Joro Sheffield: Award-winning restaurant features in 2022 edition of AA Restaurant Guide

The Restaurant Guide by AA media features more than 1,700 restaurants from the UK and Ireland which have been awarded Rosette awards for culinary excellence by professional inspectors.

This year, the guide features JORO restaurant in Sheffield, which serves Scandinavian and Japanese fusions.

JORO was opened in December 2016 by chef Luke French and his wife Stacey, and became Sheffield’s first ever Michelin bib restaurant.

Luke is inspired by his local suppliers, classic training and ancient cooking principles from Japan to Norway. His restaurant applies true innovation to the finest native ingredients and is bringing some of the best modern cooking the city has seen.

JORO has a varied menu, serving dishes such as barbecue katsu pork belly, fermented Mayan gold potato with smoked pike roe and Highland Wagyu knuckle with wasabi mustard & watercress. It also serves desserts such as a wild berry jelly and 70 per cent Ecuadorian chocolate with Tahitian vanilla and sherry caramel.

An AA inspector said the restaurant was in tune with the contemporary trend for neo-Nordic-influenced eating.

“A converted shipping container off a roundabout on the outskirts of Steel City doesn’t sound too inviting a prospect, but JORO’s urban edginess is bang in tune with the contemporary trend for neo-Nordic-influenced eating. They said: “Inside, the space has a minimalist feel with bare wood floors and tables decorated with flowers and baby vegetables, the buzz of an open kitchen adding to the convivial vibe.

"Despite the urban surrounds, the kitchen team maintains a close bond to nature, working with local farms and foragers to provide a steady flow of seasonal materials, and the small plate concept encourages diners to try a salvo of different dishes.

“Expect pin-sharp techniques and combinations that pack a punch, starting with a perfect piece of mackerel in miso-boosted broth alongside kohlrabi pickled in buttermilk whey, intensely sweet and smoky wood-fired onions, and roasted yeast purée, followed by mallard with red cabbage ketchup and blackcurrant jam.”

The restaurant, opened five years ago, has three AA Rosette awards, the Michelin bib Gourmand, placed 97 in the National Restaurant Awards top 100 and has received numerous regional awards including ‘Restaurant of the Year’ award in the Yorkshire Life food and drink awards 2019. Luke was also nominated the ‘chef to watch’ in 2019.

Luke has expanded on JORO to continue his love for cooking. In 2019, he opened Konjo round the corner from JORO, where the team cook over fire on Japanese Konro barbecues. He has also opened a Konjo in Liverpool and is planning to open a restaurant called NAMA in the same Liverpool food hall.