Nol And The Quest For Sushi

Delicious Donzoko (though I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt as I cant really remember)

2005-05-24T09:18:00.000+01:00

Donzoko
Kingly Street
This is what I remember from my birthday sushi meal, in no particular order.
Slapping Bloyd
Fisherman bringing some home made sushi with some sea trout he had caught (now you understand why he got his name). Really super sushi and a really nice present
Guinness
Donzoko being a small-ish very busy restaurant. Full up apart from the table they held for us. Very good atmosphere and a great place to pop into if shopping in the west end, or if drinking that way
Champagne
Boo not knowing where Oxford Circus is
Slapping Bloyd with a wooden plank in the restaurant (which I think Bloyd stole)
Buzz and Chute
Falling asleep on the bus and waking up at the last stop. Having to walk 4.5 miles home in uncomfortable boots and messing up my legs to the extent that I now cannot run
Quality salmon roe
Very tolerant waitresses
All the pubs in Carnaby Street being dead after 9.30
Ordering Sake, then deciding that that is not enough and ordering some more
16 hugs from Jean
Slapping Bloyd using Tinker's hand (might seem that Bloyd is getting a tough ride here - but he deserves it)
So... not the best review. But a very fun night out, though obviously I was paying for it the next day.
Fisherman's Sushi
Nummy nummy nummy
Donzoko
Nummy numm

2005-05-23T18:25:00.000+01:00

Donzoko: More inside action.

2005-05-23T18:24:00.001+01:00

Donzoko: The sushi certainly looks delicious. Cant quite remember how it tasted. I'm sure it was very good. Maybe.

2005-05-23T18:24:00.000+01:00

Donzoko: Nice chopsticks.

2005-05-23T18:23:00.002+01:00

Donzoko: Pretty much the last thing I remember.

2005-05-23T18:23:00.001+01:00

Donzoko: Well it was my birthday...

2005-05-23T18:23:00.000+01:00

Donzoko: Not shown- everyone turning around to look at us as we make alot of noise.

2005-05-23T18:22:00.000+01:00

Fisherman: Freshly caught wild sea trout made by Fisherman. Pretty awesome and a very nice present.

Super Sakana-Tei

2005-05-23T18:08:00.000+01:00

Sakana-Tei
Maddox Street
I’ve signed myself up to run in the Dublin Marathon on 31^st October (Halloween- spooky- whoooo!!!). I’ve always wanted to run one and just come into work one day, thought “fook it”, tried to find a marathon and signed myself up. It was only after that I looked at the amount of training I had to do.
It is a lot.
So I went down to the gym with the goal of running 6miles and doing some stretching.
Found a locker.
Changed into t-shirt.
Changed into shorts.
Changed socks.
One Nike trainer on.
One Addias sneaker trainer on.
Shit.
So that was that. It was birthday the next day and Star Wars Ep III on Thursday so I wasn’t going to go to the gym again until Friday. What with my recent illness and now being amazingly stupid by picking up the wrong shoes my training hasn’t really got going. Maybe my subconscious is trying to tell me something. I think Jean had a rubbish workout as well, though maybe not quite as bad as mine. Must be something in the air.
On the plus side I went for sushi.
Sakana-Tei is on Maddox Street, just off Oxford Street. The majority of the road is filled with art galleries, infact as I left the restaurant there was an opening across the way. I was very tempted to try and crash the party- but wanted to get home and go to Marks to get some fruit. Rock and roll.
From the outside Sakana-Tei doesn’t look like much. Infact it looks pretty rubbish. Inside is very plain, with just a sushi bar and a single table on the ground floor. I suspect that there was more action downstairs and several salary men came in, nodded to the waitresses and headed below.
I’m going out of a limb but am assuming that the place is run by a husband and wife. Her, running the front of house team consisting of a few other Japanese waitresses, him the sushi-chef with another very attractive helper. There is a specials menu written in Japanese and everyone else in the restaurant came from there aswell, though that only consisted of a couple and another salary man. That said it was early.
I was presented with a little starter and I thought “oh super, its one of these lovely places that gives you free food”. Always read the small print, they charge £2 for it. That said its probably worth it, a nice little medley of vegetables. Good chop stick practice aswell. I also ordered a green tea, which I think was free of charge. My cup was topped up only once though.
I ordered the superior selection at £18. Was going to order some extra tuna roll but the head waitress (the mrs??) told me that this was included in the selection. When it came it turned out that this wasn’t the case- I think the tuna must have been of that day as there was no nigri included either, which just goes to show that they insist on the highest quality of fish. Instead of tuna roll there was salmon and avocado, 8 nigri and one roe sushi.
It was bloody super.
Each piece of sushi was practically a meal in itself. A yummy, delicious sushi flavoured meal. The cut of the fish was thick and practically steak like, overflowing the rice, which itself was perfectly balanced. The fish itself needed no soy sauce and each had an individual flavour- though I did not know what each of them was! (need to buy a book or start taking notes or something). This was unpretentious sushi of some of the highest quality. Don’t be put of by the outside. Go there.
Nummy nummy nummy

2005-05-17T22:26:00.000+01:00

Sakana-Tei: This. Is. Sushi.

2005-05-17T22:25:00.001+01:00

Sakana-Tei: Soy-sauce on left. Nice little bottle.

2005-05-17T22:25:00.000+01:00

Sakana-Tei: Little starter. Not free. Cheeky.

2005-05-17T22:24:00.000+01:00

Sakana-Tei: It doesnt look much from the outside... it doesnt look much from the insider... but your eyes can decieve you... dont trust them.

