Pork Belly Ramen is my ultimate comfort food. Hug in a bowl.

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Rich broth, filling noodles, spicy, sour-y deliciousness, the nori sheets, kimchi, marinated egg, the whole ritual… yum, yum, yum!

It kind of reminds me of the traditional Polish chicken broth, just you know, Asian, and made with pork! The effects are the same though – it makes you feel warm and fuzzy.

The moment I discovered it, I was immediately hooked. Luckily, London has a wonderful selection of specialist Ramen restaurants and I proudly can say I have visited most of them! Since then, whenever I travel to a new city the search for a ramen haven begins.

The places I would wholeheartedly recommend (for when we can do the crazy eating out thing again) are:

London

Kanada-Ya (the truffle ramen! ? Also, they do takeaway!) and Bone Daddies (the atmosphere is to die for, you just need a little patience to get in. All traditional ramen places don’t offer bookings, which is definitely part of the fun).

Krakow

Akita Ramen (such a great find – again a little waiting time but so worth it!) and Ramen People (lovely location by the river and we had a fantastic orange wine which tasted like a cider ?).

The Hague

Momiji Ramen (small, but wonderful selection of traditional ramen bowls and ice-cold beer – my preferred partner to ramen for the full experience).

Barcelona

Ramen-Ya Hiro (went here for lunch during my hen do a couple of years ago, so the fact that I remember it speaks for itself!).

Most ramen places offer gluten-free noodles these days if you are choosing to go GF. I have relaxed my rules over the years and whenever I have a chance to enjoy traditional ramen I go full in, gluten and all.

Now we’re stuck at home again with lockdown here for foreseeable future, I decided to embark on a seemingly crazy task to re-create the ramen experience.

I don’t claim this is the actual pork belly ramen, but it’s pretty damn close. And it tastes ridiculously good, perfectly filling the ramen-shaped hole in my life (thanks a lot COVID).

You need some good quality pork belly, ideally organic from your local butcher. A quick tip – whenever cooking a high fat cut of meat, make sure you opt for organic variety as most toxins in meat are stored in the fatty bits! I get mine from Riverford alongside the veggies. It’s regularly added to my meat boxes – so convenient and the quality is excellent.

The cooking process takes a little while and it’s probably best left for a not-too-busy weekend. But the result… oh my, so worth it! The pork is divinely crispy and delicious and literally melts in your mouth. The slow-cooked broth is complex in flavour, rich and comforting.