The Best Tonkotsu Ramen in Europe, and the Best We Have Ever Eaten
The best tonkotsu ramen we have eaten in Europe is at Cocolo Ramen in Berlin, and it has held first place for years. The closest anything has come is Ramen KOTSU x KOTSU in Madrid, followed by Nikkou in Delft, with Maastricht and Valencia as honourable mentions.
We have a type, and the type is tonkotsu. Not shoyu, not shio, not the miso bowl everyone orders on their first visit. Tonkotsu: pork bones boiled hard for the better part of a day until the broth turns opaque, slightly sticky, and tastes like it could hold a spoon upright. When a kitchen gets it right we are insufferable about it for weeks afterwards.
So this is not a general best ramen list. It is five tonkotsu bowls in five cities that we have actually sat down and finished, ranked by how badly we want to get back on a train for them.
The five at a glance
| # | Ramen shop | City | What makes it | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cocolo Ramen | Berlin | One whole piece of tender pork instead of chashu slices | Still unbeaten |
| 2 | Ramen KOTSU x KOTSU | Madrid | 24 hour Hokkaido style broth, pork grilled then steeped | Uncomfortably close to first |
| 3 | Tonkotsu Ramen Nikkou | Delft | A shop that serves tonkotsu and basically nothing else | A properly good bowl |
| HM | Ane Ramen | Maastricht | A broth good enough to carry a very thin topping list | Come for the soup |
| HM | Natsu Ramen | Valencia | Balanced bowl, toppings in proper quantity | Closer to Berlin than expected |
1. Cocolo Ramen, Berlin: the best tonkotsu we have ever eaten
Gipsstraße 3 in Mitte, Graefestraße 11 in Kreuzberg. Cocolo started life as a food stall, moved to the Paul-Linke-Ufer, and now runs two shops that are more or less permanently full. Shoyu and shio are on the menu and they are fine. Nobody in our group has ever ordered them.
What puts it first is that Cocolo does its own turn on tonkotsu rather than a careful copy of somebody else's. The broth is long simmered and does everything a tonkotsu should. The trick is the pork. Instead of the usual thin chashu slices draped over the top, you get one big piece of tender pork sitting in the bowl.
That sounds like a small thing and it completely changes the bowl. Thin slices cool down fast and disappear into the broth within about ninety seconds of arriving. A whole piece stays hot the entire time, and you break it apart yourself as you go, so there is still real pork in your spoon at the bottom of the bowl. It is the single best structural decision we have seen anyone make with a tonkotsu.
We have eaten a serious amount of tonkotsu since then, a lot of it while specifically hunting for something that would beat this. Years later, nothing has. If you are in Berlin and you like this style of ramen even slightly, go, and go hungry. It gets busy, the Mitte kitchen runs evenings only, and turning up early is the difference between eating and queueing.
2. Ramen KOTSU x KOTSU, Madrid: the closest anything has come
Calle del Cardenal Cisneros 1, Chamberí, Madrid. Small room, Japanese owner, Hokkaido style tonkotsu, and a broth they simmer for a full 24 hours. We walked in with low expectations, because we always do now, and about four spoonfuls later were sitting up straight.
This one is divine, and it is the first bowl to come genuinely close to Berlin. Great broth. The pork is grilled first and then steeped in the tonkotsu, which is a completely different approach to Cocolo's and works beautifully in its own right. Lovely egg. Kikurage, nori, naruto maki and spring onion, all present and all doing something.
One flaw, and we are only mentioning it because we promised to be honest: the noodles were slightly overcooked. In a bowl this good that is a rounding error, but it is the difference between second and first. The gyoza are standard pork gyoza, perfectly nice, not the reason to come. The matcha ice cream, on the other hand, is very much worth ordering.
Service was startlingly quick, although in fairness we were probably sitting at a reserved table. If you are in Madrid and you love tonkotsu, take the opportunity. This is the best we have found in Spain and it is not particularly close.
3. Tonkotsu Ramen Nikkou, Delft: no gimmicks, just a good bowl
Molslaan 16, Delft. The name is also the menu. Nikkou serves tonkotsu ramen and basically nothing else, which is a level of focus we respect enormously in a country where a lot of ramen shops are quietly also serving poke bowls. There are vegan and vegetarian bowls if you need them.
The verdict is refreshingly simple: good soup, good toppings, a good tonkotsu. It is not trying to reinvent the bowl and it does not need to. If you live anywhere near Delft, this is a very solid weeknight answer to a tonkotsu craving.
It is a small room and the hours are tight, so plan ahead. The published times run evenings from Tuesday to Friday, with a lunch window on Saturday, and it is closed Sunday and Monday. Worth a check before you set off.
Honourable mentions
Two more bowls that did not make the top three but that we would happily eat again tomorrow, both for very specific reasons.
Ane Ramen, Maastricht
Rechtstraat 29, Maastricht. The base of this soup is excellent, genuinely one of the better broths anywhere on this page. The problem is everything floating in it. You get bean sprouts, pak choi, spring onion, half an egg and a couple of slices of pork belly, and that is the lot: no nori, no menma, no naruto maki. The noodles are very thin too. We rated it high anyway, and we want to be clear that the rating is because of the broth. If you are the kind of person who judges a ramen shop on the soup and treats toppings as decoration, put Maastricht on your list. If you want a loaded bowl, you will feel the gap.
