Good for meat eaters, veggies & vegans!

I just had the vegan tantanmen ramen whilst my wife had the ‘ordinary’ version (and neither are ordinary). I’m not a vegan, and my first tantanmen was the meat one, but I like to try things so have had this (and other vegan Matsudai ramen dishes) a few times. They’re good.

Tantanmen is s ‘different’ ramen, topped with seasoned, saucy, spicy minced pork. Think ‘spag bol’! Ouch, I’ll be vilified for that, but hey, it’s noodles & a minced meat sauce, you know what I mean! For the vegan one minced mushrooms replace minced meat (I think, I don’t memorise the details, I just enjoy). I really don’t think you’d know the difference.

This trying vegan Matsudai started with Tonkotsu, which is all about long slow cooking of meat bones and ‘tendony bits’ to make a madly rich broth that’s more like jelly if left to go cold. How can anyone seek to replicate that? I had to try it. The secret is is oat milk to add richness. That led me on to Tantanmen and some others. Tantanmen is my favourite Matsudai vegan. Why do it? Why try it? Why not. I’m not a ‘preacher’, I’d scoff down bowls of last years Christmas special (Turkey Paitan Ramen) in a second, but I love firm tofu, crispy tofu, and all sorts of mushrooms, and we all eat meat free meals without noticing (pizza margharita?) so why not try!

Important notes:
Matsudai kits arrive perfectly, on time & cleverly chill packed.
They’re VERY easy to ‘assemble’
All the hard work by Matsudai, and all the trimmings make the end result look Tokyo restaurant quality (and make me look like a real chef).
Over order: You can freeze the kits,