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East · Ramen · Tonkotsu
Monohon
Mentaiko Cream Ramen — ōmori (large), the signature bowl
Monohon — ものほん — comes from the Japanese word honmono (本物): authentic, the genuine article, the real thing as opposed to the fake. It is a pointed name to choose in a city where pseudo-ramen shops have been springing up on every corner, and it tells you something about how seriously the owner takes the craft — a quiet refusal to be lumped in with the imitators. I first came here about eight years ago, dragged along by a Japanese colleague who insisted London had one truly great ramen shop and that I had to see it. I was a sceptic — I expected little from ramen in London. Then I tasted the soup, and I still remember the thought that landed with that first mouthful: this is actually good.
ものほん — “the real thing”
Let me be upfront: the mentaiko cream ramen here (above) — the shop’s signature bowl — is not what you would call traditional Japanese ramen. But I think most Japanese people, or anyone who knows the food well, would taste it and decide, yes, this works. The combination of mentaiko and a creamy tonkotsu base is something I can’t quite put into words, and can’t stop eating. The kikurage is good; the soup is very good.
The noodles are the thin, tonkotsu-matching kind. I don’t usually like thin noodles — but these I’ll happily eat. The chashu isn’t plated with the almost artful precision you now see at Japan’s newer fusion ramen-ya — but set that comparison aside and it is beautifully tender, deeply flavoured. One warning: the soup is genuinely heavy, so think twice before you order the ōmori (the large size, pictured above) — come hungry, and mean it.
The menu — soup, soup-less and veg
The menu is broad for a ramen specialist. Beyond the tonkotsu bowls there is the abura soba — the shop’s most popular, soup-less order — a Taiwan maze soba, and, for the lighter appetite, an assari shio veg ramen and a vegan tan tan men. It is not all richness.
This latest visit was my first in about a year, and the bowl was exactly as good as I remembered. Monohon has been the real thing for me for the better part of a decade — a shop I keep coming back to. For a place that literally names itself “the genuine article,” that is no small feat.
Walk-ins are the norm; you rarely need to book. Budget around £18–28 a head with a bowl and a topping or two (a 10% service charge is optional and shared among the staff).
Address
102 Old St, EC1V 9AYArea
East (Old Street / Shoreditch)
Price
£18–28 per person
Signature
Mentaiko Cream · Abura Soba
Nearest Tube
Old Street
Booking
Walk-ins welcome
Website
monohonramen.com