My best friend Dave tried ramen for the first time in Oxford at a Michelin star Japanese restaurant called Shoryu. Since then, he has fallen in love with Japanese food and for one year we have being going to many Japanese restaurants together so that he could find something better.
We are always on the look out for the best Japanese restaurant, and despite all of our efforts, we could not find anything that was according to dave "as good as Shoryu in Oxford".
We decided to have a road trip to Oxford to discover the best Japanese restaurant in England. I, my sister Sophie, and Dave all set out on a long car journey to Oxford. We stopped at a service station and had a delicious pumpkin katsu curry for lunch.
When we arrived at Westgate shopping mall, we parked up and explored the area. We discovered the best fresh fudge I have ever had at the Fudge Kitchen, they have vegan options that taste as good as the real thing and the huge slabs of fudge come in a lovely gift box.
If you go to Oxford, the fudge is a must, but if you can't visit, then I'd highly recommend ordering some from their website. After exploring some shops, and landmarks, we then went off to a bar for a couple of drinks before dinner.
The Best Japanese Restaurant in England
We got to the restaurant and I was so excited to try the best Japanese food in England. Every time someone enters the restaurant, the waiter bangs a drum which is a very nice touch that is also very welcoming.
We sat down and I tried sake for the first time, it was similar to rice milk but with a strong and delicious flavour. The sake came in a cute ceramic jug with a drinking bowl dish.
For starters we ordered a selection of steamed buns (Chicken Kirage, pork belly, and pumpkin croquette.) These were incredible, they were light, extremely tasty, huge, and overall made your mouth water.
Followed by the buns was the best takoyaki ever, these doughy octopus balls were so flavoursome and came with mayo, some kind of sweet sauce, pickled red cabbage and more. Me and Dave have tried taykoyaki at many restaurants and this was hands-down the best.
The ramen topped it off, and literally blew me away. I ordered the chefs recommended Tonkotsu ramen that is cooked for 12 hours, the pork belly ciasu was cooked to perfection and was super soft.
If you visit Oxford, you must eat at Shoryu. The recipes at shoryu were created by executive chef Kanji Furukawa and are traditional southern Japanese recipes that you would find if you visited Japan. I don't know if we will ever find Japanese food that is better than Shoryu but we won't stop looking, the adventure continues.
