Tonkotsu East

Name: Tonkotsu East
Address: 1a Dunston Street, Arch 334, London, Dalston, E8 4EB, UK
Rating: 8

Japanese Restaurant in Dalston

8 / 10 from 2 reviews

Address
1a Dunston Street, Arch 334
Dalston
London
E8 4EB

Map

Cuisine
Japanese

Region
Dalston

Nearest Station
Haggerston
0.29 miles

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Popular ramen bar opens its second site under an arch that used to be a mechanic's yard. In addition to the noodles there'll be snacks like gyoza and octopus pancakes.

Tonkotsu East Picture Gallery

All In London Review

Tonkotsu East is a fun place and the food – as fine as that ramen is – is only part of the attraction.

Having welcomed the London ramen trend with open arms, we were pleased when Tonkotsu opened up a second branch in east London. Known as Tonkotsu East, the newer incumbent has added some hip tricks to help it blend in to its new environment. But will it leave its Soho roots behind? The short, simple answer to that is, no. The presence of Japanese beers is a costly new temptation to fend off and the starters are a shade worse but the ramen remains untouchable. We wrote this about the signature Tonkotsu ramen on our visit to the Soho branch,

“The delicious combination of silky noodles, pork belly and soft-boiled egg is hard to get over. At £11 it is steep for ramen but when the stock is so obviously this well prepared you can just about forgive the price.”

And we could have written exactly the same thing again. The ramen is incredible. Just try it for yourself. Having visited both branches twice and sampled starters on all occasions we would suggest that the extra cost is unnecessary. Just plump for one of the ramen bowls. It is these collagen infused, dreamy umami dishes that are Tonkotsu’s USP. The gyoza don’t even come close in quality.

The Haggerston restaurant is a more vibrant affair than the original. Large groups can be accommodated, intimate tables can be found at the bar and for those who fancy the idea of al fresco noodles, there is a large covered area in front of the restaurant in the shadow of the arches that hold the East London line that runs above.

The easygoing, laid back environment goes well with the type of messy meal that requires plenty of slurping. Tonkotsu East is a fun place and the food – as fine as that ramen is – is only part of the attraction.

Reviewed by T.A.O
Published on Mar 28, 2014

Best For

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Good food at bargain prices

Tonkotsu East is by no means the cheapest restaurant on this list but you would pay more for a ramen as good as theirs. The silky broth, creamy eggs, homemade noodles and aged pork makes for the type of bowl that you’ll have dreams about.

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Dine then dance...

Tonkotsu is the name of the Japanese pork bone broth typically used in ramen dishes. It’s the speciality dish here, along with miso ramen, gyoza and pumpkin croquettes. Best of all their noodles are made in-house with a machine they imported especially from Japan.

User Reviews

T.A.O

Feb 4, 2014

Tucked away off Kingsland Road this Tonkotsu is in a fairly strange location. But the ramen is as good as ever.

The waitress did forget to put our order through when we visited but the free starters more than made up for that. An all round good experience - just stick to the beers on the menu - the imports are EXPENSIVE.

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