Sushi fight! These two Japanese restaurants opened up in our area before Christmas and we decided to test them one weekend after the other, to decide which would become our new local Japanese. Atmosphere: Sushi Atelier is clean and modern-looking; upstairs consists of a bar overlooking the chefs and downstairs there are tables in a […]
Sosharu (shut, rumoured to be moving)
This is the new Jason Atherton place, inspired by Japanese food. We decided to go for the lunch set menu (£29.50) and were overwhelmed with both the quality and the amount of food we received. Highlights included a crispy pork tonkotsu and chicken karage, and a very well balanced and interesting chirashi sushi. Most of […]
Kanada-Ya, Haymarket
I happened on the new branch, idling through town and amazingly it had no queue outside. The place itself is small and functional but since the ramen was great, I didn’t care. I still think that Kanada-ya ramen is the best in London. Price: Cheap-mid Rating: Very good Value for money: Fairly priced
Shackfuyu
We were hungry on a late Saturday aftenoon, and had the bright idea of popping in here. My dining companion was VERY hungry so we decided to opt for the £30 tasting menu. Tasting menus are usually small, but this one was definitely not – it was way more than we could manage. Our favourites […]
Engawa
This was a really interesting place; my friend is also a big fan of Japanese food so she suggested we visit to see what this was all about. We went on a Saturday lunchtime and there were some very interesting bento boxes on offer. We selected a 14 piece box and were incredibly impressed by […]
Umu
I haven’t been to Umu in a while. They no longer do the special lunches where the chef would talk through the seasonal kaiseki menu and I didn’t really enjoy the atmosphere in the evenings. Prompted by a longing for top quality Japanese food, my friend and I visited one Saturday evening recently. We took […]
Ippudo, Canary Wharf
I am slowly making my way round the various ramen places in London…and this one included a very slow queue (i.e. glacial). After a long wait we were finally seated…and waited again for someone to take our order…and waited again for our ramen…and waited again to pay….and I thought ramen was supposed to be fast food…! […]
Kanada-Ya
Out of all of the ramen places, I think this is my favourite place (with the caveat that I have not tried Ippudo yet). Kanada-Ya is small and simple; three types of basic noodle dishes to choose from which can be customised with toppings, and onigiri the only side dish. There is always a queue […]
The Araki
Araki-san has now set up in Mayfair and is bringing Edo-style sushi to London. Fish is sourced from the UK, France and Spain and he is including other ingredients in his London restaurant; white truffle featured extensively on a couple of the dishes and caviar on another. Having only 8 diners made the evening very […]