Shoryu

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A very good Japanese friend emailed to say we must do lunch at Shoryu. This is a lady who takes her Japanese food, in fact all food very seriously. So I knew I would be in for a treat. We went to Shoryu Ramen on Regent Street, they have other branches in Soho, Air Street and Kingly Court, all aimed at a slightly different audience. The Regent Street restaurant is a perfect lunchtime pit stop, whether in-between meetings, indulging in some retail therapy or sightseeing.

Ramen is a super craze in London right now, with an abundance of new places popping up weekly and almost  solely serving this noodle broth. My friend is happily shocked at the ramen rampage, five years ago there was no ramen restaurants in London, now she can barely keep up. Shoryu is owned by the Japan Centre, these guys take ramen seriously and want to do justice to their native country.

At Shoryu it was straight to the main event, the menu consists of 2 columns of tonkotsu ramen noodles. Tonkotsu is a specific type of ramen, from the Southern Island of Kyushu, Japan. it is made with a thick, rich, white pork soup and thin, straight ramen noodles. With about 20 different variations, I needed some help.  I was advised the first half of the broths on the menu were very traditional, rich and meaty. The following half were lighter and more soy based. With it being a weekday lunchtime and a packed afternoon ahead I went for the ‘natural.’

An over-sized terracotta bowl with a wooden ladle and chopsticks arrived, steaming to the top with the delicious smell of a soy broth. It was filled with shiitake mushrooms, beansprouts, sweetcorn, spring onion, sesame, spinach, bamboo and ultra fresh slabs of ginger and of course the rice noodles. On each table there is extra condiments of fresh garlic bulbs, extra sesame seeds and soy sauce. It was a bowl of insanely moorish goodness, the salty soy and electric ginger with the nutty sesame slipped down a treat. It was fresh, comforting and most of all a delight to try something different. My friend had the ‘spicy miso’ which included the famous pork broth and bbq pork, she described it as being very nearly as good as home. It doesn’t get much better than that.

As a side order I would highly recommend the Hirata buns, reminiscent of a recent trip to flesh and buns. They are fluffy, dewy and when filled with sticky, sweet bbq pork they are unmissable.

So there you have it, a perfect lunch spot or quick bite after work/pre-theatre in the centre of London, try some ravaging ramen, why not?

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