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Two years ago it was discovered that several giant, steaming bowls of Japanese-style noodle broth were to crash onto Earth at any moment. While some of these were stopped mid-flight, others swerved into central London and yet more sloshed into the trendy, eastern parts of the city. Soon a crack team of foodies were working all hours to contain the surge. Could they simply keep eating it all themselves or must they engage the rest of the population? Londoners, the time has come — and we must join forces and eat.

In November 2012 I wrote a story on the trend for people obsessively eating ramen in Soho, namely at two rival joints, Tonkotsu and Bone Daddies. “Was I man enough for ramen?” Was I “ready to suck ’n’ slurp”, as Yo! Sushi, which had just launched a range, asked diners.

Of course I was. This Japanese noodle soup loaded with things such as pork, vegetables and eggs, that one must slurp up, is restorative, filling and feels healthy to eat. For me just one bowl is enough to soak up the aftermath of whatever happened the night before.

But all that was small fry; now it has overflowed — into the mainstream mouth. We can’t stop eating it. In recent months United Ramen has opened in Islington, Kanada-Ya in Charing Cross and Shochu Kanteen in Soho, with more coming — Tim Anderson’s Nanban restaurant, Tonkotsu at Selfridges and Ippudo, a worldwide chain which has decided to launch a European flagship in St Giles. Last week, London Design Festival organiser Saskia Pomeroy hosted a ramen night and from October 8 to 27, during the London Restaurant Festival, a ticket for the Japanese Journey will take you to a handful of the aforementioned.

If the ramen-omics are anything to go by, opening a restaurant could also be a wise move. Food business development expert Monique Borst says fast casual, particularly healthy “fast Asian”, is still a rapidly-growing sector in the eating-out market.

“The gross profit margin (selling price minus the ingredients cost) can be as high as 85 per cent if you exclude noodle dishes with expensive ingredients such as seafood,” she explains. “A bowl of chicken ramen could cost as little as £2 to make and sell for £10.”

But how has it caught on? Borst says it’s a combination of things: “Strong branding, along with clever use of social media and digital marketing, is hugely important to engage customers beyond great food and service. It is what sets one operator apart from another.”

One such brand is Bone Daddies, whose rock ‘n’ roll no-bookings branch in Soho regularly pulls in 500 customers on Saturdays, and which its founder Ross Shonhan will shortly bring to the top floor of Whole Foods Market in Kensington, an under-serviced area in terms of up-and-coming restaurants.

“I used to live two blocks from [there] and I think the options for dining are limited so I hope the residents and workers of the area will embrace what we are going to do,” Shonhan appeals.

“They have a large area that is an awesome space that I think they feel they can do more with. Hopefully our success will give them the confidence to get some other great operators there alongside us.”

For Ippudo, which is aiming to open up to 35 new sites in Europe in the next five to six years, London was an obvious first choice, as its marketing co-ordinator Swann Péré explains: “London is a very lively city, always busy and very rich culturally speaking... in the same way that New York is considered the centre of the US and Singapore the centre of Asia, we consider London to be the centre of Europe.”

London is certainly the centre of ramen at the moment. Time to use your noodle and grab a bowl.