London: Shoryu Ramen, Kensington

We had planned to go to Shoryu Ramen in Kensington High Street when we had looked online at places for dinner near our hotel in London.  We were keen to slurp some ramen on our first night and were very happy with our dinner.  Shoryu Ramen has 12 restaurants, mainly in London, and was founded by Executive Chef Kanji Furukawa who was born and raised in Hakata.

If you look closely at the top photo of the Kensington restaurant, on the far left of the window counter is a drum.  When a customer entered in search of a table, they were welcomed by a beat on the drum.  (Somehow we missed this but Sylvia experienced it on a second visit.)  It is a sign of how popular the restaurant is that the drum seemed to be beaten regularly during our visit.

We started with drinks and edamame.  I chose a Cucumber, yuzu and rosemary Punchy Drink.  It was a low-calorie sparkling drink that I had never heard of before.  It was quite refreshing.  The cucumber taste was odd but good.  Sylvia had an apple juice.  

We shared some Edamame with hakata yuzu and sea salt.  You can see the generous sprinkling of the seasoning on the pods.  I liked the way it was served with an extra bowl for empty pods.  And the edamame was delicious when sucking the beans out of the seasoned pods.

I also ordered the Pumpkin Croquette Bun.  The pumpkin croquette was hot with a great crispy coating, served in a bao bun with iceberg lettuce and cucumber with Hirata sauce and Japanese mayo. I really enjoyed this, especially because I have pumpkin less these days because Sylvia does not like it and I am not often enthused with bao fillings.  The menu also included a pumpkin croquette curry which also looked delicious.

The main event, of course, was the ramen.  The menu had three vegan ramen options but two were spicy so we were wary.  We both ordered the White Natural Ramen: "our unique tonyu soy milk, miso, konbu & shiitake broth, atsuage tofu, kikurage mushrooms, menma bamboo shoots, spring onion, tender broccoli, nori seaweed".

The ramen was delicious and really filling, especially given we had had starters.  Soy milk in a broth sounds odd but it gives a little more body.  The tofu had quite a chewy skin that made it a bit tricky to cut with chopsticks.  Who doesn't love the slurpy joy of noodles in a beautifully flavored broth with toothsome tofu, chewy mushrooms and soft green broccolini.  The crispy nori garnish had to be eaten quickly before it absorbed the broth and softened.

We really loved our meal at Shoryu.  If we weren't so full we would have loved to share the chocolate miso ice cream.  Sylvia loved her meal so much that she went back alone one night when we wanted different sorts of dinners.  She had the same ramen and was as happy with it the second time.  I wish I had gone back.  The menu was generous with vegan options. If only I hadn't had so many other meals to try in London!

Shoryu Ramen
190 Kensington High St, London, W8 7RG
Open hours: Tues-Sat: 12-10pm, Sun-Mon: 12-9.30pm
https://www.shoryuramen.com/