A ramen restaurant chain founded in London has confirmed it will be opening its next restaurant in the heart of Bristol city centre. Tonkotsu has announced it will be launching its 17th site on Baldwin Street this year, its third restaurant outside of the capital.
Named after a popular ramen dish originating in Fukuoka, Japan, Tonkotsu helped to spearhead London's ramen craze, launching its first permanent restaurant in Soho back in 2012. Founded by Ken Yamada and Emma Reynolds initially as a pop-up, the restaurant group focuses on producing quality ramen from scratch, making all its own noodles, stocks, and gyoza fresh each day.
Bristol has a growing ramen scene with Tomo no Ramen, Mr Noodle and the newly openly Ramen Zen in Filton. Despite the growth of its empire, Tonkotsu has focused on putting its "heart and soul into every bowl – making our noodles, broths, katsu curries, gyoza and sides" in house.
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Speaking on the growth of the business, Ken Yamada, co-founder, said: “After fighting through the last couple of years of Brexit, Covid and inflation, we’ve come out the other side confident and excited about the future. With continued progressive menu development and strong operations, we’ve been outperforming the market for the last six months, and I’m sure this Bristol restaurant will add to the ongoing strong group performance”.
Moving next to Bella Italia on Baldwin Street, popular menu items include the classic Tonkotsu ramen which is made traditionally with pork belly. There are also several chicken both-based ramen with beef and prawns, as well as a couple of vegan options. Prices on its website range from £10.95 to £13.95 per bowl.
Each bowl is made with Tonkotsu’s own fresh noodles, made in-house daily in three different types using mid-century machines imported from Tokyo. The noodles are then cooked to order for precisely 32 seconds in boiling water for the perfect consistency, as well as rich, homemade stocks that have simmered for up to 18 hours.
This month, Tonkotsu will also be launching a range of smaller-sized ramen across all its sites, to give customers more choice of price point. The smaller size, of which a limited range has always been available as part of the lunch deal, will be expanded to include all ramen on the menu and be available throughout the day and night.
With sites in London, Birmingham and Brighton already, the business is also preparing to open another site in the capital, making steady growth towards 20 sites in its portfolio. Tonkotsu attributed its success to new senior appointments in recent months, with Jaime Keeble joining as head of brand from Honest Burger, Igor Polok who joined as operations manager from Bills and Trieu Luu who was promoted to people and culture manager this year.
An opening date is yet to be confirmed but is expected to open in late summer. Once launched, it will be open seven days a week from 12pm until 10pm.
Tonkotsu Bristol, 12 Baldwin Street, BS1 1NS. https://tonkotsu.co.uk/menu/ramen/
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