Traditional Japanese cuisine and Sushi UK restaurant chain, serving up warming bowls of ramen, fresh sushi, stir fries and much more including some theatrical cocktails. Recently opened this year (2024), this Leeds branch is proving to be a very popular City Centre venue. Maki & Ramen also have restaurants in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle.

I’ve visited Maki & Ramen a couple of times now and I can’t recommend it highly enough. My first visit was one Saturday afternoon in June I met up with some of my Wakefield Food Blogger friends for lunch at Maki & Ramen in Leeds as we had seen a lot of great posts about the food and drinks here. We booked a table a week or two ahead which was a good idea because the restaurant was pretty full.

If you follow my blog then you know I love a noddle stir fry, well now I am loving Ramen too and this was one of the best I’ve had so far.

I enjoyed;

• TANTAN RAMEN (£13.90); Sesame infused tonkotsu broth, served with diced pork, chilli oil, pak choi, cucumber, spring onion and a marinated half ramen egg – this was so tasty and packed full of ingredients. For the price it was a very filling bowl of comfort. I couldn’t stop slurping this up and probably made a mess but I don’t care it was so tasty.
• PRIDE RAINBOW ROLL (ON LIMITED SPECIAL PRIDE MENU, £13.90); Tempura Salmon, Nori (seaweed), Cucumber, Avocado, Mayonnaise, and Garnish – Between 4 of us we shared this Sushi Dish (8 pieces in total) from the special Pride Menu (was only available for June). It was fresh and tasty and looked amazing.
• Totally forgotten the name of the Vodka based cocktail I had but it featured dry ice and looked amazing. However was a little too sweet (even for me). It reminded me of leftover melted red ice pops.

In summary for 4 main meals, sushi meal to share & 4 cocktails the bill came to £116 which isn’t too bad especially for how delicious the food was and that we all really enjoyed it. Portions are quite big for a lunch time too. If you’re a ramen lover I would definitely check this place out.

[Ad] In September I was kindly invited back to the restaurant to enjoy some more of their fantastic food and drinks with 3 guests, and again was wowed by everything.

We enjoyed;

• Veggie Gyoza, Spicy Chicken Teriyaki & Tokyo Sushi Roll (Katsu Chicken) sides to share between us. The chicken was super crispy! Everything was delicious.
• Chicken Karaage Ramen – super crispy chicken, eat this up before it goes soggy in the broth. Soooo tasty and packed full of flavour.
• Steak Tataki Ramen – Ben requested a bit of spice to his liking, the steak was very tender.
• Chicken Yakisoba – this was so appealing, both of my friends ordered this and loved it.
• A mocktail I forget the name of again haha, something like “volcano” it was lovely.

I’m sure I will be back for more!

Opening Times; Monday – Friday: 11:30am–10:00pm, Saturday – Sunday: 11:30am – 10:00pm.

For more information on Maki & Ramen, visit their website here.

*Please note that the above review is my honest, personal experience and opinion and all information on product ranges, discounts, prices etc were correct at the time of my review, so are subject to change over time.

I hope that my review has inspired you to give this city centre restaurant a try. Do you have any other restaurants/venues in the South & West Yorkshire area that you think I should check out? Please leave a comment below. If you are a restaurant/food vendor and would like to collaborate with me in any way, please just email me at jensfoodblog@gmail.com!

Happy munching!

Jen