A modest little chain, Shoryu is another place joining the ramen trend. The layout inside is very casual, think Wagamama-style benches with seasoning and sauces on the tables. They promise to serve “authentic Hakata tonkotsu ramen with a passion” and I think they succeed.
I went for a long overdue dinner with one of my oldest friends at the Soho branch. Coincidentally, she also happens to be a big Japanese food fan and had recently spent time in Japan experiencing the culture and cuisine there. Her enthusiasm for various traditional recipes that she spotted on the menu fuelled my interest too.
We chose an assortment opting for some familiar favourites like Gyoza Pork Dumplings and crispy deep-fried Chicken Kara Age. We exhibited more daring with our main course choices ordering two different ramen noodle dishes.
All the food at Shoryu is fresh and full of flavour, there’s no need for extra seasoning as they get it just right. My Hokkaido Curry Ramen was a recipe of rich curry-soy pork broth with crispy karage chicken, nitnamago, nori, menma, naruto fish cake and spring onion. Obviously I don’t know what most of these ingredients are, so I had to take the waiter’s word that it was worth trying. It was an intense broth with numerous ingredients and numerous different tastes, delicious but still quite a foreign concept for my palate. A giant bowl, it was impossible to finish, but I was impressed by the nearby Japanese couple who seemed to easily slurp up every last bit of theirs.
It is also worth mentioning the Hirata Bun, a highly authentic speciality at Shoryu, it is basically the Japanese equivalent of a burger so unsurprisingly I loved it.
My friend insisted on ordering the bizarre sounding Matcha Mochi – a dessert made with rice flour, sugar, fresh cream, milk, white chocolate and green tea powder. I hated it, but she promised it was just as good as the variety she had tasted in Japan. I went for the more normal sounding cheesecake which was tasty but nothing special.
Shoryu is a lovely Japanese café-style restaurant, it is a great introduction to Japanese food and a front runner in the ramen trend.
More information here.