Edamamé is one of those places that’s easy to miss when it’s closed but very obvious during opening hours, largely due to the queue that will probably be snaking its way down Holywell Street.
I’ve cycled past the waiting customers on many an occasion and tried its Thursday sushi menu once (would recommend). I wandered past early one Saturday evening with my parents on the lookout for a quick dinner, and by some miracle we were there ahead of the usual crowds. This was not a chance to pass up on so we dived inside to nab one of the tiny tables.
The restaurant is pretty much an Oxford institution.
It’s very small, with simple decor and quick service. You are likely to find yourself sat at one of their communal tables if it’s busy, with people queuing both inside and outside. Overall it makes for a very bustling atmosphere!
There’s a lunch menu for Weds-Sun, a sushi menu on Thurs evenings and an early dinner menu Fri-Sat. Extra dishes are plastered over the walls on sheets on paper once you’re inside.
I went for tonkatsu (£8.50 – fried breaded pork cutlet) while my parents ordered shogayaki (£8.50 – stir fried strips of pork loin in soy and ginger) and samon teri (£12.50 – salmon fillets poached in a homemade sauce).
It was tricky to narrow down our side dishes so we treated ourselves to several: rice, a dish of tofu in soy sauce with spring onion, takoyaki (octopus pieces in ‘pancake balls’), kaiso sarada (mixed seaweeds and cabbage with a citrus dressing) as well as a pickled cucumber salad.
It was a great mix of textures and flavours.
My port cutlet was huge, very crisp and clearly fresh out of the fryer, but by the end of the meal it was proving too salty for me and the little pot of dipping sauce was not really to my taste. However it was nice when mixed with the fresh, acidic dressing of the salads and the sweeter tofu broth.
The shogayaki was delicious – you really can’t go wrong with soy and ginger – and the salmon dish got a big thumbs up from my mum.
The mixed seaweeds were such an interesting combination, and the yuzu dressing had a nicely balanced flavour. The tofu started crispy and then got increasingly squishy as it soaked up its tasty sauce – leaving just enough to drizzle over large helpings of rice.
The octopus pancake balls were perhaps my least favourite; the amount of octopus in each one was quite small in comparison to the ball of batter. Once the octopus piece was gone, I dipped the batter into some of the sauces from other dishes so it wasn’t just on its own.
I think we were in and out in about 50 minutes, so it really was a quick dinner. The service was efficient and for some reason we really liked the fact that our bill was hand-written and seemingly calculated through mental maths. We found it was great value for dinner in the middle of Oxford.
It feels like a good option for a casual dinner, as long as you’re not fussy about potentially sharing a table, and you’re happy sitting on backless benches/stools. The portions were sizeable and overall it has a bustling feel. I’m sure we’ll be back for another sushi night soon.
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