So Good!! Eating Pork Ramen @ Shoyu Ramen & Izakaya, Cascais
by Elise Xavierpublished onSo a Shoyu Ramen & Izakaya opened up in Cascais a few weeks ago and we decided to check it out not too long ago.
Truth be told, while there are plethora of options when it comes to sushi around here, there aren't all that many options when it comes other types of Asian cuisine.
Don't get me wrong - if I bothered to head over to Lisbon, I'd find plenty. But here in Cascais, there are a select few, and of those, some are too expensive for me to try, while others practically look like they're dessert with the amount of sugar that must be caked onto them.
Ramen? Totally up my alley these days. I remember back when I was in Canada, I couldn't really jump on the ramen bandwagon. Most likely because I was into all things stir fry and couldn't appreciate soups, stews, or anything liquidy for what it was.
Maybe I'm older, maybe my taste has changed, maybe both have happened, but either way, I'm definitely game for a good soup, stew, or ramen now, so I couldn't wait to try this place out.
I ordered a Spicy Shoyu Ramen (comes with pork) for myself and Thomas ordered the Tonkotsu Ramen for himself.
Here's what mine looked like:
Thomas forgot to take pictures before he started eating, but I said that was okay since they looked pretty much the same besides the pork. We're new at this - okay? We'll get better at snapping shots of all the food ;)
Both were tasty, and they brought over spicy sauce so Thomas could deck his out the same way mine was. I had a slight preference toward mine, I guess because I prefer Tonkotsu on it's own and not in ramen.
But would not hesitate to get either.
Overall the noodles were extremely tasty. They're not very expensive, but you also don't get a heck of a lot portion-wise.
If you're into having a main meal with a few sides, that makes the portion-size ideal, and that's just what we did (I'll get into the sides we tried in a little bit).
There's another restaurant that's a very short walk away from this one that serves ramen that we probably like better - it's called SOYA Noodle Bar (Cascais as well, you can see my review of it here).
It's got fantastic noodles that are super aromatic and they give you quite a lot of meat (even if you order duck, which we always do), so value-wise it's very good.
But these noodles strike a different tone with me. A more authentically Asian one. One that doesn't feel quite as healthy - packed with MSG, which I have to admit I sometimes crave.
Basically, I will be back to both restaurants, depending on my mood. But let's get into the sides we bought, since I'm sure your curious about that.
We had our noodles and were still a little peckish, so we decided we had room for two sides, and grabbed the squid tempura:
(Would not advise to bother to get, will never grab these again ^)
& the Karaage fried chicken:
(10000% would recommend, getting these as a side every time we go!! ^).
The Squid tempura was expensive, you don't get much of it, it's too soft for my liking, and it just feels quite boring overall. Not worth it in my books, don't even bother, in my opinion.
The Karaage fried chicken? A completely different ballgame and sososo good. Really good value and tasty as all hell. They are perfection. I love them to bits, definitely would recommend and as I said, we'll be getting these as a side (probably a starter) every single time we go visit Shoyu Ramen & Izakaya. Yes, they were this good.
All in all, this is a place I would definitely come visit again. It's a great addition to the center of Cascais, a nice little restaurant in a convenient location that's not overpriced as so many restaurants downtown are.
Will I venture to try some other things on the menu? Maybe, but based on what I had, I may end up eating the same excellent meal over and over again. Sans the squid tempura of course. Will definitely be back again.