Matsuri Meltdown

2005-05-15T23:34:00.000+01:00

Matsuri
Bury Street
I shouldn’t be writing this. I'm meant to be enjoying the soul sound of John Legend at Shepard’s Bush Empire with Jean. However as Jean phaffed around with the tickets for ages they sold out (tomorrow as well). Tickets on eBay were going for waaaaaay too much and so we were left at the mercy of the touts. To be honest I wouldn’t mind paying twice the price of a ticket if I was buying it from a decent human being who was going to use the money to feed his family, or at least smile and be nice, but they were such a bunch of fooking wankers I resented any dealings with them. And that probably came through as we left ticketless. Though they were buying them from people for £35 so maybe I'm being too hard on myself. The thing that really annoys me is that I didn’t even get the chance to have a good argument with one of them (though with hindsight that was probably a good thing as there a few of them (though none with tickets to sell) and only one of me. Though I had Jean who can kick serious ass - but not mine despite what she says)).
Couple of pieces of other admin before we hit the sushi action. And hit it we shall. Hard. Apologies that there have been no updates in I while. I've been sick. Well poorly. The sniffles really. But it was enough to knock me out for a few days. Its my own fault really- I should start wearing more than just a t-shirt when out and about. The thing is that wearing a jacket or a jumper just makes me look fat (well my fat makes me look fat but a jacket or jumper doesn’t help). Attempts to get Jean, Boo or Tinker to dress up as a nurse and... well... that’s it... ended in failure. Although some nice people in the office were kind enough to ferry me cups of honey and lemon every half hour. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. For anyone who cares I'm fine now. Yay.
Secondly I've had to make a change to one of the blog entries below. Now I was pretty loath to do this, I hate censorship, but this was in the interests of preserving a friendship. To be frank some people can be soooo sensitive. Christ I'm probably going to have to edit this too. Anyway there is a special sushi related prize for anyone who can spot the change (come on- its Monday- you wont be doing any proper work). Answers, abuse and wit to sushi.nol@gmail.com
Birthday upcoming and so Padme came up from the suburbs for a visit. Like Jean I had engaged in serious phaffing and so instead of going to the cinema or theatre I had... nothing planned. So when there's nothing planned there is only one thing to do (no... not sushi... not yet), Borough market!
I used to work in London Bridge and used to love coming here Friday lunchtime to get a burger or more often a chicken wrap (no tomato sauce, extra mayo). Now I only get to come on Saturdays and it is so busy. I would be interested in knowing how many of the people there actually lived in London and how many were tourists. Though it’s all a good thing. If you don’t go there on a regular basis you should, for a start its not as expensive as you think it will be, certainly the veg is not any more expensive that supermarkets (I'm excluding scummy supermarkets like Morrisons, Liddle, even Tescos and Asda). Secondly artisan bakery makes THE most delish raisin and chocolate cakes. I had three. I wanted thirty-three.
Despite that I thought we could go for sushi for lunch. The thought had actually only occurred to me the night before when lying on me sofa feeling sorry for myself and reading the new Vogue, I thought that maybe some of the more expensive places in town would do super-cheap(ish) lunches. So from London Bridge we jumped on the Jubilee Line (my favourite- probably because its new) and went to Green Park. There was some dithering outside The Wolseley wondering if we would get in but I was confident that we would not. And besides that I had the taste for sushi.
Matsuri is located on Bury Street just down from Quaglino's. That place is responsible for sucking up a lot of my funds over the years with its delicious champagne and cigars. But those "glory days" are behind me now. Entering Matsuri I wasn’t sure if we would get a table (I was in my trademark jeans and t-shirt) however we were seated easily enough in the M A S S I V E restaurant downstairs. This place really is big. It has to be one of the biggest restaurants in London (outside the hotels) and on a busy evening you can imagine quite a buzz- must be a great place to come with a bunch of work buddies, especially if the company is paying (again - those "glory days" are behind me). The restaurant itself does have a slightly outdated and corporate feel though.
You are seated at a teppanyaki hotplate table which will seat around 7 or 8 each (so a total of 16 can sit at an actual table - which is composed of two hotplates). However we had this to our selves for most of the lunch. When we entered there were only two other groups- both Japanese, which I guess some people would take as a good sign (for me the proof is in the pudding - or sushi).
Green tea and water was ordered and the examination of the menu began. Set lunches start at a very reasonable £10 and they all come with miso and rice. There’s a pretty comprehensive range for all budgets and I think the teppanyaki starts at around £20. Padme when for the weekly special bento box (think it was a panic decision- she hadn’t mentioned it while pondering the menu) while I went for the regular sushi plus Japanese pickle maki plus soft-shell crap maki.
Some Euro-types (her especially) on the table next to ours had gone for the deluxe teppanyaki (with lobster), but for my likening you are better off going to Benihana for that kind of thing. I've been a couple of times and the chefs usually engage in some lighthearted banter (though I cant really remember much about my first visit - too much sake), whereas here the come, cook, serve and then fook off.
Miso and my small appetiser arrived very quickly. Guess this just shows me as uncultured but my starter did taste a little of cat food flavoured fish food (or at least what I would imagine that would taste like). That said I gobbled it down and the miso soup was very tasty. According to Padme miso soup is meant to make a super breakfast, though I think Pho would be a better alternative (would have to have a lot of miso to fill me up)- I should still give it a try. Though Sainsburys are have special offers on raspberries at the moment so I am enjoying them with some yogurt in the morning. Hopefully they will have blueberries on offer soon.
I digress.
Miso finished the sushi and bento soon arrived. All through the meal the service was very attentive, though at times overly so. And none of the waitresses really figured on the cute metre. Sorry waitresses.
I'm always amazed at how much people get in a bento box compared to sushi. Especially as it always costs half the price. (Oh- by the way my sushi was £15, £3 for the Japanese pickle maki and £10 or something for the soft shell crab maki). Padme had a selection of vegetable and meat dishes and a load of rice, plus an ickle bit of fruit and yummy pickles. Super.
My sushi looked delish although I really wish it was tuna maki rather than cucumber. This could of been achieved by upgrading to the superior sushi but this was an extra £15, though included 3 more pieces of nigri. The sushi itself was very well cut and constructed, and the fish tasted fresh if a little bland (needed to use soy sauce). The shrimp was a little disappointing but then that never is my favourite. The tuna was super. Japanese pickle maki made a refreshing change, although with the cucumber maki as well it was slight overkill. The crab maki was totally delish, a little warm (presumably from the cooked crab) with some of the crab legs still attached, enabling me to do "comical" little routine with them. "The crabs coming to get you".
It was all very nice.
A special mention should go to the wasabi. Usually there is a massive pile of it, whereas at Matsuri you just get a little bit. Which is the way it should be. Oddly soy sauce came straight from the packed bottle, rather than a nice ceramic one.
For a set lunch for visiting friends or family Matsuri would seem ideal. Likewise for a fat cat evening out I don’t see any difficulties (didn’t look at the wine list but there is probably something for everyone). However avoid if you are after a romantic dinner for two. Unless you are cold and dead on the inside.
Nummy nummy

2005-05-15T21:56:00.000+01:00

Matsuri: Sushi. Again. Closer.

2005-05-15T21:55:00.001+01:00

Matsuri: Sushi. And its all for me. Bwahahahaahaha!!

2005-05-15T21:55:00.000+01:00

Matsuri: Small starter. V small.

2005-05-15T21:54:00.003+01:00

Matsuri: Padme's bento box.

2005-05-15T21:54:00.002+01:00

Matsuri: This fearsome fellow guards the stairds.

2005-05-15T21:54:00.001+01:00

Matsuri: Nice(ish) chopsticks. And v nice chopstick holders.

2005-05-15T21:54:00.000+01:00

Matsuri: I prefer plain cups, but I did like the little wooden mats.

2005-05-15T21:53:00.001+01:00

Matsuri: It is fooking huge.

2005-05-15T21:53:00.000+01:00

Matsuri: If you dont like it you can always go to Quaglino's for champange and cigars.

