Shack-Fuyu Soho — Restaurant in London

A very relaxed, vibrant place that is very popular.

The aubergine (with miso, bubu arare) was sweet and melt in the mouth, with an almost caramel flavour to it due to the miso.

The Korean fried wings (with spicy sour sauce, sesame) were insanely delicious (if a little messy, I needed about 3 wipes!). Some of the best wings I've ever had. YOU MUST TRY THEM.

I'm not usually a squid fan, but the crispy fried squid (with black pepper, lemon, red chillies, yuzu kosho mayo) were also amazing, so moreish.

We also tried the Prawn toast ("masquerading as okonomiyaki") which was well cooked and flavoured, with katsuobushi flakes giving it a nice umami, salty seasoning.

The Chashu pork bao bun was delicious, the sweet spicy soy and kimchee really made this stand out. The pork was tender and melted in the mouth and balance of sweetness and spice was perfect.

The only disappointing dishes were the 2 sandos we ordered (the rabbit katsu and Iberic katsu sandos). They were pretty dry and also the bread was quite greasy. Overall they didn't have much flavour. It's a shame as one of the main reasons we visited was for the sandos!

To finish we had the Kinako French toast with soft serve, matcha flavoured ice cream, which did not disappoint. It was very nice indeed. Melt in the mouth toast with oozy, soft ice cream which wasn't too heavy on the matcha flavour.

The service was pretty quick and attentive.

All in all a pleasurable visit and I would...

We were excited to finally try Shack-Fuyu after hearing great things. We booked in advance, and it was packed when we arrived.

Between us, we shared: Izakaya - tenderstem broccoli, edamame, wagyu beef tataki, crispy fried squid, Okonomiyaki prawn toast Raw - seared salmon sashimi Hot Stone - sukiyaki wagyu beef, pulled lamb Robata - grilled salmon fillet Dessert - kinako French toast

The salmon dishes were the standouts - perfectly cooked and full of flavour. I’m more of a savoury person, but even I loved the French toast. The broccoli and lamb were also really solid picks. Overall, the food was good.

Unfortunately, the experience let it down. We were seated next to a loud table who arrived after us but were served first, and they spent the evening shouting across the table. Our drinks took 25 minutes to arrive, and we had to ask multiple times - even though we could see them sitting at the bar. We were also served the wrong dishes more than once and had to chase missing items. At the end, we were even given the wrong bill.

I get that it was busy, but the service felt chaotic throughout, with no apology or effort to make up for it.

Glad we tried it, but I probably wouldn’t go back. For the price, we expected a better overall experience.

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Edit: despite a comment on this review asking me to get directly in touch i’ve since emailed the provided address and...

Unfortunately we were pretty disappointed with our visit to Shack Fuyu recently, which is a shame because we had heard good things.

We ordered several small plates and a couple of bao buns and in general the food was quite poor. The padrón peppers and squid were both so incredibly salty that it actually spoilt them completely. The peppers were drenched in a mountain of salt and they were almost inedible. The edamame on the other hand had hardly any salt or flavour at all. The sauce that came with the squid was supposed to be a mayo but it was far to watery and the flavour was off. The bao buns were lukewarm and lacking in flavour. The pork one had two sad pieces of lettuce in it and that was about it in terms of garnish. The only dish I genuinely enjoyed were the chicken wings which, to be fair, were delicious.

The service wasn’t particularly friendly, the staff seemed to spend a lot of time talking to eachother and there were a couple of instances where I tried to get their attention, they saw me, and carried on talking. When you’re paying a 12.5% added service charge, I would expect better.

Prices were also pretty high, with a coke being £4.10 and a small bao bun being over £8. Finally the tables are very cramped together and people had to move them to get out.

I don’t normally like to complain but I was genuinely disappointed with...