84 Brewer Street,
Soho,
London,
W1F 9UB
0872 148 1853
The ViewLondon Review
Ryo is situated towards the western end of Brewer Street in Soho, not far from Ten Ten Tei and Kulu Kulu. If you’re after authentic Japanese food then this would appear to be the right part of town to head for.
Like the other two, Ryo is rather nondescript and you do actually have to look actively for the name above the window. Style-wise, it’s very much sums up 70s/80s Japanese modernism – black and cream Formica, curvy edges, you know the kind of thing.
Ryo is not a sushi bar – for that you’ll have to pop along the road. The main focus is noodles, although there are quite a few rice dishes, some interesting sounding soups and various other bits and pieces.
Knowing just how busy these places can get at lunchtimes, I popped in early midweek (around 12pm) and was pleased to find that only one other person had got there before me. Incidentally, Ryo has pretty long opening hours – see the info page for details.
The range of set lunches is probably the best place for the uninitiated to start. They’re translated very well, and the staff are more than willing to help. Peculiarly, you pay for your meal and drink beforehand, and then you’re seated. I suppose this probably speeds things up slightly…
Anyhow, my set meal consisted of a steaming bowl of miso soup, a spicy ground pork and tofu broth and a big bowl of rice. The soup was rich and tasty, and had some tofu chunks in as well – a high protein start to a high protein meal.
The trick with the broth appeared to be to spoon it a little at a time over the rice, so the rice soaked up the sauce – not too much however, as it then became tricky to manipulate with chopsticks.
It was delicious though, and washed down with a bottle of Sapporo made a pleasantly memorable lunch. At around £8 all in, it was also fantastic value, and considering its location and opening hours will definitely be somewhere I’ll be visiting more often.
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