Gili Gulu Go (and lets hope a nicer sushi restaurant opens)

2005-05-08T21:45:00.000+01:00

Gili Gulu
Monmoth Street
Woke up with the mother of all hangovers, made all the worst as I had been smoking like a chimney the night before, and technically that morning as well I guess. Don’t ever smoke- except when I’m out with Jean and Fisherman and they light up and I am a few drinks down and I’m having a damn good time. We all went out salsa dancing and I’m pleased to say that I wasn’t the worst dancer in the club, that honour goes to Fisherman, just the 2nd worst. I can move my feet, I can move my hips and I can move my hands… I just can’t move them all at the same time. I do have rhythm though. For a white English boy. By the time I managed to actually get up I felt I needed some sushi, but not just any kind of sushi.
I needed all you can eat.
I needed it real bad.
My original intention was to go to City Miyama where they are meant to do an all you can eat for £20 but after ringing them for an hour I remembered that it was on Saturday, not Sunday.
Instead I went to Gili Gulu in Covent Garden, which is a place I used to go to ALL the time, and the only reason was that it was all you can eat. And each time I left I swore that I would never go there again, its £14 or something for the “buffet” and I always kinda thought that it would have been better to go to Tokyo Diner twice instead. Its one of the reasons why I started the quest- so I could discover better sushi, rather than going to the same place time and time again.
But I needed all you can eat.
I needed it real bad.
Gili Gulu is on the corner of Monmoth Street and consists of two large conveyer belts to carry the sushi up and down the sushi up and down the restaurant, although only one was in operation today. There are plasma screens on the wall playing MTV hits, which I would normally enjoy, however today I wanted to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations, and the latest tunes made this hard to do. When I first walked in the place was pretty empty, which is a very very bad sign for conveyer belt, means the fish will be on there for a long time. A few people came in around 1ish including a group of cute American girls whose conversation it was I wanted to eaves drop on, probably talking about how cute and little London is. There were a couple of other American couples as well, I think I might have been the only English person in there now I think of it.
In addition to the sushi its also possible to order noodles and I went for tempura with soba. The tempura itself was very soggy but the noodles and the soup helped clear by hang over, I could feel the life flowing back to me as I sipped the soup in particular and I was returning to my normal happy self.
The sushi itself is below par, probably about as rubbish as Yo! They usually do at least decent Unagi (eel) here however this time it was undercooked. The salmon was flavourless and I had to use a lot of soy sauce to taste anything! The Mackerel tasted just plain wrong and I didn’t touch the tuna that was going around. It was so devoid of colour that it was practically sea through. The rolls, which most places manage to put some flavour in through mayonnaise or something, were equally devoid of tang. Avoid.
Unless you need all you can eat.
You need it real bad.
I don’t know whether it was the drink or the sushi but the food passed right through me.
Okay… sharing error.
I walked up Covent Garden to Forbidden Planet where I wanted to get a present for a friend’s daughter. Its not because I wanted to look at the new star wars toys or catch up on what Superman got up to last week or anything. Honest. Outside was a man dressed in a devil costume holding a sign saying “I live with my Mum”. A pretty obvious joke I thought and looking around there was a camera crew filming the store. At first I thought it might have been for some wanky art assignment but I would later learn that it was for Channel4. Anyway I went into the store anyway looking for present, something to do with The Simpsons as she really likes them. Obviously a girl of good taste. When I walked out I made the mistake of making eye contact with Satan and sure enough he started to follow me with his giant sign.
So I did what any self-respecting geek when faced with the devil would do, I grabbed the fooking signed and legged it down the street. What I didn’t realise was that Lucifer was still attached to it, and the beast was not going to let go. In fact he basically lay down on the floor so I was literally dragging him along the street.
Think about the scene from Reservoir Dogs with Tim Roth on the floor and Harvey Keitel standing over him, except think of the Devil as Tim Roth and me as Harvey Keitel and instead of guns we have a massive sign. I wasn’t going to get it away from the fiend, I guess because he has the power of evil and I just go to the gym a couple of times a week. He was a big guy, about 6’3” and I’m just 5’11”, which according to Boo is too short. Though for what I’m not sure.
So I give up and start to walk off but spend the rest of the day thinking of ways that I could of got the sign away from him. How funny that would have been to seen me running down the street with it. Or even better beating him with it.
Anyway I give up and am another 20m down the street when a lovely little media type appears by my side, at first I thought she was just a tourist who wanted to know what was going on but after turning off my iPod I learnt that she was the producer and that I needed to sign a waver. She said that I had “good reaction” to what happened. Yeah… well… I did say that she was a media type.
So its going to be a trigger tv type show on channel 4 on Friday nights in August or September. I signed the waver as I thought what I did was actually quite funny, but it only occurred to me later that they could edit it so that the devil just holds the sign over me and I look like a normal geek, rather than a normal geek who can kick Beelzebub's bitch ass.
Nu

2005-05-08T17:40:00.000+01:00

Gili Gulu: Soggy tempura but my god the soup tasted good.

2005-05-08T17:39:00.000+01:00

Gili Gulu: Small and not perfectly formed.

2005-05-08T17:38:00.000+01:00

Gili Gulu: Roll with it

2005-05-08T17:36:00.001+01:00

Gili Gulu: Needs ALOT of soy sauce.

2005-05-08T17:36:00.000+01:00

Gili Gulu: This just tasted plain bad.

2005-05-08T17:35:00.000+01:00

Gili Gulu: Yes sushi can be undercooked.

Hazuki Holiday

2005-05-04T00:46:00.000+01:00

Hazuki
Chandos Place
The pain of Friday night had been replaced with the sheer joy of seeing Embrace, and I was looking forward to seeing my best friend, Groom and his new finance Bride. Despite concerns that I will get drunk and swear my way through my speech (which I will) I've been made best man. Its quite an honor but I'm already worried about having to give a chat in front of 80 people, most of whom will only know me as "Groom's drunk friend". Anyway I have a year to worry about that - I can always just make something up... or do a reading from the blog (though Groom thinks its dull and selfindulgent - the schumck).
Thankfully it was a super day on Sunday although it started off poorly when the two Japanese restaurants I was hoping to take them to were shut. Instead we went to a burger place just of Carnaby street for lunch and I wasnt very impressed- you have to get up to order- its like bloody McDonalds. The girl taking the orders had her hair in bunches which in part compensated. Afterwards we spent a good... oh... 20 minutes looking at the Maitsse exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. I can recommend it but dont really know if its worth £8- better off going to the cinema (though there is nothing fantastic out at the moment). All of this meant that we were in a pub by 3.30 working our way through some pints, some champagne and some G&T while working our way down to Covent Garden where sushi plan B would be put into effect. I really need to try and find 2 or 3 nice bars in each area of London, its embarrassing taking people into weather spoons, although we did see someone famous in there (some kids wanted their photo taken with him- could be just because he looked like a freak).
Once again I had spotted Hazuki purely by chance while having a wonder- don’t think its in squaremeal. It’s located across 3 floors with a 4 or 5 tables on each. First impressions were not good as there was a very odd smell walking in. However I'm afraid to say that that was just the chap sitting by the door who I guess is not a permanent feature. We were shown upstairs, ordered a beer some sushi and a set menu for the Groom. The sushi was £18 for a superior assortment, £6 for 10 crab rolls and £16 for a set menu which included some tofu (appetiser of the day (probably every day)), tempura, miso soup, rice and a main.
I was quite impressed with the sushi which had a good variety, size, cut and flavour. However the bride found that the addition of wasabi to stick the fish to the rice made it impossible to eat. I will say that the eel was a little over cooked but apart from that I was happy with everything. It was the first time I had ever tried soft crab shell roll and again was very impressed - the texture being both crunchy and smooth. For sushi in Covent Garden this seems like the ideal location.
So anyway- how are you?
Nummy numm

2005-05-04T00:30:00.001+01:00

Hazuki: I'm not a fan of the decor. Plus I moved some of the pebbles around, probably disturbing the wa of the whole restaurant.

