You may already be familiar with New Wave Ramen, following its residency at Mackie Mayor, which they took over from Fin back in July 2020.
Now, this noodle loving hot spot has a home of its own, and last week we attended the official launch of the New Wave Ramen on Tib Lane in Manchester to check out what it has to offer.
Now this is a special opening for Manchester, as it’s the first of the Mackie Mayor kitchens to open a standalone restaurant in the city, something which shows the power of the New Wave brand.
The vibe as soon as you step inside New Wave is exactly as you’d expect, it’s like walking to a ramen bar in Tokyo, the chefs table full of customers slurping noodles, cocktails being shaken and the music pumping through the classic record player.
If you’re lucky enough to sit in the ramen bar at New Wave Ramen you’ll no doubt, be sat a foot away from Phil Cook and his team, building the bowls and their signature Japanese inspired small plates.
Phil has been a chef in Manchester for the last 16 years and was the first employee at Tender Cow in Altrincham Market in 2015. Phil’s love for ramen started by making craft noodles for the best ramen joints round the UK and moved into ramen kits when lockdown hit.
The menu is split into two, small plates on the front and ramen on the back.
We picked out a wide selection of classics and some new items which have been added especially for the standalone restaurant. The food was mega and didn’t break the bank which was an added bonus (we stayed away from the £50 ribeye this time).
The milk bread parker roll was incredibly soft, the barbecued polyspore mushrooms were meaty and salty, and hogget skewers were rich and bold. The plate which really stood out on the day was the raw beef ‘temkaki’ with mussel mayonnaise and sushi rice, an oriental take on steak tartare, it was unreal! The sea bream crudo was a nice delicate and light dish to split up the otherwise meaty courses.
Finally, we finished off on the dish that made Manchester fall in love with New Wave Ramen in the first place… the lamb shoulder tantanmen, it was sensational.
Overall, New Wave Ramen lives up to the hype it generated when announcing its first opening. An unbelievable addition to Tib Lane along with the OG 10 Tib lane two doors down.