FAQs

Our allergens are displayed on our menu, but you can also find them by clicking HERE

Please note that it’s not possible for us to guarantee our busy kitchens are 100% free of allergens or cross contamination.

You can find our nutritional information by clicking HERE.

Vegan? Vegetarian? Lactose intolerant? Dairy free? Whatever your diet requires, we’ll always do our absolute best to meet your needs. If you have any questions or concerns please let our restaurant manager know when you arrive – especially if you have allergies. You can also reach us using our contacts page.

While we have procedures for separate preparation within meals and drinks, our kitchens and bars may have shared preparation/cooking areas. If you have a specific food or drink allergen need, please inform us. We’ll take all reasonable steps to prepare your meal safely, however we cannot guarantee a completely allergen-free environment or products.

Gluten intolerance/allergy? Our homemade noodles are made from wheat flour, but we have GF noodles made from konjac, a Japanese root vegetable, which can replace our wheat noodles in any ramen or hiyashi. This switch will not make the dish completely gluten free, as soy and miso and some other ingredients also contain traces of gluten, but if you are able to eat small amounts of gluten in soy sauce, then this will open up a lot of dishes on the menu to you. If you cannot tolerate any gluten at all, then we can make a ramen for you with ingredients containing no gluten (although a lot of gluten is present in our kitchens and there may be cross-contamination). Please speak to the team when you order. 

Want to check our allergen menu? Check it out HERE

Our homemade noodles are made from wheat flour, but we have GF noodles made from konjac, a Japanese root vegetable, which can replace our wheat noodles in any ramen or hiyashi. This switch will not make the dish completely gluten free, as soy and miso and some other ingredients also contain traces of gluten, but if you are able to eat small amounts of gluten in soy sauce, then this will open up a lot of dishes on the menu to you. If you cannot tolerate any gluten at all, then we can make a ramen for you with ingredients containing no gluten (although a lot of gluten is present in our kitchens and there may be cross-contamination). Please speak to the team when you order. 

All of the chicken in our restaurants is halal slaughtered, including our chicken broth. If you would like to see our supplier’s halal certificate please ask a member of our team when you arrive at one of our restaurants. Although our chickens are certified halal slaughtered, the chickens are handled in non-halal certified butcheries and kitchens, including our own, so we cannot guarantee that there’s no cross-contamination between halal and non-halal items.  Our chicken is cooked with ingredients which contain alcohol. The fryers we use to fry our chicken products are shared with other ingredients but never with any pork products. 

It’s important to us that when customers choose to dine at Tonkotsu with friends or family that most people can be well catered for, and so we always make the best efforts to create a menu that is as inclusive as possible whilst respecting Japanese food tradition. It was on this basis that we redeveloped our katsu curry sauce to make it halal and provide three main dishes, alongside a number of sides that are suitable for a strict halal diet. 

Fermentation is of huge cultural significance in Japan, producing many foods that are integral to the Japanese diet for both flavour and health purposes. Four of these core ingredients – soy, mirin, sake and miso are foundational to Japanese cooking and one, or often a combination of them, will be found in most Japanese dishes. It is almost impossible to think of Japanese cuisine without these ingredients. Alcohol is the natural byproduct of fermentation. There are very low levels in soy sauce. Mirin and sake – used in some of our dishes – also contain alcohol from fermentation but it evaporates during cooking. We were mindful of this when looking into whether to recommend our ramen to customers following a halal diet and of course we choose to give customers the option by advising them that some of the ingredients do contain traces of naturally-produced alcohol.

Our food is safe for children to eat. Almost all of the naturally-occurring alcohol is cooked off. Soy sauce used as a condiment on the tables does contain slightly more alcohol as this has not been heat treated, without the cooking process involved, but the amount used and the very low level of alcohol content again makes it safe for children, which is why it is readily served to children in Japan both at schools and at home. As a comparable, the dishes may contain the same levels of naturally-produced alcohol as a ripe banana, or some other fermented foods like kombucha, kefir and kimchi.

The two things we care about most at Tonkotsu are people and food. Without the eclectic, friendly and hardworking teams who run each of our restaurants we wouldn’t be where we are today. That’s why 100% of every tip and service charge is shared directly between the restaurant team.

Whether you tip in cash or by card, 100% of that goes to staff. The business pays all accountancy and systems fees associated with card payments and distributing service charge so that as much as possible can go to the team.

You don’t really need to. Ramen is a speedy dish to prepare, so just turn up – you won’t have to wait long. If you’re dead set on making a reservation, you can book a table at some of our restaurants HERE. And if you’d like to book a larger space for a party or special event, please do drop us a line using the contacts page.

If you’re a quick-thinking, hard-working team player with fire in your belly for awesome ramen, head on over to our jobs page for more info.

You don’t need to be a seasoned pro, but if you’ve got a little experience that’ll be an advantage. You’ll also need to speak English well enough to serve our customers without any confusion.

We care about the environment and will always do the right thing by it.

When you eat at Tonkotsu the eggs will always be free range while the meat and poultry is all Red Tractor approved. Red Tractor approval ensures the responsible farming standards we expect are being met by our suppliers. From animal welfare, to food safety and environmental protection.

We also pay regular visits to our chicken, pork and veg suppliers, so we can see how they do what they do for ourselves. That way we can go back to the kitchen confident the high-quality products and ingredients we use are all in line with our ethical views.

We’re also committed to reducing the amount of plastic used at Tonkotsu. The first step you’re likely to notice is in our restaurants, where there are no plastic straws. There will be more steps to come as we continuously review and improve every step we take along the path to bringing you modern, Japanese ramen that respects the environment.

Yep. No problem. You can click and collect from our restaurants HERE. We also keep our phones well-tended. So give your favourite Tonkotsu a call and order in person if you like.

We’ll always do our very best to accept orders for immediate collection. But if you catch us at a busy time you might have to wait a little while.