“If you don’t make your own noodles, you’re just a soup shop”
“If you don’t make your own noodles, you’re just a soup shop”
This comment made by an old ramen-master on a research trip to Japan, may have been a passing quip – but it really struck a chord… Ken and Emma always wanted to serve the best ramen possible and were already making their own broths, but in 2012 it was difficult to find the perfect noodle in the UK. With the old ramen-master’s words still ringing in their ears – they set off on a mission to make their own.
Finding the right flour took a quite a bit of testing, but in the end this was the relatively easy part.
Finding a noodle machine outside of Japan, however, was impossible.
Ken and Emma packed their bags and set off to Shinjuku in Tokyo to meet an older guy who, in the Japanese way, had been making noodle machines for decades. The factory was unimaginably clean – they were asked to take off their shoes and wear slippers – and he then showed them the most beautiful mid-century machines. They ordered two, which he made to order, and you’ll see their cogs and rollers turning for eight hours a day at Tonkotsu East in Haggerston, London.
Flour, kansui and water are carefully mixed to form the dough which is then rolled several times and left to rest, before being cut, weighed and bundled ready to make their debut on your table in a steaming bowl of ramen.
