon Ramen. If you know London well, you'll know that Old St borders the City and Shoreditch and runs off of the recently nick named "Silicon Roundabout." Monohon isn't the only purveyor of ramen in the area - there's a Bone Daddies, Shoryu and a Tonkotsu all with a 10 minute walk, so Monohon by no means has things to itself here. The place is by an Englishman, who is the main chef - Ian Wheatley - who gave up the day job to run with his dream of establishing an authentic ramen shop in London (good for him!) The Monohon website makes somes very encouraging claims about its product - the ramen, broths, chashu pork and ajitsuke tamago eggs are all made in house, which has to be a good thing. Monohon is quite a small place - less than 30 seats at tables and a small counter - so be prepared to queue for a while at busy times - we waited about 15 minutes on an eary Saturday evening.
Finding Monohon is easy - it's right on Old St. less than a 5 minute walk from Moorgate Station.
Monohon opened in the summer of 2016. Inside, it is pretty basic and also quite cramped - as I said before, no more than 30 seats. It's also rather gloomy - the shop has a front and rear seating area. Even the front, with the benefit of a full length window, was pretty dark. The rear room, where we were seated, was even worse - full on dark. A bit more lighting - well, in fact, a lot more lighting, please Monohon!
There were four people waiting the tables and welcoming diners and as it was an early Saturday evening, the place was full with a queue outside . Nonetheless, the table service was efficient, polite and friendly. Ordering was thoroughly old school - paper menus, paper order pads.
What did we eat?
Some of my friends had been to Monohon before and had warned me not to go for any extras or add ons because the servings are substantial. So we kept it simple and ordered just 3 regular dishes.
We ordered the following:
Taiwan Maze Soba
Mentaiko Cream Mazemen
Vegan Tan Tan Men
How did the food score?
Taiwan Maze Soba 7.0/10
Monohon highlights its soup less ramen dishes. Yes, they do the usual hiyashi (chilled) ramen but also 4 other non-chilled bowls, the Taiwan maze soba being one of them. (Incidentally, this dish has its origins in Nagoya but was apparently first served at a Taiwanese restaurant, hence the "Taiwan" part of the name.) I found this dish to be very rich - too rich for my taste but some people with bigger appetites for rich ramen bowls will most probably adore it. The noodles were thick and chewy - just as it says on the tin - everything was ample in proportion and good on the tongue. Maybe going on one of the warmest evenings of the year was to blame, but I really struggled to finish this dish.
Mentaiko Cream Mazemen 7.5/10
You probably know this, but I'll say it just in case you don't - mentaiko is a Japanese food made from cod roe that is cured in salt and chilli peppers to give it a strong, spicy flavour. This dish came with a really generous serving of mentaiko (it's expensive stuff!) along with the other toppings including a perfect, goeey soft poached egg. My co-diner mixed everything together and dug in. The first reaction was "delicious" (actually "oishii") with very good noodles. But after a few more mouthfuls, the reaction changed to "too rich!" (I really think the very warm weather played a part here but maybe the serving is just over generous - my co-diner was a sturdy, young 6 footer, so not a man with a small appetite - but even he had to call time with food left in the bowl.
Vegan Tan Tan Men 8.5/10
This was the standout dish of the evening. My co-diner doesn't eat a lot of meat so is always on the lookout for interesting vegetarian/vegan options, so the Vegan Tan Tan Men was a gimme for him.
Like the other dishes, the noodles were excellent, chewy fare. The fried seitan (a Chinese wheat gluten product) was
tasty and a good touch and there were plenty of fresh greens - pak choi, spring onions, bean sprouts and seaweed. The soup - creamy and sesame flavoured - was delicious and was devoured completely.
The Bill.
Taiwan Maze Soba Regular £ 13.50
Vegan Tan Tan Men Regular £ 16.00
Mentaiko Cream Mazemen £13.00
Total £52.25 including VAT & Service charges
Summary: I'm probably being unfair to Monohon because 2 out of 3 of us didn't enjoy the food because it was too rich and the portions too generous (how often do you complain about being served too much food in London!) On the other hand, my 3rd diner really enjoyed his vegan dish. What I can say is that the noodles were uniformly good and the menu is a tad more imaginative than other ramen shops in London. The service was godd and the waiters kept us supplied with water on a rather stuffy evening.
On the debit side, please Monohon, something about the lighting - the Japanese say that part of the pleasure of eating is in the seeing - in that respect, you're putting yourself at a disadvantage!
Food: ★★★☆☆ Ambience: ★★☆☆☆ Value for Money: ★★★☆☆
You can find Monohon at 102 Old Street, London EC1V 9AY.
Deliveries: Click'N'Collect only.
(PS: the restaurants I review are unaware that I am reviewing their fare and service. I pay for what I eat. My opinions are honest and unbiased....)
And how about making it yourself?
We all love to dine out. But don't forget you can make Japanese food at home which will not only taste good but will be fun and cost you a fraction of the price too! I've listed two recipes below for items I ordered during my review. Why not give them a try? Just follow the links to the written recipes and Youtube tutorials.
Recipe #1 Gyudon
The Gyudon served at Machiya didn't really do it for us. It isn't difficult to make a good, hearty Gyudon - just try my home made version and see if I'm not right! If you would like to tke a closer look at this dish,
simply click Gyudon to go to the recipe page.
Recipe #2 Kinokodon
Machiya's offering got me thinking about making my own recipe for Kinokodon. Try this out and I think you'll agree it's a great way to enjoy Japanese food vegetarian / vegan style. This dish is simple to make but it packs a delicious punch - more so if you like your chillis and want to add another to the mix! If you want to try these out, just click Kinokodon to go to the recipe.
About the reviewer:
Hi, I'm Kurumi, a cooking writer and blogger. I'm Japanese but I have lived in London for the last
30 thirty years. Back in the days before the internet (and Youtube), I was a food writer. My first book published in English was called Japanese Cooking for Two which I wrote in 1994. It has become the 9th best selling Japanese cookbook ever… yippee!
My other books were ‘The Noodle Cookbook”, “The Soy for Health Cookbook” and “Healthy Noodles.” I also published a book in Japanese “English Home Cooking”. Then I had children and my life changed!
By the time my children had grown up, the world had changed quite a lot too! Internet, Youtube, Insta etc. So, these days, instead of books, I publish recipe and articles on my website and on my Youtube channel. I hope you'll check out my recipes - they are all tried and tested (some more times than I care to mention!) until I think you will get them right first time when you make them and enjoy eating them.
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