We want you to know that we’re giving you 100% independent sneak peeks at these places with a fiercely honest flavour.
Nobody paid us to eat here. On this occasion, we thought we’d check out for you the Ramen spot, Shouko.
Check out our no-bullshit text below (about 1.5 minutes reading time required) or watch the video:
Shouko
What’s the menu made of:
Of course, the stars of the menu are Shouko’s range o’ ramen. You’ve got five varieties of the beloved Japanese noodle soup to dive into, including the traditional Shoyu ramen, which is a tasty chicken broth topped with Nori (dried seaweed), sweet corn and a marinated soft-boiled egg.
The Tonkotsu ramen – a rich and creamy, and also very traditional, broth made from boiled pork bones. It comes with some marinated pork belly, bamboo sprouts, Nori, egg and garlic oil. We’ve tried both those ramen, and, let’s just say we could’ve used a nap after gorging ourselves with these deliciously flavour-rich dishes.
Oh, and they’ve also got a vegan ramen dish made with a veggie broth, pumpkin and mushrooms!
Also, even if you’re not feeling the Ramen spirit, you’ll surely find something that’ll satisfy your tastebuds. They’ve got some cool starters, like a Spicy Cucumber Salad, Gyoza dumplings, hot main dishes like Kong Pao Chicken and Peking Duck, but also an assortment of Sushi! We’ve tried the Phoenix Roll, which includes fried shrimp, avocado and sesame mayo, and it was dee-lish!
In case you’re in need of a pick-me-up after this big meal, they know what they’re doing when it comes to whipping up matcha lattes!
What did we manage to do while waiting for our drinks/ food:
enjoying the absence of clutter because of Shouko’s absolutely minimalist approach to interior design, watching a cook break a sweat while stirring the HUGE pots of Ramen broth with an equally HUGE ladle and having some interesting conversation with the owner about how Ramen is actually a Japanese adaptation of Chinese wheat noodles. Interesting!
Recommended if you like:
getting that warm feeling in your belly that soups inspire, slurping soups like there’s no tomorrow, taking naps after eating, being warmed up from the inside out by food, ummmm – ramen, adding salt to most dishes, Japanese cuisine
How would we describe the place to our Oma:
Oma, you won’t BELIEVE what we saw at this cool Ramen place! Oh, what’s Ramen, you ask? Well… basically, it’s kind of like your Fritattensuppe, but with noodles.
Anyway, we didn’t think this was possible, but they had bigger pots than you have, can you believe that, Oma?! Massive pots in which they cook the soup in a big open kitchen.
There no frills or Krimkrams like at your place – it’s bare white brick walls and simple furniture here.
The person sitting next to us was wearing:
The two old friends catching up next to us were dressed casually, but oddly – both had puffy vests on. There were also some nurses in scrubs picking up their whole department’s lunch. How nice of them.
Shouko is perfect for:
warming yourself up with some tasty Ramen on a cold and rainy day, for a quick lunch if you’re in the area, a simple no-fuss dinner with your favourite person in the world on a cold day.