Shōyu — Restaurant in Riga

I wanted to love this ramen spot. It was Michelin Bib Gourmand, after all. I went for a simple, quick ramen lunch, but got pulled in by the wagyu offering. The waiter informed me that the €40 bowl of ramen didn't include a marinated egg and offered to add one for an extra charge. I figured if I was already dropping the €40 on a single bowl, I might as well. I was a bit disappointed that most of the ramen was made with chicken & dashi, as that's a really poor base for an umami-rich broth.

I decided to start with gyoza, as you should with ramen. These were decidedly bland and served with teriyaki sauce, which made them feel like they came from a generic Asian fast food stall. I skipped finishing them to not fill up before the ramen.

The ramen arrived and was beautifully presented. The wagyu ramen is served with a sidectray to dip the wagyu into egg yolk (again with teriyaki) and salt. This was okay, but kinda weird to fish your wagyu out of a bowl to dip.

The kicker for me was receiving a bowl of pretty luke-warm ramen. The extra egg was served cold, as was the wagyu. The broth wasn't hot or plentiful enough to cook the meat or keep the bowl hot. The wagyu quality was great, but there is a reason why I have never seen this kind of offering. It was awkward & didn't enhance the ramen. I really enjoyed the ramen toppings, including creative adds like fried onions, but I couldn't get over the sub-par temperature and the fact the broth was very much lacking the consistency and umami of a pork broth base. I even stirred it thinking the tare might have not gotten mixed well.

It was good, but not nearly what I would expect from a place with such a Michelin recognition. Maybe I should have ordered Tonkotsu to get a more...

Authentic Japanese Ramen shop in Riga.

Tiny restaurant in a quiet neighborhood of central Riga. This place has a soul. Created by a true enthusiast so passionate about Japan and ramen in particular.

It all started with his interest in Japanese culture, few trips to that country, followed by thousands of experiments of cooking ramen in the kitchen at home. In search for the authenticity he managed to get in and be accepted in very small and closed for others communities of ramen gurus. There he learnt from the best ramen chefs in the world and obtained well kept secrets of ramen mastery.

All key ingredients are imported directly from Japan. Shoyu boasts having crazy expensive machine for making noodles. The restaurant offers an extensive menu of different ramen styles to choose from. They cook and keep three separate broths for them, including Tonkotsu or Hakata, how's it called in Fukuoka, it's place of origin. Tonkotsu is cooked from pork bones for up to two days, resulting in rich and concentrated broth.

You simply can't miss with any ramen here. All are utterly delicious. Remember, the best ramen should be consumed while it's hot and noodles are fresh. Don't waste time chatting when the dish is served, but rather rush to enjoy its heavenly taste.

The menu also offers some good snacks. Tuna tataki and Ebi Kushiyaki, grilled shrimps, are extremely good.

Also check the selection of natural wines as these are perfect pairing with your ramen. Juicy orange wine takes it to the next level.

Interior is cozy and takes you to some dream place in Japan.

This place is the victim of its own success so don't even try to get there without a reservation at least few days in...

This restaurant really gives the taste of Japan while being not in Japan. Can't stress this enough. The taste of the food is amazing every time we come here. This time we visited Shōyu as a part of Christmas special where they had a special menu - 3 dishes and 5 drinks (out of which in the set 2 are included). What was surprising that the place was not packed but they still had empty seats. We had book table for 2 hours but ended up staying a bit longer as that was possible. As a starter we took both cocktails that came together with starter - HAMACHI CRUDO (Fresh Japanese hamachi with persimmon, mustard seed caviar, trout caviar and sweet and sour sauce). All dishes were served by the main chef Jevgenij Rimash @zenijek (IG) and drinks by a really amazing staff member, both explained what we are eating and drinking and also asked the feedback for the dishes. Then we had another 2 cocktails that came with main dish - DOUBLE STOCK TSUKEMEN (Duck broth with shoyu tare, tonkotsu broth with shrimp tare and mushroom oil, special made tsukemen noodles with kombu, chashu porchetta and duck) I could eat this every day 😂 especially the shrimp broth. We took 2 more extra cocktails as we wanted tontaste all of them and that was perfect as the last cocktail with chilli turned out as my favourite cocktail of this set. I hope it will be added to the regular menu. And finally we had a dessert - Tangerine muss with almond and white chocolate chips, tangerine ice cream with Greek yoghurt, pickled tangerine in Japanese rum and spices. In the end we were full but what was nice that stomach didn't feel heavy. Can't wait to...