Taiko - Launch

If you looked around the RoM office and asked people the question; 'Where do you head to get Manchester's best ramen?', the name which would roll off most people's lips is New Wave Ramen. Headed up by Elliot Williams, Matt Walsh and Phil Cook; New Wave produce the city's most legit bowls of joy. We are long term fans of their quality wares, and long may that continue in a market which is now overloaded with ramen options.

So, when the guys announced that their Mackie Mayor branch would be transformed into a new concept named Taiko, we were more than keen to find out more. The focus is on all things devilishly spicy, with a menu featuring the signature numbing heat of Szechuan peppers. We headed down to take a closer look.

We took our seat at the kitchen bench table, in true ramen bar fashion, and checked out the new menu ahead of getting our ordering operation in motion, and we were spoilt for choice.

Our first selection was the Chicken Bun (£7), which has been all over social media and is graced with an imprinted Taiko logo, so we just had to give one a go. A soft and pillow-like steamed bao, filled with spiced chicken which looked fantastic on the plate. The side of 'chilli crunch' which this came with, with splendid. It was a riff on the infamous Lau Gan Ma Crispy Chilli but made in-house rather than in China. I asked Chef if he'd share the recipe, but sadly it wasn’t to be, and I don't blame him to be honest. They should however sell this to take away by the 500g jar, as it would fly out!

Pork Gyoza (£8) was a very special dish indeed. Now I've eaten a lot of gyoza across a score of continents, and these were nothing short of spectacular even based on my hard to impress standards. Super thin casings, steamed perfectly with just the right amount of pan-fried crust on the flat side, filled with amazingly well-seasoned ground pork. The pool of fiery chilli oil and contrastingly citrusy ponzu which they sat in wasn’t just uber IG friendly, but was also delicious. Obscenely good.

The Karashibi Devil Ramen (£15) is probably what you could class as Taiko's signature bowl.  With an apparent a nod to the iconic ramen purveyor that is Kikanbo, it's available in spice levels of either Medium, Hot, or 'Devil'.  Clearly, we opted for the medium version, whilst making a bad joke about our palates being insured, to try and jovially gloss over the fact that we are just a bit soft.  A nicely punchy mala spiced broth showcased those Szechuan vibes and got the tongue and taste buds tingling nicely.  Soft and juicy braised pork belly added a protein element, along with a soft-boiled egg and some wok fried vegetables. And of course, the Temomi noodles themselves were fantastic, carrying perfect texture and fantastic flavour, making this a superbly enjoyable and totally complete bowl.  As you've come to expect from the NWR guys.

Mala Lamb Tantanmen (£15) was the second noodle bowl over the pass, and is by default served medium spicy.  The noodles were slightly less toothsome than the above Japanese variant, and the broth was this time creamier, carrying extra sesame notes, in keeping with how a Tantanmen should be.  Lamb and chicken mince added body and a strong protein hit, whilst another round of that moreish chilli crunch also featured.  And that can only be a good thing.  More absolute deliciousness.

Now one of my pet food related hates, of which there's a ton since I'm a massive food-geek, is the current trend of calling absolutely anything served in between two slices of bread, a Sando.  For me (and 125 million people in Japan) a Sando is specifically a Japanese sandwich, derived from the word sando-ichi, which literally means, well, sandwich.  It absolutely must be made with thick cut milk bread and is always served sliced in half with the contents revealed on serving. 

Basically, exactly like Taiko's Sando (£14), which I can confirm is 100% proper.  Perfectly cooked chicken thigh, a tangy acid-balanced slaw and some spicy mayo for those Taiko Scovilles, with a lovely toast on the house made Hokkaido style loaf.  Seeing a genuine Sando in Manchester makes me very happy indeed.  Warbies Toastie cannot touch this.

It was 25c outside on our visit, and felt just as balmy once inside Mackie Mayor, which when combined with all that spice meant that a cold drink was in order.  Luckily, Taiko sell Chu-Lo Soda in cans, which despite the exotic name and Japanese branding, is made by a company based just around the corner in the Northern Quarter.  Both the Apple and Tropical varieties were absolutely delicious and paired well with their also Manchester/Japanese cousins.

So, with full tummies we headed off into the sunset.  The New Wave guys have done it again and Taiko is something just that bit different from their usual menu, whilst still retaining total authenticity.  If you're a spice fanatic, or even just a ramen/noodle lover, then you just have to give Taiko a try!

** Our experience was gratefully comped **