Address: 426 Coldharbour Lane, London SW9 8LF

Telephone: 020 7346 0098

Website: http://www.nanban.co.uk/

Nanban is one of favourites in Brixton (see here and here), so we are pleased it is open for Click and Collect or Delivery but only after 6.00pm, which is when you can see the menus on Deliveroo. There is a cheap and cheerful menu from Little Nanban, but we ordered a feast to celebrate … well Friday.

The menu comes in three parts and we stuck to the first two (although maybe next time we will try the signature dessert of bananas cooked in red miso butterscotch sauce with cinnamon ice cream, walnuts, and crispy fried noodles) as we already have ice cream in the freezer (see here for the details). There are starters (small plates), ramen and big plates.

For starters we ordered Nasu Dengaku – fried aubergine with a sweet white
miso glaze, topped with walnuts – and KFJ – Crispy fried and marinated
jackfruit with honey-miso mayo and lime. They complemented each other well, with the slightly sweet aubergine and the crispy jackfruit. The mayonnaise was a surprise as at first it tasted cool and sweet and then the heat built up.

For the main course we ordered “The Leopard” – a rich chilli-sesame pork broth, thick noodles, garlic chips (lots of them), burnt garlic oil, pork belly, Parmesan cheese, Scotch bonnet-pickled bamboo shoots, and a tea-pickled egg and the Kumamoto Pork Ramen (always a favourite) – rich ‘nose-to-tail’ pork broth, thin noodles, garlic chips, burnt garlic oil, pork belly, pickled ginger, and a tea-pickled egg.

Despite the similar descriptions they do taste very different. The Leopard is very hot – next time I might tell them to leave out the scotch bonnet bamboo shoots, unless they are going to send round a box of tissues as well. We also ordered Hispi cabbage which was soft and savoury and a great complement to both dishes.

Servings are large and there is still some leftover in the fridge. The bill with delivery and two bottles of Asahi (quite expensive at £5.20 a bottle) came to £51. But probably this is for two meals – one blowout and one more a snack.