Shiro Japanese Restaurant - London Percy Street

As I was walking back down from Paperchase heading towards China Town I was dying to eat Japanese food. Ramen especially. On Tottenham Court Road there are a few places that serve Japanese food, but there is this one place I have passed many times and have wanted to try out their food for a long time... According to other blog posts I have read (after I've been there) they didn't seem to have a good experience... It was empty. Not a single soul in this restaurant. Only the cook and a waitress. Anyway, I entered thinking I must try it out and to see why no one is in there!

Outside Shiro Japanese Restaurant

Well for one thing, I'm not even sure if the staff are Japanese. The place was very clean but no music. What a shame that there were no customers...

Inside the restaurant

Opened door

Empty restaurant :( ... 

There was a lot of choice on the menu, but I had my heart set out for any noodle dishes on the menu. So in the end I chose the shoyru chicken ramen and ebi prawns plus a calpico drink.

First came the ebi prawns and the soy sauce that came with it. Definitely dip your prawns in the sauce as the prawns have no taste to it. These were expensive at £7.50 but worth it. I like fried food and I know I shouldn't eat too much of it.

Ebi Prawns ^_^

My Calpico drink

Next came the ramen. Ooooh. It looked good. The soup wasn't salty, it had the right texture and flavouring. There was hardly any fat sitting on top of the soup. The chicken was tasty and fresh, and very juicy. The ramen itself tasted very good. Not over cooked or under cooked, and it was still al-dente... it was none of that instant noodle business we make at home! I would have had the whole soup if I hadn't added some chilli oil into it... Oh well!!  It was a very good price at £5.90.

Shoyru Chicken Ramen... if only there was an egg on top of that!

I don't know why people are avoiding this place. I actually think it's ok despite the bad reviews they have had recently and plus it's a refurbished, renamed restaurant. The restroom could do with some more refurbishing though. Mr Bear saw the pictures a few days later, and said, "uh, how comes you never told me about this...?!"... Well he hasn't been in the office for a bit, he's doing other important stuff... so next time I will take him there... eventually!

Total cost came to £17.90. I took a picture of the bill to remind myself of the costs... It is quite pricey, but aren't all Japanese restaurants charging too much these days. I didn't realise there was a £2 service charge, and I gave them a £1 tip as there was no one there... ¬,¬" I felt sorry for them.. I would definitely go back for more ramen... Maybe the chasu shoyru ramen and some sushi next time! They are only taking cash at the moment as their phone line is bad, so there's a HSBC and Natwest opposite if you need money!

Also to note, they have a karaoke room and the meat they serve is Halal...

My geeky rating: 4.5/5

Good points:

- Gave you time to look at the menu (the waiter/chef had good timing!)

- A quiet place to eat

- My ramen and prawns tasted really good!!

Bad points:

- A bit too quiet for my liking, they need more guests

- A bit expensive, mainly the prawns, but the ramen price was ok

- Although service was ok, they could smile a bit more!!

Address: 19 Percy St London W1T 1BZ
Telephone: 0871 971 7849 (this is a weird number for a London number...)

Website: http://www.shirolondon.com/ (It's too bad there's no menu online to show you their prices... This website needs a revamp on everything)

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