Part of the room at Neighbourhood has been given a Mazemen overhaul
What do we need to know about the Ivan Mazemen residency?
It's a residency from cook Ivan Orkin - one of America's leading ramen cooks (he prefers that to chef). You may have caught his segment on Chef's Table or one of the previous smaller popups he's had in London. He's a self-trained ramen specialist who spent years in Japan learning the craft before opening his cult restaurant in New York.
Where is it on at?
It's taken over the whole of Neighbourhood in Islington. If you're wondering what that is, it's the space formerly known as Sessions Islington. The owners are the same, but they've rejigged the room completely. It's right by Islington Green, so the nearest tube is Angel.
How long is it on for?
The residency ends on 26 March, so you'll need to get down there pronto if you fancy trying it in-house, rather than eventually on delivery.
So he's serving ramen, right?
Actually, no. The London residency focuses on one of the more popular dishes in his NYC restaurant, the mazemen. That's a brothless noodle dish. And there's a reason for that - because this month-long residency is a test for a delivery service he's thinking of running, in various dark kitchens throughout London. This kind of noodle dish travels much better than ramen apparently.
There are also various sides, snacks and add-ons. Here's what we tried to give you an idea of what to expect:
Crispy fried chicken thighs tossed in a tangy garlic glaze served with kewpie mayo, shichimi, and lemon (£7.50) - choose from garlic or hot garlic glaze. A must-order.
Ohitashi Greens (£6) - Chilled Tenderstem tossed in a pickled garlic dressing, topped with katsuobushi flakes. We'll be honest, we completely missed the critical word 'chilled' when ordering this so we were a bit disappointed that it wasn't a hot side. Our bad.
Triple Garlic, Triple Chicken (£15) - probably the most-ordered dish. This features Ivan's thick rye noodles tossed in a rich chicken broth reduced to a sauce, topped with pickled bean sprouts, minced garlic chicken, crispy chicken skin. It's the most intensely chickeny noodle dish you could imagine - like supernoodles on steroids.
Chicken Katsu Curry (£14) - Thick rye noodles tossed in a housemade Japanese curry, topped with fried chicken breast katsu, and mixed Japanese pickles. We picked one of a variety of add-ons here, a ramen egg. There's an option to 'make it spicy' and it's pretty mild so if you want to pump it up, go for that option.
What's on the menu for vegetarians and vegans?
There are options for both - the tofu version of the katsu curry is vegan and there are also two veggie options - a roasted garlic mazemen and a cold sesame tofu noodle dish.
And to drink?
A glance around the room suggested that most people here were having beer (there's a large selection from their own label craft beer to Asahi and Kernel). But the wine list is also both interesting and - our favourite - reasonably priced too with Chin Chin on at £29.
Overall thoughts
It seems like focusing on one interesting residency rather than multiple street food traders is really working for Neighbourhood. The place was packed out on a Wednesday night with noodle slurpers. If you fancy getting a rare chance to try Ivan's food in a London restaurant, get down there while you can.
More about Ivan Mazemen
Where is it? Neighbourhood, 77 Upper St, London N1 0NU
When? 9 February - 1 May 2023
Find out more: Visit their website or follow Ivan on Instagram @ramenjunkie
Hot Dinners dined as guests of Neighbourhood. Prices correct at time of publication.
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