Natsu Ramen, Valencia
Convent de Sant Francesc 3, Ciutat Vella, Valencia. Super tasty, and unlike Maastricht the toppings turn up in proper quantity: three thick slices of chashu with browned edges, a marinated egg, a big sheet of nori, menma and a proper heap of spring onion. Lovely ramen, lovely soup, a well balanced bowl with nothing obviously missing. Not quite Berlin, but a lot closer than it has any right to be given how far Valencia is from the ramen heartlands. They are popular and the queues are real, so go early rather than clever.
What makes a tonkotsu ramen great?
Five bowls in, some patterns are obvious. If you are trying to work out whether a shop is worth your evening, this is roughly the order in which things matter.
- The broth, by a mile. It should be opaque rather than translucent, rich enough that your lips feel very slightly sticky afterwards, and taste of pork rather than of salt. A thin tonkotsu is just pork soup with ambition.
- The pork. Thin chashu slices are the norm and they are fine. Cocolo's single big piece is better, and it is the main reason Berlin still holds first place.
- The noodles. Firm. Straight and thin is traditional for this style. This is exactly where Madrid slipped, and it is the only thing keeping it off the top spot.
- The toppings. Egg, kikurage, nori, naruto maki, spring onion. Maastricht proves a great broth can carry a thin list, but you do notice.
One thing worth clearing up, because it trips people up constantly: tonkotsu is not a flavour, it is a base. Shoyu, shio and miso are seasonings that go into a bowl. Tonkotsu is the pork bone broth itself, which is why you can order a tonkotsu shio and have that make complete sense.
How we rank these
We log every bowl we eat in our own app, rated dish by dish, so this order comes out of a record rather than a nostalgic haze. The Madrid bowl, for instance, sits in our Madrid food guide with the rest of that week, and the habit behind it is in how to track food on your travels. Three rules. We have to have eaten it. We rank the bowl rather than the room, which is why a tiny shop in Delft outranks places with better interiors. And we say the unflattering part out loud, because a ranking where every bowl is perfect is a ranking nobody should trust.
And once more, cheerfully: we still have not been to Japan. The day that changes, this page is getting rewritten from scratch and we will enjoy every minute of it.
Frequently asked questions
What is tonkotsu ramen?
Tonkotsu is ramen built on a broth of pork bones boiled hard for many hours, often a full day, until the collagen breaks down and the soup turns opaque, thick and slightly sticky. It is a base rather than a seasoning, which is why tonkotsu shio and tonkotsu shoyu both exist: the tonkotsu is the broth, the shio or shoyu is what seasons it. It originates in Fukuoka on Kyushu.
Where is the best tonkotsu ramen in Europe?
Of the bowls we have eaten, Cocolo Ramen in Berlin, and it has held that spot for years. Second is Ramen KOTSU x KOTSU in Madrid, which only lost on slightly overcooked noodles. Third is Tonkotsu Ramen Nikkou in Delft. We have eaten a lot of tonkotsu across Europe, but not all of it, so treat this as a ranking of five real bowls rather than a survey of a continent.
What is the difference between tonkotsu and shoyu ramen?
They describe different parts of the bowl. Tonkotsu is the broth: pork bones boiled hard for many hours until it turns opaque and rich. Shoyu is a seasoning: soy sauce added to a broth, often a clearer chicken or dashi one, which gives an amber colour and a lighter feel. That is why a tonkotsu shoyu exists, a pork bone broth seasoned with soy sauce.
Where is the best tonkotsu ramen in Berlin?
Cocolo Ramen, with shops at Gipsstraße 3 in Mitte and Graefestraße 11 in Kreuzberg. It is the best tonkotsu we have eaten anywhere, and it has held that position for years. What sets it apart is that instead of thin chashu slices it serves one big piece of tender pork, which stays hot through the whole bowl instead of vanishing into the broth. Go early, it fills up.
Where is the best tonkotsu ramen in Madrid?
Ramen KOTSU x KOTSU on Calle del Cardenal Cisneros 1 in Chamberí. Hokkaido style tonkotsu with a broth simmered for 24 hours, pork that is grilled and then steeped in the tonkotsu, a lovely egg and a full set of toppings. Our only criticism was slightly overcooked noodles. Order the matcha ice cream afterwards, skip the gyoza if you are choosing.
Where can you eat good tonkotsu ramen in the Netherlands?
Tonkotsu Ramen Nikkou in Delft, at Molslaan 16, is the most focused option we have found: it serves tonkotsu and essentially nothing else, and it does it well. Ane Ramen in Maastricht is worth the trip if you care most about broth, because the base of its soup is superb even though the toppings are sparse.
Is Ane Ramen in Maastricht worth going to?
Yes, with one caveat. The base of the soup is genuinely excellent and is the reason our rating is as high as it is. The toppings, though, are minimal, and the noodles are very thin. If you judge ramen primarily on the broth you will be delighted. If you want a generously loaded bowl, you will notice what is missing.
Have you actually been to Japan?
No, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Every bowl on this page was eaten in Europe, so "best in the world" means the best we have personally eaten rather than a global survey. We fully expect a counter in Fukuoka to demolish this entire ranking one day, and we are looking forward to it.
What is the best ramen in the world?
Of everything we have eaten, Cocolo Ramen in Berlin. Nothing across five countries has matched it, and the closest challenger so far is Ramen KOTSU x KOTSU in Madrid, which lost out on slightly overcooked noodles. We only rank tonkotsu here, so this is not a verdict on shoyu, shio or miso bowls.
Keep score on your own bowls
Every bowl on this page is a real entry in a real food map, rated dish by dish with the date attached. That is the only reason we can tell you, years later, exactly why Berlin still beats Madrid. Crumble is free, friends only by default, and runs in the browser you already have. If you like ranking things against each other, restaurant ranking apps compares the ways to do it.