Aji Zen Canteen

So I more or less stumbled into Aji Zen Canteen with a travel buddy, and fortunately for us we LOVED eating here! I may as well get the "free wi-fi" cheer out of the way now: they have wi-fi, it's free, it works. Yay!

But not only is the wi-fi reliable (great news for travelers): the staff are also super friendly, and despite the fact that the kitchen works very quickly they didn't sacrifice quality at all in their speedy prep process. I say this based on the gyoza I shared with my travel buddy, and the plate of Pork-katsu curry I devoured (yes, devoured: nothing makes me as hungry as wandering around London!).

The katsu curry consisted of deep fried breaded pork cutlet and rice with some sauce, and it was definitely a pleasant surprise: crunchy but not too crunchy, reasonably sweet, and tasty all around. And the gyoza we started the meal with originally were also really good - much fresher than what we tend to get in the states. I can't remember exactly what my travel buddy ate, but I do remember she commented that the food wasn't nearly as salty as what she can typically find in the U.S. (and since she is very sensitive to salt and needs to avoid large amounts of it for health reasons, I trust her evaluation).

Definitely loved eating here, and we enjoyed their clean, fun decor as my travel buddy and I ate, checked our email, and prepped to head back across the river afterward. Stop on in if you get a chance, fellow travelers!

Getting rained on during our big bus tour, we hopped off for some lunch. Right across St. Thomas hospital near London Eye. Casual Japanese with reasonable prices.

Choose your protein, broth, & 3 garnishes.

Need to change the ad sign at the end of the road. Sign says open 12AM-10PM. But in fact it's not open those hours..wasted our time walking all the way down and not being open.

Food is delish and reminds me of how real asian / Japanese food is cooked back home in the heavily asian based community in the city / area of the San Francisco Bay Area . Food is a solid 4 stars.

You must follow the rules to understand the restaurant's concept of fresh food delivery to your table (see pic).

As for the service - there were only 2 servers who busted their behind to not only serve dishes and bus tables, but also acted as food quality control. For instance,in the open kitchen, a cook handed a server an appetizer which she refused to serve the customers since it wasn't cooked to standard. She actually yelled at him! Quite amusing and thought of what you would expect out of a "hells kitchen" episode with chef Gordon Ramsey !! Great job on her part to keep food consistency! The restaurant rules however do not warrant 5 stars for service since it is up to the customer to be responsible for menu / service requests. However, the customers can clearly witness that the servers are workhorses. They deserve a solid 4 stars.

I would definitely recommend ajicanteen to anyone who enjoys authentic Japanese cuisine. Although the restaurant doesn't offer sushi on their menu - it really doesn't need to since their flavors are superb!

Service was incredibly slow. It seemed like only 1-2 people were working the floor and as a result we waited forever for everything including the check. We just wanted to get out of there. It also was unusually hot and it wasn't until we were about to leave that we noticed the air conditioner started to cool the place off.

Ramen was okay. Broth was fine but noodles were a bit soft. I've had better but it gave me a quick fix.

Aji Noodle bar is really great. Their menu is mainly noodle based as you can imagine (!) and the restaurant's menu and feel is based on the ramen bars in Japan, or so they say. I have to say, I didn't feel like I was quite in Tokyo but you cant have it all eh?

The food was really superb. I'd say it's possibly the best noodle place I've been to for a while. I was looking for and express lunch, nothing to serious and really enjoyed my seafood noodles. Much better, much tastier than big chains like Wagamama.

Another winner for County Hall - avoid Ned's Noodle Bar and come here instead!

I'm sorry for rating this place 3 stars & dropping it's average. Cool spot on a good corner location right around the London Eye and across the Westminster Bridge from Big Ben/Parliament. Coming from Southern California I'm spoiled by all the ramen/noodle places in various ethnic communities all over Los Angeles.

I had miso ramen with chicken, pickled ginger, & half a boiled egg. It was 82 degrees outside but that didn't stop me from having hot soup. I was happy to see that chicken was an option for the protein selection, that stuck out to me. Other than that as the rating system states it was "A-OK".

Side note they have wi-fi here so it was convenient as I had my iPhone 4 with me but no service & I turned off my data roaming since I was overseas. From there I was able to FaceTime & Skype friends back home.

I don't tend to have ramen outside of Japan because it tends to be expensive and/or not quite the genuine thing.
Ajizen fits both these categories.

The selection of food on the menu is decent but of course I only wanted to try what I consider is the best winter dish - ramen.
I selected the miso ramen which is my favourite. It's served in a large bowl, points there.
I'm not sure how much onion they put in the dish but I'd bet it's at least half a large one. Far too much onion. They should consider using spring onion (green onion) instead.
The soup is average, which isn't bad outside of Japan.

The noodles are clearly not fresh as evident by the shape they take in the bowl. My best guess is these are the ramen noodles you can buy in the freezer in a Japanese supermarket. This isn't necessarily a negative, depends on your expectations.

Your mileage may vary, depending on what you have experienced to make a constructive comparison.

Oh, did I mention that it's expensive? Even compared to Australia!

We stopped in for quick bite and drink after crossing the bridge and a waling tour of the area.

We only had spring rolls and gyoza so can't comment on the larger plates.

Clean, quiet, and prices were reasonable.

Food was very salty here, we had udon and the soup was undrinkable. Not sure why other people claims this is actual Japanese food - they obviously never had real Asian food or they have low standards in London, which is also possible because the food we've had in London haven't been any good.

Pricey for the food that we got. Service was okay. If you're starving, turn the corner towards the London eye for a plethora of options.