"Omar Shah’s Filipino-Japanese ramen bar is an illustration of what can happen when chefs shake off the straitjacket of “authenticity” and channel their culinary upbringings and inspirations into something singular. Reconstituting the building blocks of Filipino cuisine as ramen bowls, oxtail kare kare combines a peanut beef broth with pulled oxtail and makes tonkotsu look boring in the process; a traditional soup, chicken sopas, shines when reimagined as a series of ramen toppings. Fun, articulate, stunning cookery — it’s another hit for Shah’s Kentish Town empire, which now has a new site in Soho sporting a lobster and crab bowl of pure decadence." - MiMi Aye
