Kanada-Ya

Having missed the 50% period I went in on Monday with a coworker. Traditional Japanese greeting and we were asked where we would like to sit. We chose a booth but you need to be careful, some of them are a little uneven when it comes to how much space between table and bench seat back, my coworker had plenty of room on her side, me? Not so much…
However, we weren’t here for the seats, we were here for the noodles and the noodles were great! No offer of thick or thin noodles, just how hard they are cooked. But the Tonkotsu ramen is great. Not that happy that egg is an additional extra but you do need to get it. Most places have it as standard unless you are getting a lunch special. Here, it’s an optional extra. However the broth and noodles themselves are beautiful.
We got the chicken karaage as well and this was a lot larger than expected. Hot succulent fried chicken served in a little metal bucket. We had to wait for it as the first one ended up on the floor while being delivered to us, but accidents happen. No big deal, they let us know immediately and everything was fine.
I’d go again, it’s a little expensive for lunch and there are SO many ramen shops around now (two in this little street alone). Maybe dinner, but like the other branch this gets SO busy.

I sampled the charshu ramen & karaage chicken on the second day of the soft launch at the long awaited second branch of kanada-​ya. The broth as expected is flavoursome and does not have the over rich pork taste at the first branch which some people found off putting. The ramen comes with lots of slices of charshu but the egg needs to be ordered separately and definitely should be ordered, I ordered 2 eggs as they taste so good! The amount of ramen, meat and eggs was so huge I struggled to finish and only managed to try a small piece of the tasty fried chicken side we ordered.
Kanada-​ya remains the best ramen specialist in London, the second branch is more spacious and takes bookings for groups of 6 or more otherwise be prepared for long queues!

I was crazy to wait 2 hours for a table in the cold and rain, all for 50% off for their new opening of their second London branch.
By the time we got a seat they were sold Charshu Men assuming not enough charshu to go round! Instead we ordered the original and added the egg. The soup was nice with full of flavour but not too over powering. The ramen has a choice of texture and opted for the regular. It was nicely cooked ramen which was not too soft. Only disappointment was the egg which was too salty. The charshu was cut too thick and felt the place next door was better!
I tried the flaked salmon onigiri but the salmon was too salty. Even the rice was bland, the salty filling didn’t help balance the flavour.
Overall the ramen and broth waa good. But the seasoning on the egg and salmon was on the salty side (may be just that day?!). The service was good even so busy with a long queue outside

The second Kanada-​Ya branch also did not disappoint. The queue was 2 hours long for 50% off food (ends this Friday 4÷12÷15). It was nice seeing the owner with his red headcloth standing at the door as well!
Karage is a good item to order, juicy, succulent fried chicken. They don’t serve this in the first branch on St Giles. 3 pieces of chicken per dish.
Green tea comes in little red or black teapots (one pot per person)
Charshu Men comes with so much pork and is for those who likes a non spicy soup base.
I got the Gekikara which is pretty spicy, comes with charshu and also minced meat. Eggs must be ordered separately for Charshu Men and Gekikara and they are worth the order. Went for hard noodles but the star of the show here aren’t the ramen, but the meat and eggs :)
Service is pretty good. Happy days.