Kanada-Ya – One of London’s Top Ramen Restaurants, Famous For Delicious Tonkotsu Ramens

During our holiday in London, when the wife told me that she wanted to check out Kanada-Ya, I did a double take because we had recently eaten some world class ramens in Tokyo. I had no idea why she would want to check out a ramen shop in London. However, I chose to keep my mouth shut (happy wife, happy life) and comply. I’m glad to say I was not disappointed.

Kanada-Ya

Kanada-Ya is a famous ramen shop in London known for its delicious tonkotsu ramens. It is extremely popular with both locals and tourists.

The original branch was founded in Yukuhashi (Japan) in 2009 by Mr. Kazuhiro Kanada.

Originally a professional Keirin racer, he faced many difficulties during his career transition to become a ramen chef.

For example, he couldn’t find any ramen masters willing to take him as an apprentice, and his shop had very poor business during the early days.

However, he refused to give up, and his perseverance eventually paid off. Today, he runs a chain of successful ramen shops across the world.

Kanada-Ya has 14 branches in total, with three in London (Angel, Piccadilly, Covent Garden), three in Japan, six in Hong Kong, one in Spain, and one in Singapore.

We visited the Piccadilly branch in London, which is a cozy no-frills space located along Panton Street.

Menu (click to enlarge)

Food menu

Drinks menu 1

Drinks menu 2

The menu offers a variety of tonkotsu ramen and chicken broth ramen. There is a vegetarian ramen too.

The signature ramen here is the London exclusive Tonkotsu X (£10.90), which is cooked with pork and corn-fed chicken bone broth.

Other interesting options include the Truffle Ramen (£14) and Spicy Yuzu Ramen (£12.90).

For the big eaters, Kanada-Ya offers top up of noodles for £2 to bulk out any remaining broth at the end of your meal.

Diners are given a choice of four types of noodle hardness: Extra Hard, Hard, Regular, and Soft. The recommended choice is Hard.

Sides include Gyoza (pan fried dumpling), Karaage (Japanese fried chicken), Aburi Chasu (seared pork belly) and Truffle Edamame.

Alcohol connaisseurs will be happy to know that Kanada-Ya offers a good selection of authentic Japanese whisky, beer, premium chilled sake, hot sake, and fruit-flavoured sake.

Tonkotsu X

I ordered the signature Tonkotsu X (£10.90), which consists of pork and chicken bone broth, chashu pork belly, seaweed, spring onion, wood ear fungus and yuzu-shoyu. For my noodle hardness I went with Hard.

The ramen arrived shortly after ordering, and I tucked in quickly.

The highlight for me was definitely the luscious ramen broth! It was creamy and fragrant with a rich savoury flavour. The spring onions and fungus provided a refreshing balance.

The noodles were smooth and eggy with just the right amount of bite. I also enjoyed the chashu slices which were tender and juicy.

On this whole, this was a very well-executed and satisfying bowl of ramen.

Tonkotsu

The wife ordered the Tonkotsu (£10.90), which consists of pork bone broth, chashu pork belly, seaweed, spring onion and wood ear fungus.

This ramen is similar to the Tonkotsu X, but it uses a different type of broth. Compared to the Tonkotsu X, I found that it was less flavourful and packed less punch.

I would definitely recommend the Tonkotsu X over this.

Karaage

The Karaage (£4) was decent but not fantastic. Order only if you are a fan of Japanese style fried chicken.

Conclusion

I’m happy to have checked out Kanada-Ya in London. While the ramens did not taste as fantastic as the ones we tried in Tokyo, I have to say they came pretty close. If you are in London and looking to satisfy your ramen craving, this is the place to go. This is one of the most popular restaurants in London, so be prepared to wait in line, especially during peak hours. We went at 8pm on a weekday and still had to queue for about 30 minutes.

Kanada-Ya (Piccadilly)
Address: 3 Panton St, London SW1Y 4DL, United Kingdom
Directions: two-minute walk from Piccadilly Circus Station
Opening Hours: | Mon to Sat: 12pm – 10.30pm | Sun: 12pm – 9.30pm |
Phone Number: +44 20 7930 3511

Kanada-Ya (Covent Garden)
Address: 64 St Giles High St, London WC2H 8LE, United Kingdom
Opening Hours: | Mon to Sat: 12pm – 10.30pm | Sun: 12pm – 9.30pm |

Kanada-Ya (Angel)
Address: 35 Upper St, The Angel, London N1 0PN, United Kingdom
Opening Hours: | Mon to Sat: 12pm – 3pm, 5pm – 10.30pm | Sun: 12pm – 9.30pm |