2005-05-04T00:30:00.000+01:00

Hazuki: Soft shell crab roll. Bloody delish and a relative bargain at £6

2005-05-04T00:29:00.000+01:00

Hazuki: It all looks very pretty.

JAL Sushi Bar Brollie

2005-05-04T00:24:00.000+01:00

JAL Sushi Bar
Hanover Street
Saturday and I was as pissed off with myself as I have ever been in my life. Well... nearly. Friday night was a leaving do for Yan who, as regular readers will know, is heading off to New York. I was all set to have a nice time, and wanted to have a nice time, but instead got into an argument with one of his friend's boyfriend. The argument was about life, the universe and everything- it wasn’t even about anything important like "who would win in a fight between a Star Destroyer and The Enterprise" (answer: Star Destroyer). I will admit that perhaps I should have just let him win, and in the end I just said nothing for 30mins but he really REALLY got to me. Plus he wasn’t drinking so he really had no excuse for acting like an idiot. I was just angry with myself in the end that I had even engaged in a debate with him. Live and learn I guess. It was a good evening though- up till four drinking scotch (then 4 hours sleep on a sofa then had to cart some speakers across town).
So Saturday was spent feeling very annoyed, though I did have a good session down the gym. I thought I would try and find some cheap sushi and remembered this on Hanover Square. Inside are 8 or so tables and a long sushi bar for the people with no friends. Which included me. The chairs inside are the worst ones I have ever seen in a restaurant and I really feel that this isn’t somewhere to try and impress a date. Its more a "relief from Regent Street" place. Unusually the sushi chef was from the Caribbean, and learnt sushi in England. I learnt this because an American was yapping away to him for 30 minutes or so as only an American can. I can’t hate him too much- he is over here living in Swindon, poor dear. Though he did film the chef at work which I just thought was rather rude. According to the chef dude the other best restaurants in town are Chisou (sp? round the corner) and Nobu. I was going to tell the American about Pham, Feng Sushi, or even direct him to this blog, but to be honest didn’t want to talk to him. Hey- I'm English.
The sushi took a while to come as there was only one chef on duty. That’s okay- I was at the bar and enjoyed myself watching the waitresses tidy up and do the washing up. The chef gave me some soy beans to keep me occupied while he prepared my food. I've never had these before and was surprised to see that they are actually warm. I'm assuming that they are good for you aswell. Bonus!
When the sushi did arrive I was a little disappointed. It only cost 10pounds but there was not a great selection (as you can see below) and all the sushi was a little... well... wet. Yeah there was definitely alot of moisture in there. It tasted okay and I was pleased to see that there was tune rolls as well as cucumber but even so... wet sushi is wet sushi. Maybe a subsequent visit would provide better results. The rolls were okay but to be honest that isn’t the mark of a quality chef, nigri or sashimi is.
Afterwards I met up with Jean for a very quick drink and then my 2nd highlight of the week (1st was theatre with Boo) - EMBRACE! I don’t think its anything of an understatement to say that I love Danny. Didn’t quite manage to touch his hand, maybe next time- though they don’t have any further London gigs scheduled. Danny if you are reading please play London again soon and stick "Changed For Good" on your set list, then watch a grown man cry.
Numm

2005-05-04T00:02:00.000+01:00

JAL Sushi Bar: Variety is the spice of life. Its missing here.

2005-05-04T00:01:00.002+01:00

JAL Sushi Bar: All this for ten squid.

2005-05-04T00:01:00.001+01:00

JAL Sushi Bar: Got these babies for free!

2005-05-04T00:01:00.000+01:00

JAL Sushi Bar: It might not look like it but this is green tea. And tasted very nice.

2005-05-04T00:00:00.000+01:00

JAL Sushi Bar: Its even more attractive inside.

Keen @ Komatsu

2005-05-03T23:40:00.000+01:00

Komatsu
Great Windmill Street
I was worried that Thursday’s sushi adventure was going to end in dustier. I was meant to meet Boo for some pre-dinner sushi but was sent out of London to Bracknell for a last minute assist on a sales-presentation. Having lived near Bracknell for most of my life I knew what I was letting myself in for. Note that that is near Bracknell, not in Bracknell. Anyway it was as lovely as I remember it and the day was complete when I had to go to Morrisons/Safeways for lunch and get a sandwich. I hate Morrisons/Safeways and I really didn’t even fancy a sandwich! Presentation went well and things started to look up on the journey home- the new Empire was out (Star Wars special) and for the first time in about 3 years I had a Red Bull (sugar free). When I was working in Switzerland it used to take about 4 red bulls to get me running in the morning and another couple to see me through the evening. Thankfully my then manager out there managed to get me off them, so the Red Bull (sugar free) kicked in and I was away. And 8 minutes late for meeting Boo.
Komatsu is located on the south end of Great Windmill street in Soho. It’s a small restaurant with literally half a dozen tables, a sushi bar and presumably a wee kitchen out back. They sell a comprehensive range of sushi, noodles, tempura and the like. It seems very traditionally run right through to have wax models in the window of some of the food, and the waiter not understanding out order- I thought I knew how to order a beer in Japanese – turns out I was wrong.
Anyway we managed to order, me an asahi super-dry and the super selection, Boo a green tea and a regular selection. There was some debate as to whether or not to order tempura but in the end we did not. What a great story. The stand out, and the close up below, was the roe with an egg inside, which reminded me of an "adult" movie I watched in Japan where a couple passed the egg yolk backwards and forwards until it split over their faces. Of course I was looking for CNN.
All the sushi was very nice, though I never know how to eat the handroll. It always end up looking like a caveman or something. The sushi with the egg tasted pretty damn good.
Afterwards "A Life In The Theatre" with Patrick Stewart and Joshua Jackson, or the "Pacey and Picard Show" as I liked to call it. There was much debate on Joshua's thighs and his general "package". Best performance of the night went to a pair of socks. He wasn’t wearing them on his feet.
So the evening didn’t end in disaster after all. Yay.
Nummy nummy

2005-05-03T23:39:00.000+01:00

Komatsu: Close up of egg sushi.

2005-05-03T23:38:00.001+01:00

Komatsu: Pretty awesome selection.

2005-05-03T23:38:00.000+01:00

Komatsu: Super chopsticks. Note anal arrangement (again).

2005-05-03T23:37:00.000+01:00

Komatsu: There is a great big sign and wax models in the window.

