Chef/co-owner/native Bristolian James Stuart is a passionate home cook turned chef who has been obsessed with ramen for nearly a decade. Let down by what was already available in the UK, he set out on an adventure to create his own. In the crucible of lockdown he spent months making and eating ramen multiple times per day, using local ingredients and traditional techniques. Fuelled by obsessive internet research and exchanges with ramen legends online, he began creating new styles and recreating classic ones. After multiple sell-out popups at West Street Kitchen and collaborations with great ramen chefs from around the country, he’s ready to take the next step.

Tomo No Ramen means “friend’s ramen”. We want to create both food and an atmosphere that is familiar and open, while pushing you to the unfamiliar and new. The neighbourhood family-run ramen shops in Japan - “machichuka” - where customers get to know both the chefs and other patrons while basking in a shared love of the beautiful and varied dish that is ramen is an atmosphere that we can aspire to recreate.