The man himself: Ivan was in town during our visit to launch the menu at The Ned for the next two months.
In a nutshell:
This is the second London popup for chef Ivan Orkin - the man behind Ivan Ramen in New York. Having run a hugely successful residency in Islington last year, he's back in town with another treat for Londoners. For the next two months he's behind a special ramen menu being served up at Kaia, one of the many restaurants taking up the ground floor of The Ned in the City.
On the menu:
There are four ramens in total, all of which are exclusive to The Ned. We tried these two:
Lobster mazemen (£35)
The mazeman is a super rich lobster ramen featuring thick rye noodles, a generous amount of lobster meat (which has been poached in ginger-scallion butter) and a parade of toppings including house-made XO sauce, scallop floss, and mentaiko crème fraîche. It's an incredibly creamy ramen and you can add caviar for a tenner more but that might be gilding the lily.
Iberico pork collar tsukemen (£26)
The tsukemen was our favourite dish of the two ramens. It was a dry ramen where the noodles were topped with binchotan-grilled maitake mushrooms along with pickled spring greens and Iberico pork collar along with a jammy egg. It's served with a separate bowl of deeply piggy broth (made from suckling pig) - and some vinegar to adjust for tasting.
The other ramen dishes are a Tori Shoyu Wonton Men - a clear broth with shio koji marinated chicken breast and wontons, and the Truffled Shoyu Ramen - a plant-based offering featuring maitake mushrooms and roasted tomato which is also the cheapest option at £18.
Worth a visit?
Definitely. There aren't too many places in the City of London where you can feel happily full on a single dish. Although to be completely transparent we did roam the sushi menu while we were here too - the crispy rice with snow crab was calling to us.
More about Ivan Ramen at Kaia at The Ned
Where is it? 27 Poultry, City of London, London EC2R 8AJ
When does it open? 20 January 2025 for two months
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @thenedlondon
Hot Dinners dined as guests of Kaia. Prices correct at time of publication.
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