Shiro

Landmark Centre, Water Corporation Road, Victoria Island, Lagos

0818 629 8888

NOSA: I don’t think I’ve shared this on here, but my long term plan with Eat.Drink.Lagos is to finesse this thing into restaurant for small chops, like Ping Pong, because that should be a thing. I mean, dim sum is basically Asian small chops. Why do they get to do it and not us?

Yesterday, Shiro “officially” launched their dim sum menu. It’s been there for a while, but it’s been in bits and pieces. Yesterday, they fr fr unleashed all 5+ pages of dim sum goodness.

FOLLY: Naturally, Nosa and I went snooping around.

NOSA: Before we get into it, just a quick question: why aren’t there more Nigerians at Shiro? Maybe we went at the wrong time, but for about an hour, it was expat city. Maybe all the Nigerians were still at church.

Or maybe it’s by design. Apparently, Shiro doesn’t play Nigerian music on purpose.

FOLLY: A few weeks ago we were invited to a media event at Shiro. The timing wasn't very convenient but Nosa and I were determined to go to eat back our wagyu steak money on the house. I wasn't able to make it, but Nosa and a friend of ours did and ate enough maki rolls for the both of us. 

NOSA: I couldn't stay for the whole thing but our friend said the manager mentioned that little tidbit about Nigerian music, which is a bit of a strange thing to proclaim.

About as strange as our drinks taking FOREVER to come out.

...and the food taking even longer.

FOLLY: Our inexperienced and slow waiter was determined to ruin our experience but I didn't let him win. We had to coach him through writing down the items and repeating our order to us.

Nosa also had to beg him to bring our drinks because he was going to wait until our food was ready.

NOSA: We had a bit of an issue with the waiters last time we were here. Oh well...

FOLLY: Anyway, in spite of everything we ordered the bill came out way under our estimate. So what did we have:

• Chicken wonton with Sichuan chill oil 
• Chicken and coriander jiaozi
• Pork belly gua bao
• Prawn in bell pepper
• Curried prawns gua bao

FOLLY: Our inexperienced and slow waiter was determined to ruin our experience but I didn't let him win. We had to coach him through writing down the items and repeating our order to us.

Nosa also had to beg him to bring our drinks because he was going to wait until our food was ready. 

FOLLY: The chicken wonton was a bit flat in comparison to the chicken jiaozi.

NOSA: The chicken wonton had this sweet thing to it though. I liked that.

FOLLY: The coriander packs a lot of punch - in flavor and fragrance so that's definitely why the jiaozi tasted so delicious.

FOLLY: The prawn in bell pepper was another favorite. I had thought it'd be a whole bell pepper stuffed with other fillings along with the shrimp but it was more like an eighth of the bell pepper so it was miniature. The prawn was steamed and took on the flavor of the "house special sauce" in which it was doused. The sauce was typical - sweet with a hint of ginger. 

FOLLY: Nosa's favorite: the baos. This was my "real" first time having bao. The shininess of the bread had always deterred me.

NOSA: Bao is my kryptonite. I LOVE them. The baos could’ve been plated a lot better, but i liked them a lot.

FOLLY: I chose the green curry prawn one while Nosa ordered the pork belly. 

NOSA: For obvious reasons, I’ll make a lot of references to the bao at Toasties. Shiro’s pork belly was a lot tougher than the one at Toasties, which turns eating it from something enjoyable to a chore. An enjoyable chore like eating pistachios. The Korean bbq sauce was just right for me. Definitelythe better of the two baos we tried, I think

FOLLY: Unlike Nosa, I preferred the green curry bao in spite of the "stewiness. The pork belly bao wasn't tender enough so it was a bit of a struggle to eat - the Korean barbeque sauce was also a little flat for me for me as I was expecting just a little kick (i.e. spiciness)

NOSA: The curry one was a bit too saucy for me. If you like curries, you might be a lot more open to this than i was.

FOLLY: Random but Shiro should definitely serve these in those taco separator things or try something that involves cabbage wedges because the side that's flat down on the plate got soggy and made the pork belly bao crumble while I was eating it. 

NOSA: A bit unrelated since it’s not part of the menu, but Shiro’s tiramisu is extra weak.

FOLLY: This is not Tiramisu as you know it but then the menu says Chocolate Tiramisu so what they probably did was substitue chocolate cake for lady fingers and dipped that in coffee liquer and carried on from there. It was really tasty nonetheless.

POSTSCRIPT

FOLLY: It's a yes from me.

NOSA: Shiro’s dim sum menu was amazing. I don’t think you’ll find anything as extensive in Lagos.

VERDICT

DAMAGE

Chicken Wonton - N3800

Resonant Passion - N2500

Forbidden Nectar - N2500

Pork Belly Gua Bao - N3800

Chocolate Tiramisu - N3200

Prawn in Bell Pepper - N3600

Curried Prawns Gua Bao - N3750

Chicken & Coriander Jiaozi - N3400

PARKING

Except Landmark is hosting a wedding, there's a sea of parking spaces.