‘Gudetama’ joined us for our dinner at Shoryu Ramen

In the heart of central Manchester, Shoryu Ramen overlooks the bustling Piccadilly gardens.With both outside and inside seating, Shoryu looks like a quaint retreat from the city’s madness, focuses mainly on Japanese ramen. If you have been anywhere near Instagram recently, ramen is a hot topic across food blogs, consisting of wheat style noodles in a delicious hearty broth. Nevertheless, our visit to Shoryu Ramen was for a very special occasion.

From the 1st – 21st of April, Shoryu ramen ran a special ‘Gudetama’ themed menu to celebrate Easter. If you haven’t heard of ‘Gudetama’, it’s an adorable Japanese egg cartoon who is a close friend of Hello Kitty. Made of out the yolk of an egg , ‘Gudetama’ is a joyous character with small limbs and a rather melancholy face. For these two weeks, Shoryu turned its restaurant into a ‘Gudetama’ theme park with a special set menu celebrating this lovable little egg.

Photo: Steven Joyce

The ‘Gudetama’ themed set menu features a choice of drink, bao buns, a bowl of ramen, a desert and a custom designed chocolate bar; you’re even allowed to keep the special ‘Gudetama’ glass which your drink is served in! For our steamed bao bun, we opted for the BBQ pork and Karaage chicken. When presented, we noticed the bun had been specially designed for the ‘Gudetama’, featuring its egg-like colour, finished off with a cheeky cocktail stick with ‘Gudetamas’ bum on show. The buns were sweet, crunchy and soft, delivering everything you could want from this Japanese  delicacy.

For our main, we both opted for the Karaage ramen. Delivered in a specially designed ramen bowl, we cracked fresh garlic which is provided on the table and tucked in to this tasty broth. With a barrage of flavours, you never know what you’re going to get with each mouthful. Hints of seaweed, ginger and mushroom all come together to create a complex bowl of flavour which leaves your mouth-watering after every spoonful.

Photo: Steven Joyce

Once we devoured our ramen it was time for desert. Specially designed for the ‘Gudetama’ set menu. we chose the salted caramel mochi ice cream. Mochi, a Japanese desert is thin chewy rice cake which is rolled into balls housing a delicious scoop of ice cream. This was the perfect finish to a skillfully designed set menu. It felt as though the cute ‘Gudetama’ sat with us throughout our whole meal.

As we left Shoryu Ramen we felt more intrigued than ever about the Gudetama. Shoryu delivered an expertly themed menu and  campaign. After our meal, we even took photos with the ‘Gudetama’ for a social media competition. Not only did we get a fantastic meal, but we were transported to a world of Japanese culture, it was a set menu which we both would never forget.