Feng Sushi Failed

2005-04-25T22:54:00.000+01:00

Feng Sushi
Kensington High Street
To begin with this is the first time ever that I am writing an entry in the sushi restaurant that I am commenting on. I might end up finishing this at home, I might end up refining it later, but right now I am sitting in Feng Sushi typing away on my little Dell D600.
Today has been full of failed enterprises.
I was originally due to participate in speed dating in Clapham with Yan, however he claimed he was too busy with packing for his NYC adventure to go, and there was no way I was going to go by myself- don’t want to look like a complete no friends.
Today has been full of failed enterprises.
The Piccadilly line broke down so I had to walk from Northfields to Ealing Broadway to get the train in. Well I didn’t have to walk, I could have got the bus or stayed where I was and waited for the smoke in the tunnel to clear, but after a miserable day it was a pleasant evening, and I sore no reason not to stretch my legs. I had wanted to go and try and find another cheap h&m suit. That would have to wait.
Today has been full of failed enterprises.
I worked my way to High Street Kensington where I had hoped to catch h&m open. No such luck. M&S, yes and I dithered over a suit before heading down to the food department to once again to wander around and look at their marvellous wares. I phaffed over buying a pizza (again) for tea but thought I should proceed with the quest.
(Later now.)
I’ve already logged by trip to the Notting Hill branch of Feng Sushi, and Kensington High Street is much the same. Walking in you see a bench winding its way through the table and a couple of tables to the side. I can imagine it busy Saturday lunch time, or indeed any lunch time, but for now there was only two waitresses (a blonde one who was cute, and a brunette who was not as cute) and a chap chatting on his mobile phone and very slowly eating a bowel of miso soup. This chap must have talked on the phone for 20 minutes.
Point of information: to get to the toilets you have to go through the kitchen.
I wanted to go for something other than the regular selection for a change but first ordered a Sapporo from the cute waitress (whose accent I couldn’t place, but who wasn’t English, but who cares). Feng Sushi also does take away and when I was there were three delivery guys coming in and out. So while people might not be willing to venture out on a Monday for sushi, they are prepared to order in. How lovely that must be. Take away boxes are wrapped in ribbon and it always comes with a lot of garnish. Oh to be working in London bridge again.
I ordered from the cute waitress who needed the numbers rather than the dish, which made her seem even nicer. I only ordered three dishes in a failed attempt to preserve funds.
2 x salmon and eggs nigri - £3.75
2 x fatty tuna - £4.75
6 x yellow tail and chives roll £4.75
Sapporo £3.50
Today has been full of failed enterprises.
The sushi was better than fine, but somehow it didn’t taste as good as Notting Hill. Maybe it was because I had a beer, or maybe it was because I was exhausted (and its only Monday). However I did enjoy picking up the salmon eggs off the nigri one by one (though that’s probably not how you’re meant to eat it!), while the yellow tail and chives roll actually tasted little flavourless and needed some soy sauce to perk it up. It was all very pleasant though and the rice well formed and all the fish fresh. The salmon and eggs was probably my favourite.
I could of eaten all of that again. And again. However I thought that it was time to head home and not waste any more cash. I was going to walk up to Notting Hill as I had some time to kill before ER, however stepping outside it began to spit with rain, so headed to the underground instead.
Today has been full of failed enterprises.
I did smell a totally yummy French restaurant just around the corner. That was actually a little busier than Feng Sushi and should be checked out!
Walking to tube I realised that this is not going to be a sustainable enterprise. If we assume 100 restaurants and a minimum spend of £15 in each (which is probably min) then that’s…. a lot of money. The sushi quest will continue, but the goal is to no longer finish by the end of the year, rather we will let it be whenever.
Today has been full of failed enterprises.
Nummy nummy num

2005-04-25T22:48:00.000+01:00

Feng Sushi: I wanted to take a picture of the restaurant, but was getting some very odd looks just taking a picture of the food. I'm not out of order- the whole freaking system is out of order.

Koto Cut

2005-04-23T23:11:00.000+01:00

Koto
High Holborn
Friday's plans, such as they were, fell through. I have a feeling I might have a run of that soon. Monday's and Tuesday's plans, such as they are, are subject to great doubt. Still... just more opportunities to go to the gym and scoff sushi.
See, always looking on the bright side of life, me.
So that's what I did on Friday night workout (run and row) down the gym followed by some sushi (and then The Tears on Jonathan Woss). Let me assure you that Thursday and Wednesday were more exciting but cant really discuss them as sushi wasn't directly involved.
Was down Holborn was and originally thinking of going to Matsuri, but had a swing by and it was empty and expensive and I wasn't in the mood. And while I wasn't still in my gym kit I was rather dressed down. So I headed just a little up to High Holborn to the hotel there were Koto sits. I have actually visited the hotel about five years ago when I had to meet a colleague before we headed off to a meeting, back then I thought this was a very posh hotel. Now I know better.
Koto has a couple of dozen tables and a sushi bar sitting square in the center. I was shown to my seat by a waitress with her hair in bunches, so it was off to a good start. There were three other parties in the bar, two pairs of French tourists and a group of Japanese. The latter re-assured me that maybe this wasn't going to be a totally rubbish experience... to be honest I had low expectations.
I ordered a green tea and was surprised when a whole tea pot of the stuff turned up. However I remembered that I hadn't had any green tea during the day so this was my chance to try my 3 cups.
See, always looking on the bright side of life, me.
At first I was going to order the mixed sushi (gives me more time to read Time Out, which I love so much), however when the waitress with hair in bunches turned up to take my order it occurred to me that better value could be had from ordering alla carte. So after a little phaff what I had was
Tuna Nigri - £3.20
Salmon Nigri - £2.60
Eel Nigri - £3.20
Mackerel Nigri - £2.60
Salmon & Avocado Roll - £4
While the prices are not the cheapest in London, for a hotel restaurant I thought they were okay. Ish. Actually writing this I wonder if its possible to order sushi through room service - then you could have it for breakfast.
See, always looking on the bright side of life, me.
When the sushi arrived it seemed the chef had tried hard, but really needed a couple more decades of practice. At first the roll was delish, however after a couple of pieces it began to taste a little too rich as too much mayo was used. The cut of the sushi was certainly below par. I present exhibit 1 (the photo below) which clearly illustrates that one piece of salmon is bigger than the other. They seemed to be a little tight on the ginger as well. However it was all pleasant enough.
The tip wasn't included in the bill and oddly I couldn't add any when paying by credit card and one thing that I did enjoy was the soy sauce bowl, which was actually one of the nicest I have actually seen.
See, always looking on the bright side of life, me.
Nummy

2005-04-23T21:19:00.000+01:00

Koto: If you bother going, choose your own rather than going for a menu. Be warned.... its not great... but not rubbish.

2005-04-23T21:18:00.000+01:00

Koto: The sushi wasn't up to scratch but I did think the soy sauce dishes were very nice.

2005-04-23T21:17:00.000+01:00

Koto: For some reason the decor reminded me of a very posh toilet.

2005-04-23T21:16:00.000+01:00

Koto: Is anyone else excited that even at 8.30 in the evening its still lightish... though this is the center of London... it probably never gets that dark.

