JÖRO: Acclaimed Sheffield fine-dining named among Harden’s top 100 UK restaurants

An acclaimed Sheffield restaurant, which was named the best in the country in the Good Food Guide last year, has been included in the prestigious Harden’s Restaurant Guide 2023. JÖRO, which is praised for its Scandinavian and Japanese cuisine in the heart of the city, has earned the 30th spot in the national top 100.

Based within the Krynkl shipping containers at Kelham Island, JÖRO is a modern European dining destination owned by husband and wife duo Luke French and Stacey Sherwood-French. Since its opening in 2016, JÖRO has won rave reviews from customers and critics alike over the uniqueness of its cuisine.

Harden’s said: “In an unexpected location (a Sheffield shipping container), JÖRO serves up "hyper-seasonal" fare in a small plates, snacks and tasting menus formula; the modern Scandinavian ("New Nordic") cuisine is even more unexpected. A brave move; we look forward to seeing the survey results.”

In the summary of the survey result, many customers have highlighted the restaurant’s ability to provide “world-class cooking” with a “blisteringly good fusion of Nordic Japanese and modern British ingredients and techniques” all in a “brilliant and imaginative venue”, albeit in a “slightly cramped” converted shipping container.

One said: “It’s a travesty that this place hasn’t been awarded a Michelin star, as it’s definitely operating at that level and restaurants less deserving are awarded one (one guesses that the shipping container location has put off the traditionalist tyre men).”

In November last year, the fine-dining restaurant earned a place as a new entry in the Good Food Guide, which is one of the longest-running and best-selling guides to dining out in the UK and seeks to ‘cover the best establishments’ in the country.

JÖRO was one of four Sheffield eateries to feature in the guide, along with fellow Kelham Island business, Domo; Crookes bistro, No Name and fine dining destination, Rafters. But JÖRO was the only one of the four Sheffield restaurants to receive a ‘very good’ rating in Good Food Guide – with all of the others achieving a ‘good’ rating.

Earlier in 2022, JÖRO was also named as one of the best in Europe on the Opinionated About Dining website, which created a list of the top 150 restaurants to eat in Europe. And while JÖRO just missed out on the list, it was included in a sub ‘Highly Recommended’ category.

The venue has also been listed in the top 100 places to eat in the UK by the National Restaurant Awards. Luke also  appeared on the BBC’s Great British Menu and while he didn’t win, he did make it to the grand final representing the North East and Yorkshire region.