Our total focus is authenticity. It’s a labour of love. Here’s a tiny glimpse of what goes into a bowl.
NOODLES
We don’t buy mass-produced, long-life noodles. Everyday we make fresh noodles in-house. The recipe is simple but much thought about. We use specialist flour from Japan (since most flour in Britain is for bread and not suitable) kansui, salt and water. Since London water is far too hard, we use softened water to get the right final texture.
SOUP & SAUCE
Our soup is made from pork bones with kelp and shiitake mushrooms added for natural umami. It’s boiled furiously for a whole day so that the fat emulsifies into the soup giving the creamy texture and whiteish colour. We constantly monitor the soup viscosity with a refractometer (honest!) to get the right final thickness.
Our shouyu dare (seasoning sauce), for example, is made from 10 different ingredients and we measure salinity (using a different refractometer this time) to make sure the saltiness is the same in every bowl.
TOPPINGS
Our pork belly topping is slow-braised for up to 5 hours until it’s exceptionally tender.
Our hanjuku-tamago (soft boiled eggs) are cooked for precisely 6 minutes and 10 seconds and then marinated for 24 hours!