With an impressive estate of 16 restaurants across London, Birmingham and Brighton, Tonkotsu is a noodle specialist and one of just a handful of businesses serving true, authentic Ramen in the UK. Founded by duo Ken Yamada and Emma Reynolds in 2012, the casual dining group has gained an enviable reputation amongst customers, who flock to sample the restaurant’s homemade noodles, broths, katsu curries and sides.
Developing a lifelong friendship over a shared passion for travel and Japanese food, Ken and Emma initially launched a sushi grab-and-go business in London. Over time, they realised it was very difficult to find decent ramen, so they began on a mission to create their own. Tonkotsu was born, with the first site opening in Soho, as Ken Yamada, Co-Founder comments:
“Ramen is such an incredible dish. Versatile, packed full of flavour and sustainable too. In its most simple form, Ramen is like an Eastern pizza – made from flour and water. This means we can source local ingredients, rather than having to ship foods from around the world.
Since the early days, we’ve put our heart and soul into every bowl. Working with a flour mill in Northampton, we make all our noodles fresh using a specially blended flour. Our reputation has been built on the quality, consistency and flavour of our dishes – it’s what keeps our customers coming back time and time again.”
In the early days, the Tonkotsu team would use pans of boiling water, but this was unpredictable and difficult to manage consistency. Thankfully there was a solution, as Ken explains:
“Our noodles take precisely 32 seconds to cook. To achieve the best results, the water has to boil continuously at a precise temperature, something we always struggled with. That was until we were introduced to Valentine equipment. The company’s Pasta Cookers were ideal. The water is maintained at an exact temperature and is continually circulated, just what we needed to consistently cook our noodles.”
Trialling the equipment, the Tonkotsu team found the benefits of Valentine equipment went beyond the consistency of just boiling water, with Ken continuing:
“Quickly we realised just how reliable and robust Valentine appliances are. Unlike other professional equipment, which often lets us down at the most inconvenient time, Valentine units are incredibly well built. What’s more, on the odd occasion something does go wrong, it was simple to fix and their service was second to none. It was because of this we decided to swap our fryers to Valentine – a decision we have not regretted.”
The most recent addition to the Tonkotsu estate has been Vito oil filtration, supplied by Valentine. Technology which has not only improved consistency, but also delivered significant savings – Ken concludes:
“In Notting Hill, our busiest site, we’d change our oil every day, having hand-sieved it between services. When Valentine introduced us to Vito portable oil filtration on a three-week trial, the results were unbelievable, especially with oil prices having risen by +140% recently. We now change our oil every four days, a 400% extension in oil life, while the consistency of our foods is fantastic, no matter what point in the oil’s lifecycle its cooked.
Following training by Valentine, we’ve rolled Vito out across all our restaurants and we’re now seeing massive savings throughout the business. All in all, the products, service and support from Valentine has been exceptional.”
To find out more about Tonkotsu, please visit www.tonkotsu.co.uk.
For more information on Valentine, please visit www.valentinefryers.com or call +44 (0) 118 957 1344.
Written By:
Andrew Taylor C.F.S.P.
Eat PR & Marketing
andrew@eatpr.co.uk
+44 (0)7900 300005
