Last week, Lisa and I got to check Sanju on the Voorstraat. The verdict? We loved it!
Homemade & authentic
Sanju strives to offer an authentic ramen experience. With four chefs, two of whom are Japanese, owners Jeroen and Mohammed are constantly researching and working to develop, refine, and perfect their flavours. In addition, they make everything from scratch. And when you’re serving ramen, that’s a serious labour of love… The pork broth alone takes 18 hours to make!
Sanju also makes use of fun and unusual ingredients, like salty “monk’s beard” and crosne, a Japanese potato with the faint, funny look of a slug and a mild nutty flavour. Besides the food being delicious (spoiler alert), trying these ingredients was one of my favourite parts of our lunch. As a big fan of food, cooking, and eating in general, it’s not too often that I come across ingredients I’ve never tried before!
The menu
We chose a few appetisers to whet our appetites: fresh and salty edamame, delicious vegetable dumplings, and a surprisingly tasty and savoury combination of nashi pear and red cabbage.
I don’t eat meat, a fact which has prevented me from ordering ramen at a few restaurants in the past. So imagine my delight when I found out Sanju offers not one but two vegetarian options!* I ordered the smoky tofu ramen and enjoyed every last slurp. The broth is hearty and rich, with a subtle undertone of spice for good measure. I loved the house-smoked tofu and the pickled veggies. Throw in some soft-boiled quail’s eggs and lots of noodles, and you’ve got yourself a winner. Lisa was equally pleased with the mushroom ramen. Besides an array of different mushrooms, it also contains crosne, shiso leaf, bamboo shoots, and – of course – oodles of noodles.
*They can also be made vegan! And there were hints of a new special coming out any day now that’s also vegetarian… so keep your eyes and ears peeled. 😉
Voorstraat 29 | sanju.nl | Facebook | Instagram
Hours of operation: Tues to Thurs, 17:oo – 22:00, and Fri to Sun, 12:00 – 15:00 & 17:00 – 22:00
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