Horray Hare & Tortoise (not)

2005-04-23T20:45:00.000+01:00

Hare & Tortoise
Kensington High Street
I had high hopes for Hare & Tortoise. Its located at the very end of Kensington High Street near Olympia, and if you do search for it and cant find it, keep looking because you probably just haven't walked far enough. However I wouldn't bother. I had previously walked by there a week ago when it was lovely and sunny and tables and been put outside and people were enjoying themselves. The day I visited it was lovely and sunny but there were no tables and no one seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Least of all the staff.
Upon entering I had to wait for 5 minutes before being allowed into the main restaurant and shown to a table, even though there were plenty free. It was another 5 minutes before I was shown a menu. 5 more till I ordered a drink. 5 more till I ordered food. The waitress working seemed to want to be anywhere but there, though in fairness the waiter was gracious enough. The restaurant was only a third full, max. God only knows what it would of been like if it was half or full full.
There is a range of noodles and curries on offer as well as sushi and juices. The place almost has a wagamama-esque feel to it, given the open kitchen and minimal decor. I ordered mixed sushi which I later found out was for 2 (they offered me two miso soups... only took one... not that greedy). The sushi was average to poor at best. The mix had a heavy dependency on non-fish rolls which is a v cheap way to make up the numbers. Pathetically the best thing on my plate was the tuna-mayo maki, which is soooo not traditional and could soooo be made at home. Eel and salmon roe where low points, maybe because they are normally my favorite.
If you are around that way seek out Feng Sushi to avoid disappointment.
But in the words of McAlmont and Butler "its life to learn to cope with disappointment".
Numm

2005-04-19T23:30:00.001+01:00

Hare & Tortoise: It looks like there is alot of sushi here. But there isn't... not really... honest.

2005-04-19T23:30:00.000+01:00

Hare & Tortoise: Carrot and apple. Good stuff.

2005-04-19T23:29:00.000+01:00

Hare & Tortoise: Not much to take pictures of. So heres the logo. As you can see it open 7 days a week. Personally I'm not sure I would go here on any of them...

2005-04-19T22:48:00.000+01:00

Kikuchi: Supa dupa close up of the spicy roll. Its packed with tuna. Its pack with salmon. Its packed with mayo. Its packed with spicy goodness. Its packed with flavour. You want it and Kikuchi has it.

2005-04-19T22:47:00.000+01:00

Kikuchi: Spicy roll. My god it tasted good.

2005-04-19T22:46:00.000+01:00

Kikuchi: We wanted to take a picture of the cute waitress, but she wasnt that keen. So here's another sushi photo.

2005-04-19T22:45:00.001+01:00

Kikuchi: But real men have 12 pieces.

2005-04-19T22:45:00.000+01:00

Kikuchi: Yan's 9 piece sushi set.

2005-04-19T22:44:00.000+01:00

Kikuchi: Hot food. Here Yan is doing a fine job holding some chop sticks.

2005-04-19T22:43:00.000+01:00

Kikuchi: Heres our free little fishy starter. I say free- its probably included somewhere.

2005-04-19T22:42:00.000+01:00

Kikuchi: When you stare into the void, the void stares back.

2005-04-19T22:40:00.000+01:00

Kikuchi: Dont mess with the chef. He has a LOT of knives.

2005-04-19T22:39:00.000+01:00

Kikuchi: Nothing fancy, but nice. There is a room hire downstairs.

2005-04-19T22:23:00.000+01:00

Wasabi: Salmon good. Tuna bad. Nice garnish though.

2005-04-19T22:21:00.001+01:00

Wasabi: It took me 4 hours to open all those packages. I could of gone to Japan in that time.

2005-04-19T22:21:00.000+01:00

Wasabi: With all those packages its a little like Christmas Day. Of course all I ever got was a lump of coal...

Kikuchi Knifes

2005-04-18T23:16:00.000+01:00

Kikuchi
Hanway Street
I came across Kikuchi on the way to Roka a few weeks ago, its on a street that loops from Tottenham Court Road to Oxford Street, and we actually headed down there by mistake (my mistake). Coincidently I visited here with Yan again who called me while I was in the shower to see if I fancied a couple of drinks. Turns out that talking on a phone while in the shower isn't actually that good for it so I spent the afternoon being redirected from phone shop to phone shop trying to get it repaired - with no success. They kept on answering the same questions
1 - has it been dropped,
2 - has it had liquid on it recently.
I just kept on lying, in fact in addition to the shower incident I managed to spill red wine on it the day before as well. Yes... yes I am a klutz. Don't think that impressed anyone really. Thankfully my phone started working 30 mins before I was due to meet Yan. So I must have some positive karma somewhere.
A few drinks in a bars walking up from Piccadilly to Oxford street. Found a very nice Irish pub just on the north side of Oxford Street,but not as nice as the one we were to later find. So after a few drinks in a few bars we headed to Kikuchi. I had thought that this was going to be a little cheap traditional Japanese joint - was wrong on one of those.
On entering we were asked by the waitress if we had booked (no) or if we had been before (no). We were then told that there was a £20 minimum spend excluding drinks. Fine. Apparently some people come in and just order one piece of sushi and then leave. That seems very odd so maybe we just looked a little worst than we felt (which after a few drinks was pretty good) and they didnt want us in there. I wonder what the deal would have been if we said we had been there before. We were seated at the sushi bar where a single chef works. Behind him lies a fantastic collection of knives, though he only seem to be using one. Though I certainly wasn't going to mess with him.
It was obvious that this was going to be a great meal and that the sushi was going to be fantastic. The chef had a super rhythm - rice, trim rice, wasabi, fish,place. Its like watching the greatest ballet dancer. Sake was ordered which Yan wasn't especially keen on so we had a couple of beers Ashley. Sake always gets me very drunk very quickly, even though its only something like 15%. Maybe I'm just drunk on happiness.
When we started to order from our waitress we had to postpone a couple of times as some people had paid but not enough, or too much,or something, we never managed to get the whole story out of her. Anyway she was very apologetic and very cute. So we forgave her. There are quite a few specials on the menus keenly priced - not sure how you could get to £20 just ordering them, so we had some sushi as well. 9pieces for Yan at £18.50 and 12 pieces for myself at £22. A spicey roll was ordered to share as was some salmon teriyaki.
The teriyaki arrived first on a sizzling bed of bean sprouts - it was okay and certainly worth the fair price of £5 something, and with some rice would make a very nice meal but it wasn't what I was there for. Sushi was what I was there for.
After a while it arrived. It smelt delicious. It looked delicious. It tasted delicious. In conclusion it was delicious. There was a fantastic variety of fish including sea urchin roe. Even the shrimp (my least favorite) tasted flavorsome. In fact I didnt flavor any of the fish with soy sauce or wasabi at all - it would be a crime to do so. Spicy roll arrived after a little while (following more apologies from cut waitress) and was packed with not just the tuna I was expecting but salmon and wrapped in flying fish roe.
Go there now.
Afterwards a bar which was meant to serve the best Guinness in the UK according to a pair of australian sisters, though they later down graded that to London. Followed by a new club which still had its new paint smell creating a kind of unnatural high. If you get the opportunity I advise you to check out the Toucan (Guinness bar) and The Art (club - but v small).
But go to Kikuchi first.
Kikuchi
Nummy nummy nummy
Waitress
Nummy nummy nummy
Oz Sisters
Nummy nummy nummy

