The small red-and-black dining room of this Japanese restaurant is warm, inviting, and filled with the sumptuous smells of tonkotsu ramen. This traditional dish – Hakata Choten’s house speciality – was invented in 1934 in south Japan, and has since become a staple of contemporary Japanese cuisine. ‘Tonkotsu’ is essentially a type of zesty pork-based broth, left to stew for 24 hours, and here you can sample roughly a dozen varieties, all served with ramen. We especially like the ‘simple’ version that comes with a soft-boiled egg, and the ‘supreme’, which packs various different bold flavours like barbecued pork, grilled garlic and a soft-boiled egg into one bowl. If you still have room for more, you can’t go wrong in ordering some dumplings on the side (we recommend the leek).
TRANSLATION: FLORA HUDSON