Review: Shoryu – Breakfast Menu

I’m a huge fan of treating myself to a nice breakfast when I can, so I was very glad to take Shoryu up on the offer of trying its new menu.

The restaurant is at the base of Westgate, conveniently located ahead of a day of retail therapy. At 10am on a Sunday it had a calm and welcoming atmosphere, with a few other tables of diners. The team were attentive and friendly from the get-go, including tapping a small drum at the door and shouting a welcome in Japanese to new arrivals.

The light-wood decor and stylish tableware gave very aesthetic modern vibes. We sat with a view into the gently steaming pots and pans of the kitchen, framed beneath a row of paper lanterns.

We started off with a black sesame latte (£4.50) and kinako latte (£4.50). These were both unfamiliar to us but our server was helpful at explaining the drinks, including recommendations on whether we should have them iced or not. It was already hot outside so we’d initially been leaning towards cooler drinks, but he suggested that the flavours of the kinako in particular would be better when warm.

The black sesame latte (iced) was milky and refreshing.

It had a fairly strong sesame flavour but it was sweet, nutty and not overwhelming. The kinako latte (hot) was made from soya beans, and had a base taste that reminded me of rice milk. It was creamy, frothy and comforting, served in a ceramic bowl that would be great for clasping on a cold morning.

Despite being listed under the ‘tea and coffee’ section of the menu, I’m not sure there was actually any caffeine in either of the drinks – this was perhaps my misunderstanding, but something to bear in mind if you need the energy hit at breakfast. There is also the option of other drinks – cappuccino, espresso etc – made with Ueshima coffee.

We were feeling fruity so treated ourselves to a smoothie and one of Shoryu’s ‘signature drinks’. They were out of the strawberry/banana smoothie listed on the menu but I was happy to take the replacement offer of mango/passionfruit (£4.95) – this didn’t necessarily stand out from other smoothies I’ve had in my time, but you can’t really go wrong taste-wise. The matcha detox (£6.50 – matcha, pineapple juice, coconut syrup, lime) was much more exciting, with a vibrant tropical flavour. Definitely a pick-me-up!

We moved onto food feeling very hydrated.

I chose the ‘traditional salmon and green tea ochazuke’ (£9.90 – Japanese rice with sencha dashi tea, grilled salmon and kizami nori). It was fun to have the interactive element of pouring the green tea into the rice before tucking in.

The salmon itself was moist and very tasty, particularly with a sprinkling of zesty seasoning. The sushi rice gradually soaked up the tea, which meant that the texture became nice and stodgy as I worked through the bowl.

However I quickly finished the salmon and was left with a lot of rice. The bowl could have done with a couple of other elements to bring some variety in texture and flavour – it’s no bad thing that it was a generous helping of rice, but it became a bit plain even with the flavour of the tea as it was slowly absorbed.

Our other dish was the chicken karaage waffle (£14.50). It was a tough choice between this and the ‘Morning Mazemen’ (soupless ramen £14.40), but fundamentally it’s hard to say no to fried chicken and waffles at any time of day.

The chicken was plentiful and delicious – very crisp on the outside but nicely juicy inside. It was a winning combination when drizzled with maple syrup.

However we found that the waffles themselves were underwhelming. They were quite thin and seemed like the kind of waffles we could make at home rather than anything particularly special.

The addition of assorted fruits was a first to us; while I’ve had various sweet/savoury breakfast combos before, I’ve never had fried chicken with bananas, strawberries and blueberries. It might not be the everyone’s taste, but it brought some freshness to the dish. The fruits themselves were ripe and flavorful. I enjoyed them separately to the chicken, mopping up the leftover maple syrup and waffle crumbs.

We finished up with a matcha crepe cake to share (£9.90). This was very rich, with a pillowy soft texture. There was no shortage of cream sandwiched inbetween all the layers of crepe. This did well to balance out the earthier matcha flavour, which became a lot stronger if you got a spoonful with the dusting from the top of the cake.

I always think that crepe cakes are worth ordering just to get the sheer pleasure of cutting through all the paper-thin layers, and this was an indulgent end to the meal – but I’d suggest only ordering it if you know that you like the flavour of matcha (and if you have lots of space left after your mains).

Overall it was nice to have a different experience to the other breakfast options in town.

There were interesting and varied flavours on offer across both the food and the drink at a relatively reasonable price point, although the dishes we tried had some elements that were better than others. The service was friendly, and it’s a prime location ahead of a day in Oxford.