Sosu Japanese – Ramen, Bento Box, Katsu and more

Sosu Japanese on Carlton Road are serving up some of the tastiest Japanese food I have eaten in Nottingham so far. They are slightly off the beaten track but they are well worth hunting down

I came here looking for some top level Ramen noodle action and I found that and a whole lot more

Lets take a closer look and see what we found to eat 😍👀

INSIDE SOSU

There is limited seating inside Sosu with about 8 seats split between a table in the window and a bench in front of the open kitchen. It is a small dining space and certainly cosy when full!

The best seats if you want to see the chef in action is on the kitchen bench, but if you want to slurp your noodles discretely you can sit in the window where you just entertain the passers by as you spill juice down your top

RAMEN MENU

As you may expect I was straight to the Ramen section of the menu reading that they serve all their Ramen bowls filled with ‘Homemade noodles topped with seasoned egg, Pak Choi, spring onion, pickled ginger and nori’ this sounds good so far

They then go on to list a nice simple set of options, TONKOTSU, a CHICKEN SHOYU, their SPICY BEEF RAMEN, and a HOUSE VEGGIE RAMEN.

I like that they have just a small number of dishes to chose from as a nicely focussed menu usually means consistency and clarity from the kitchen.

TONKOTSU RAMEN

It is probably no surprise that I chose a bowl of the TONKOTSU ramen described on the menu as a “Rich pork broth served with braised pork belly”

This was really excellent, the freshly made Noodles had just a little tightness to the bite making them slightly chewy just as they should be.

The broth was light, fresh, and meaty with all the porky goodness I always hope for. It was clearer than some tonkotsu broths I have had recently yet still slightly muddy in a good way.

The flavours in the bowl develop as you work your way through the dish with the ginger and onions seeming to permeate into the mix while you eat enhancing the whole experience.

The two headline acts on this Ramen stage are the lovely unctuous egg with it’s soft yolk and the lightly charred slices of belly pork served in a portion that was just enough to be present and involved in the ramen party without taking over.

I say that with a bowl of good ramen, the noodles and the broth rule the show and here at Sosu Japanese I found that to be the case. Having eaten this delicious bowl of Tonkotsu , even without having tasted the other ramen options I have every confidence that they will be excellent also and I look forward to confirming that on future visits! 😍

BENTO BOX MENU

In the past I have never been that excited about the whole bento box scenario, but today it was a godsend as my partner in dine has not eaten a lot of Japanese food before and this gave her a chance to try a little bit of everything without being overwhelmed by all the other choices

They have 5 main boxes on offer, TERIYAKI, KATSU, VEGETABLE TEMPURA, BEEF BULGOGI, and SUSHI all for under £10 and some for under £9 which sounded to be great value

KATSU BENTO BOX

My dining companion has a fondness for the Katsu style chicken and pork so gravitated naturally to choosing to try the KATSU BENTO BOX

This was billed on the menu as “Breaded chicken served with steamed rice, cabbage salad, chicken gyoza, sushi and miso soup’

More often that not I don’t get a taste from the other side of the table unless it’s a massive meal or we are doing swapsies, but today the meal was declared to be so good that my dining companion was keen to share and I tell you what, I was not about to complain.

The Katsu chicken was huge overflowing from it’s section of the box and I was happy to get a taste of this. We both agreed that the coating on the flattened chicken was divine, light and crunchy, and a perfect bite. Drizzled with katsu sauce and spicy mayonnaise I could eat this all day long

This was a world away from the Katsu my companion had been served on other myfoodhunt expeditions and they declared that ‘so its not just fried chicken then? there is a lot more to it’ Indeed yes! when done properly there most certainly is 😍

The gyoza were cooked to perfection with well seasoned filling and tight crisp casing, cooked potsticker style just as I like ❤️. I saw that they do a portion of these on their own and next time I come back I will be ordering a side or starter all to myself!

I even enjoyed the sushi and the cabbage salad wondering if they always been this good? I obviously needed to come to Sosu Japanese to get them done just right! 🤪 It just shows what you can do!

We both really loved Sosu Japanese and are very keen to come back. I often say that I then rarely return but this place is so good that I have to! I want more of the ramen, I want my own bento box, and I want more gyoza. Suddenly I feel that I am being quite needy (or is that greedy)

Sosu Japanese are located at 195 Carlton Road, Nottingham, NG3 FX opposite the March Hare Inn and just down the road from the Hindu Temple & Community Centre on Linnel St.

A note of caution, parking was a bit of a mare as it was all permit holders so we parked about 5 minutes down the road at the Falcon supermarket and the Lidl sites where you get two hours free. Before you ask, yes we shopped in both when we had done eating 😍👀😜

You can check Sosu Japanese out on their Instagram Profile where they describe some offers and share a few pictures of the food