Tea and Bun serving up Ramen, Gyoza, and Fluffy Bao is located amongst many great streetfood vendors at Plymouth Market. They are downstairs from their sister restaurant @Kitchen who we have also featured on the blog (read more here)

Owned by Prissana Hosakon this place opened in August 2018 and it was another place on our list when we were back in Plymouth checking out the street food scene. The Pho at @Kitchen had been so good, I just had to come over to try the Ramen at Tea and Bun. It might have been a 5 hour drive but hey a man needs his noodle fix 🙂

RAMEN MENU

I really fancied most of the bowls on the Ramen menu at Tea and Bun! It was a tough decision, the Spicy seafood Ramen with prawn, salmon, and squid in a mushroom broth sounded like the sort of thing one should try at a coastal town, and the Mushroom Ramen with Mixed Mushroom, fried tofu and green vegetable in a Shitake mushroom broth also sounded delicious, I do love a mushroom.

In the end though it was going to be all about the Pork and it came down to a straight choice between the Tonkotsu and the Spicy Tonkotsu . The Tonkotsu won out because it had Pork Belly in it, the Spicy Tokotsu sounded liked it might be more warming but it said it came with Pork Mince and I love Pork Belly so unlucky Spicy One

TONKOTSU RAMEN

The Tonkotsu was described on the Ramen menu as being in a meaty pork broth with ‘chashu pork belly and wood ear fungus‘ served with beansprout and spring onion. It also said that it was ‘exclusive to Plymouth‘. I figured that meant it was their own creation.

The slices of Pork belly were a little tricky to pick up with the chopsticks, but the lady serving us clocked that out quickly as she kindly slipped a fork and a spoon onto the table to help us out. That also helps eating the noodles as then you can twist them out of the bowl using the spoon just like eating spaghetti bolognese 🙂

I had added a Duck egg to my bowl of ramen and that lovely golden orange egg yolk added more richness to the dish, it was a great decision.

I really loved this, the broth was much cloudier that I had expected and it was a bit sweeter too, I think that was due to the addition of their special Tonkatsu sauce. It was still light though and despite being a huge bowl it was so easy to keep on eating and slurping. Well it was for me anyway but then again I am a noodle fiend.

I could see defeated diners at tables near us and I even though I had my own mound of noodles to deal with, my brain was secretly hatching plans to finish their leftovers. Luckily my self respect shoulder angel was whispering ‘NO’ gently in my ear.

We made two trips to Tea and Bun as we wanted to also try some of their Bao Buns. If I am honest I could have eaten every single one of the options presented to us on the menu but we had to be restrained and just choose two.

There were so many great sounding combinations like the ‘Crispy duck with hoisin sauce‘ a tried and tested Asian classic which I could easily have scoffed. Likewise the ‘Beef brisket with siracha sauce‘ sounded like a meaty and spicy little treat as well.

In the end though the ‘Cha-shu pork with sweet spicy soy‘ and the ‘Chicken Katsu with special tonkatsu sauce‘ were the chosen ones.

CHICKEN KATSU BAO

CHA-SHU PORK BAO

The Bao buns themselves were soft and fluffy with a bit of a light chewy bite. Both combinations were filled with the house crunchy asian slaw that was also good but also kind of took over the whole bite.

I liked both the sliced up Cha-shu pork, the same pork that we had in our ramen, and I liked the crispy coated katsu chicken, but if I am honest I would have liked a lot more of the main event in each bun. If it had not been for the sweet spicy soy in the Pork bao or the Tonkatsu sauce with the Chicken bao I am not sure that I would have known which one was which.

FRIED PORK GYOZA WITH SPICY MAYO

I do love a dumpling and I am always on the myfoodhunt for a good one. When I see the word gyoza on a menu I am never quite sure what we are going to get. Sometimes it is the lovely soft pan steamed potsticker style which is the one that I cherish the most. Sometimes it has been deep fried and I am left in great sadness.

So today I was in a bit of a ‘lets just see what happens’ frame of mind as the menu did say ‘Fried’ pork gyoza and I was just hoping that they were not too fried.

I think that it is clear from the picture that these had seen a fair bit of frying, but even though they were quite crisp they were still a bit chewy and the filling was really well flavoured so I didn’t mind too much and when dipped into the spicy mayo they were actually quite a nice little snack. Phew crisis averted 🙂

I was really glad that we had taken the time to check out Tea and Bun in Plymouth. They were some things like the Ramen that I totally loved and would come back for again to try the other bowls that they had on offer.

I enjoyed the Baos and the Gyoza, and despite some misgivings, if I lived in Plymouth I would come back in again to check out the other fillings.

I am a little bit sad that it is such a long drive to visit them, but it is something to look forward to next time I am town.

Tea and Bun is located at 135 Cornwall Street in Plymouth PL1 1PA but it woukld be easier to say that it is located inside Plymouth Market. It has entrances accessible at the back the market under the mezzanine where @Kitchen can also be found. But there is also a street facing entrance on Cornwall Street

Opening times are Market times so just open between 11am -5pm Mon-Sat

You can check them out on their Facebook Page and on their Instagram feed