Ramen Mondays @ Roka's Shochu Lounge

For those of you waiting for a write-up on Tsuru Ramen, I'm afraid you'll just have to hang on a bit longer. I've tried their shoyu ramen, but I'm waiting to check out the tonkotsu ramen before blogging about my experiences. In the meantime, here's a quick write-up about the other ramen du jour.

Roka's subterranean Shochu Lounge is the venue for Ramen Mondays, where two ramen options are available: miso or shoyu. I plumped for the latter, which is served with Japanese-style cha siu pork (this is different in style to the Chinese original).

I'm not the biggest fan of shoyu, as I've never understood why soy sauce is added to the broth, but this was decent enough as shoyu goes. The cha siu was tender and flavoursome, and there was a fair bit of it too.

I also liked the other toppings of spring onion, nori (dried seaweed), menma (fermented bamboo shoots), mange tout and shoyu-marinated boiled egg. The noodles were well sourced, and within acceptable realms of springiness. Although to suit my personal taste, I would've preferred my ramen with a bit more bite.

Good ramen is hard to find in London, and I think you'll be hard pushed to match the quality found here. It's just a shame that it's only available on Monday lunchtimes, and that Roka is just a bit too far away for me to get to from the office (I had Monday off, last week).

And at £8.60, I think it's pretty good value, especially when compared to the udon at Koya (although I accept it isn't a direct comparison). With green tea and 13.5% service, the bill came to £12.71 (note to Roka, buy a till that rounds down to the nearest 10p).



Roka Shochu Lounge, 37 Charlotte St, London W1T 1RR 
Nearest stations: Goodge St, Tottenham Court Road

Ramen is served only on Mondays (12-2pm) downstairs in the Shochu Lounge (no bookings).