Yummy Japanese Halal ramen at Yaki Ya! in London Edgware

Although attempts at filling an obvious gap in the market have been made over the years, a good bowl of Halal ramen is still a hard thing to come by these days.

Those that we’ve enjoyed in London include the likes of the Singaporean-inspired Ramo Ramen, as well as the traditional Japanese variety had at the now defunct Umami and C&R Izakaya,

Of course, that’s not to say that we haven’t had any bad ones, because we have, such as that time when we reviewed Tamashii.

But such an experience would never stop us from trying these enigmatic bowls, especially when learning that Yaki Ya! serve “9.5-hour slow-cooked Ramen and Udon broths”.

And so here we are in north west London and this Japanese restaurant’s newest branch in Edgware, which is conveniently located right outside the town’s underground station with the same name.

But unlike all the previous others we’ve visited, and to the best of our knowledge, this is the very first fully Halal brand in London to serve Japanese ramen (not a drop of alcohol in sight).

Rainbow, Sunrise, Mango Lychee – £4.99 each

These specially crafted beverages turned out to be surprisingly good, with each one having not just a distinct flavour profile, but a relatively strong one too.

While the Sunrise was almost candy-like in nature, the Rainbow was a fruity affair, and the Mango Lychee a refreshing one.

Mixed Starter Bento – Spicy Koji Chicken (Korean Style), Chicken Katsu, Honey Lime Chicken, Prawn Gyozas, £18.99

The Mixed Starter Bento ought to be the obvious choice in kicking off your visit to Yaki Ya!, especially since you get to choose four items from a variety of starters.

In this case, the recommended Korean-style Spicy Koji Chicken was the star of the show, with a crunchy-cum-chewy exterior that had a touch of sweetness to offset its gentle heat.

The rest were enjoyable too, with the Honey Lime Chicken having a drier batter, the succulent Chicken Katsu being well executed with an uber-crispy outside, and the Prawn Gyozas decent.

Chicken Ramen Soup – Marinated chicken, noodles, spring onion, spinach, seaweed, lime, £15.99

Right off the bat, the broth ticked the right boxes, including being served piping, which one would expect of a good ramen, and a broth that was beautifully buttery and fragrantly strong.

Superb chicken ramen!

Of course, the unspoken approach to any ramen is to prime the taste buds with that first mandatory slurp of the broth, which, we can reveal, completely blew our mind.

When they say that theirs is cooked for 9.5 hours, you better believe it, because this seemed to have absorbed the very essence of the chicken used, it was that intensely concentrated in flavour.

What’s more, unlike some ramen joints we’ve been to in the past, Yaki Ya!’s do not skimp; and we just couldn’t get enough of it.

Add to that the utterly succulent pieces of marinated chicken, and noodles which were good enough, and we’d happily go back for this alone (and next time seek after a Marinated Ramen Egg (£1.49)).

Duck Teriyaki Bowl (Rice) – Teriyaki sauce, stir fried vegetables, ramen egg, sesame seeds, spring onions, £16.99

The flavour of the the duck wasn’t just well and truly kicking in this Teriyaki Bowl, but had seeped all the way down to the layer of sticky rice beneath to make this another stonking dish.

With plenty of sesame seeds sprinkled over the top to give that hint of nuttiness, and the smokiness of the teriyaki sauce enveloping everything within the vicinity, we enjoyed the touch of heat brought about by the diced red chilli.

And with the onions providing that hit of sweetness, the ramen egg, while not quite the runny consistency we were looking for, just added that extra level of goodness.

Chicken Yakisoba Chewy – Stir-fried noodles, yakisoba sauce, chicken & veg, spring onions, £14.99

A dish that had all area covered, with the chicken well executed, and the noodles, indeed, stir-fried to a chewy finish.

However, it didn’t quite do it for us, particular in comparison to the high benchmark set by the previous two bowls.

Perhaps this would have been more enjoyable with the thicker Yaki Udon style noodles.

Hot Nutella Balls – Filled with hazelnut sauce, £4.99

These were warm out of the oven, filled with that sticky smooth hazelnut sauce, sprinkled with fine sugar, and drizzled in more sauce. Delicious.

Dorayaki (1pc) – Pancakes with anko filling, £3.99

Of the two though, we’d opt for these super soft and spongy Japanese Dorayaki pancakes, which had a layer of anko running through the middle before being finished with more of the sauce.