Next to the persistent queue of the bubble wrap place (although I've actually seen times with no customers during the winter) was the shiny electric very typically Japanese manga pachinko-looking place of Ichibuns. It's a strange name that seems to draw influence on the ichi-ban meaning number 1 in Japanese, buns in that it may serve hirata buns (it doesn't) but instead has burgers, and that sometimes you may just have an itch you need to scratch.
A 6:30pm date at Picturehouse Central (the best non-Imax cinema in London) with Blade Runner 2049 meant an easy entry and seat downstairs.
The decor is hipster Asian with cool Japanese touches that overall do work for me. For some reason I expected a food court style selection of places to get street food when instead it's table service surrounding bars.
The peanut crunch ichi shake (sesame icecream, crunchy peanut butter, salted peanuts, maple syrup) £5 ensured I wouldn't need any form of dessert.
- Salmon & avocado maki (salmon, avocado, lime, tempura crumb, wasabi tobiko) £5 - an inside out roll with the typical ingredients with crumbs of tempura and a very mild wasabi caviar dip. Refreshing way to start the meal;
- King crab ramen (king crab, shiitake mushrooms, roast onions, beansprouts, spring onion, mizuna leaves, chili oil, soya marinated egg) £11 - crab claw meat with ramen that retained spring but sadly only half an egg. It was quite a salty savoury broth;
- Wagyu beef (slow-cooked wagyu beef, shiitake mushrooms, roast onions, beansprouts, spring onion, mizuna leaves, chili oil, soya marinated egg) £11 - essentially soy-flavoured pulled beef with the identical same as above. Do they use the same meat broth for both the ramens?
Overall it was a nice meal and adds ramen to the Chinatown armoury. I do prefer the thick pork tonkotsu that is available at nearby Kanada-Ya or Bone Daddies. But it's good to mix things up a bit.