Wasabi Working Lunch

2005-04-18T21:32:00.000+01:00

Wasabi
Piccadilly
For some reason can't upload images - will try and do so at a later time.
Working in the St James's area for a while on a top secret project -well not really top secret but don't think I can discuss work here. Everyone I see in that area looks like they should be working and living in the area. The men are all carrying a "little" extra bulk but wear fantastic suits to conceal it, and the women all look as if they spend 2 hours every morning just on their hair. Of course you can go 200m east into Leicester Square and find the great unwashed, or 500m south to Victoria and find true "salary men" working in the civil service. Think that that's true of any major city (well NYC and Tokyo certainly)- its not something unique to London. Its a abit like Disney Land with "tomorrow world" "the magic kingdom" etc. But then as Larry from Closer say "central London is a fucking theme park".
Awesome film.
Brutal film.
Wasabi isn't in St James but its a short walk up to Piccadilly. This is a small chain of takeaway shops serving pre-made sushi and hot "asian" dishes. I would hesitate to call them traditional. I think the chain started down by Embankment (where I used to work and had really super views of the thames and the london eye... now I have the A4), though I was down that way yesterday and I see that they have shut down. Probably a good retail opportunity if anyone is interested. Though obv the "Wasabi" concept has been shown not to work. So the idea with Wasabi is that the sushi is all pre-made and each piece individually wrapped. They have a relatively wide range though there are alot more rolls than nigri. I guess either westerners prefer the rolls (they don't need to think that they are eating raw fish) or the Japanese think that we prefer them because I don't seem to remember there being that many in Japan. Maki - yes, big fuck off rolls - no.
Maybe I just ate in the wrong places. So you pick up by hand the sushi you want and put it in a little metal box. Prices are around £1 for two pieces of nigri and £ for two pieces of roll. The sashimi selection cost £ and there are a few different options available. My lunch came to £10. Wasabi, soy sauce and included in the bag but you can buy more at the checkout for 5p a mini-bag. Might be useful to remember that for picnics.Or... it might not. Took the food back to the office to eat, though it was a pretty niceday and although I wanted to eat in Green Park work called. Unfortunately this meant that the office smelt of fish for the afternoon - and not in anice way. Have to admit that I found it very annoying to have to unpack each piece of sushi. Its v fiddley and it gets the fishy smell all over your hands aswell.
The sushi rice is clearly packed by machine and a fair few hours ago - it was rather stale but the density was fine, not great, fine. I found the fish for the most part disappointing - the tuna pretty much fell apart, they place the fish rather than stick it to the rice meaning that you cannot invert the nigri to flavor the fish rather than the rice when dipping in the soy sauce. Though as it all ends up in your gob I'm not sure why that is important. The rolls clearly use the left over fish and aren't especially pleasant to eat. What bucked the trend was the salmon sashimi which was full of flavor and had a good texture.
There is the Japan Centre just down the road which sells sushi at a slightly higher price (think £2 for 3 pieces, will be reviewed at a later point) but whose quality is much higher and has a wider range of what I would consider to be "proper" sushi. That said Wasabi isn't pretending to be a high class restaurant, and the prices are certainly reasonable. In fact I would guess its the cheapest sushi in London,though that means bollocks all if its rubbish. And this was.
Nu

Ikkyusan Incident

2005-04-10T22:09:00.000+01:00

Ikkyusan
Gerrard Street
Was going to give sushi a miss this week, need some time off to recuperate and reflect on previous restaurants, but need to keep up the rhythm. I earned this at the gym before hand anyway. I didn’t have high hopes for Ikkyusan, its a combined Dim Sum, Thai and Japanese restaurant which I thought would mean its a complete mess and would not do any of them well. Two things about the menu.
1 - the set menu includes salmon maki rather than cucumber maki. This is the most marvelous thing.
2 - the menu includes Fois Gras maki. A year living out in Switzerland got me addicted to this stuff (along with steak tartare and sushi!) but I haven’t had it for a long long time. The only other place where I’ve seen fois gras sushi is sushi samba in NYC. There layered on top of tuna nigri with gold leaf on top. And cost $18. Here its in a roll and cost £3.80. It had been lightly grilled and tasted super. After sticking it in your mouth the fois gras slips out and then gently explodes. Turning a little Jilly Cooper here.
The rest of the sushi was above average. Like Feng Sushi it spelt properly fishy. Standout was the salmon which was cut very thick. Rice was cooked very well.
I had an ice cold green tea (needed refreshing after tea). Reminded me that I'm on a mission to drink green tea at least 3 times a day. When I was in Japan I used to really enjoy the cold green tea from vending machines - will have to start making it for myself here.
Ikkyusan run all you can eat evenings Monday to Thursday. Bring it on, I say. Bring it on...
Nummy nummy

2005-04-10T22:07:00.001+01:00

Ikkyusan: Fois Gras sushi. Life doesnt get any better than this.

2005-04-10T22:07:00.000+01:00

Ikkyusan: Salmon maki included in the set menu. Booyaa!

2005-04-10T22:06:00.000+01:00

Ikkyusan: Q- Why put the eel on another plate?

2005-04-10T22:05:00.000+01:00

Ikkyusan: Inside it's like two restaurants in one.

Return Of The Pham

2005-04-10T21:40:00.000+01:00

Pham
Details as below
Friday evening and a work presentation at the Sherrington on Hyde Park. Quite nice inside, kinda Claridges art-deco-esque, however I had turned up in jeans plus (long sleeved) t-shirt whereas everyone else (bar two) wore suits. And not just suits but suits plus ties. Only just started at the new firm so I'm sure I've made a good impression. I had been lured there with the promise of cocktails and canapés, the cocktails turned out to be grape based booze (I went for red wine, thought the champagne would go straight to my head) and managed to get 3 glasses down in 15 minutes. Not bad. I was worried at that the canapés were nibbles on the tables but some waitresses (dressed in ridiculous snow-white styled shirts) soon appeared with a nice selection. Standouts include the lamb thingy and parma-ham. Ate too many of those damn nibbles aswell! The company is kicking ass and taking names by the way.
But this isn’t about business, its about sushi (though eating in all of these places is becoming hard work). Dinner with Jean (tucked into boots in her trademark manner, but looking fantastic) and Fisherman. Fisherman was insistent that we go to a fab place, rather than gamble on a new one. Pham has the added bonus that we can head down to Old Street and rub shoulders with the trendy residents of Hoxton afterwards. I decided on the large sushi selection again while Jean went for the mini-selection, Fisherman breaded chicken and we shared a spicy tuna (fast turning into one of my favourite selections). Sushi arrived after some sake and a beer, hence the reason why I ate half of it before remembering to take a photo. The selection was different from visit number one and my special roll was stuffed with tuna, salmon, crab and roe. It tasted fine! I was a little disappointed in the selection of the fish (no mackerel, no eel) however this was rectified as I was force fed Jean's mackerel and ordered some extra eel. Just re-reading this and I come off as a right greedy bastard - never mind. All of the sushi was excellent. Despite his namesake Fisherman doesn’t actually like sushi, and Jean's favourite sushi is the kind battered and fried- but I'm doing my best to educate them. There were only a couple of staff on duty (guess the city fat cats were elsewhere as the restaurant wasn’t that busy) however I managed to use the universal symbol of beer, and the universal symbol of the bill to ensure prompt service. The bill came to £55 - amazing value given the quality. I'm knocking a little of a nummy off because I was a little bit intoxicated and so cant remember that much in detail.
Afterwards an uber-trendy bar in Hoxton Square (aren't they all?). I was quite surprised that by fellow drinkers seemed relatively normal. I was expecting Nathan Bartley clones. Very cute girl dj but she didn’t play any mind blowing music - infact she could of just burned a cd at home or used NOW58 and not many people would have noticed. Taxi ride home and I think my driver had had more to drink than me - clearly I made it though.
Nummy nummy numn

2005-04-10T20:59:00.000+01:00

Pham: Kinda forgot that I "needed" to take a photo. Scoffed half of it.

Top Ten Ten Tei

2005-04-05T22:23:00.000+01:00

Ten Ten Tei
Brewer Street
This is getting to be hard work. There are alot of sushi restaurants out there. I... I... didnt expect there to be that many. I should really think things through before shouting my big mouth off in the future.
Yeah - like that will happen.
Planned for a meet up with Snapper and Buzz but Snapper had to pull out. Not sure why, but it always seems that when one person pulls out or cant make it the whole group crumbles. I'm sure that theres a mathematical model for it. Its like a stack of cards- remove one and they all fall down. Unless its one of the top cards in which case it might be a limited crash. Anyway I'm afraid I don't have enough time to come up with a model, the blog is sad enough - on the plus side, and this is hinted at below, it does give me some creative output. Maybe I should take up painting.
So a train ride in to Waterloo with Jean and Fisherman. I'm giving them a mention as they read the blog the other day and were very complementary about it, well complimentary anyway. Especially as they both had alot of work to do. Relationships were the general topic of conversation. That and which tube line was the best (I think it was a draw between the central, the jubilee and the victoria line).
I had intended to walk into the city and find a smaller sushi shop open- I'm very aware that I haven't really hit anywhere in the city yet- there are alot! Couldn't find any - this wasn't a planned sushi outing so I didnt have anywhere in mind, so a wonder back into the west end. I did pass some sushi places that looked quite good but they also looked quite expensive. I'm using the word quite there to keep the rhythm of the sentence, they actually looked RUDDY expensive. Guess its not that much if you are a city fat cat. I had actually tried to find the sushi at Center Point but couldn't. They should really blow that building to kingdom come - it is an ugly ugly building. Though I guess its handy if you need guiding from a club to a tube stop. I will mention no names.
Went to Ten Ten Tei - the last of the little group of sushi shops on Brewer Street (though there is an actual Japanese shop that sells sushi and has some tables which I guess I should hit - so its not the last). Its owned by the same people that run the Kulu Kulu chain and its excellent. I was greeted by some chap who I assume to be the owner and sat at the sushi bar - couldn't see much though- you are quite low! The guy sat next to me looked like Paul Giamatti - don't think he was drinking Pinot- but he was eating Chicken Curry. If you are walking by and look in don't be put off if they are busy, there is also a downstairs. I was going to have a sushi set but the cost of them actually comes to more than ordering sushi individually (wont explain the logic behind that - if there is any!) I had the following - with prices
2 pieces of tuna nigri £2
2 pieces of salmon nigri £1.50
2 pieces of eel nigri £3
2 pieces of mackerel nigri £1.60
2 pieces of squid nigri
2 pieces of california roll £2
2 pieces of futmaki roll £2
4 pieces of salmon maki £1.60
Let me ask you this: how are those prices not a bargain
You reply: they are not a bargain if the sushi is rubbish
I assure you: the sushi is not rubbish
California roll and mackerel are standout. The nigri didnt have its rice too tightly compacted - I'm becoming a fan of that - lets the flavors out better. I hadnt had California roll for a long long time so it came as shock how tasty it is. Cant have it that often though - contains mayo which is very bad for my waist line.
Regardless of the price this was good sushi. With the price this was amazing.
Nummy nummy nu
PS I don't use the word hero lightly. But Jamie Oliver is real life hero.

2005-04-05T21:57:00.001+01:00

Ten Ten Tei: Supa dupa close up of the rolls.

2005-04-05T21:57:00.000+01:00

Ten Ten Tei: The main event. Looks good, no?

2005-04-05T21:56:00.000+01:00

Ten Ten Tei: What are all the bottles for? Don't know, don't care (all I know is you can take me there).

Supplemental

2005-04-04T22:48:00.000+01:00

I’m considering leaving business cards (or cards anyway- Nol Sushi is a non-profit making organization) to leave at restaurants I’ve visited. Also in the works are badges (or “buttons”) and t-shirts. I’m also in discussion to create a range of action figures (original Star Wars scale obv – I NEED to be able to pilot the Millennium Falcon). If you are interested in any of the above leave a comment.
Also coming soon is hopefully a mechanism by which you can be altered when the blog is updated.Finally don’t be afraid to spread the good word on nol sushi to your friends, colleagues, family, hell – even your enemies. It wont make any difference to you or me but I’m sure they would appreciate it!

Saki Skating

2005-04-04T22:45:00.000+01:00

Saki
Bayswater
Last night I managed to liberate a shrub from a thai restaurant. A picture of which is attached below. I have named the shrub Buffy in honor of the great vampire slayer. I dont think this plant will actually slay any vampires but it does look very pretty. Hope it doesnt die too soon. But in the words of Echo and the Bunnymen- nothing ever lasts forever. I apologize to the nice thai restaurant on the Fulham road- but it was the plants karma to come with me. If its any consolation it took over 4 litres of water before I was feeling okay this morning- I was not on good form.
Managed to hijack Bo and Boo's special girly evening when they hit a sushi restaurant and go ice skating. I feel especially bad as I managed to wiggle out of ice skating - really thought I would have the balls to get on the ice- but I also know myself quite well (or as well as you can know someone after 26 years) and after 10 minutes of basically sitting on the ice I would not be in a good mood. Not that I ever am. The last time I tried skating I was living in Switzerland and these fucking little kids kept on coming up and pointing and laughing at me. I kept on trying to catch them and give them a good kicking but they kept on skating away. Bastards.
Saki is a small Japanese restaurant located on the Bayswater Road. This area is without any kind of redeeming features. Its like the worst part of a crappy suburb transplanted into central London. They have a mall here for Gods sake! The restaurant was approx 1/6 full (v approx) when we came in at 6.30 ish. The green tea was weak but very hot and plentiful. I ordered the medium sushi plus some eel and was able to upgrade by cucumber to tuna for a quid. Bargain. Every restaurant should do this. Thing is Saki didn’t even stick that option on the menu (or that I could see anyway- and there isn’t really much point sticking it somewhere where I cant bloody see it). Sushi arrived promptly and, as you might expect, was average. Low point was tuna which was pale, but still had a good texture. Eel was fine, maki were traditional but damn it I want Feng Sushi sized maki from now on! Mackerel was good and the salmon the high point (according to Bo anyway - she told me to write that part and I'm too afraid of her to argue).
Low point came with the bill. Just over £50 for a meal for three isn’t great value- especially with the "Feng" so near by. They also added on a hefty service charge plus there was the opportunity to add some more when signing the credit card slip (or typing in your pin). That makes me so MAD.
So in conclusion
apologies to that thai restaurant for stealing your plant
apologies to Bo and Boo for hijacking your special "girls only" evening (and being considered one of the girls is not a compliment!)apologies to Saki, lower your prices or raise your game and you might get a higher mark
Nummy nun

2005-04-04T22:38:00.001+01:00

Saki: The lack of any creativity in my work means that I have to express my self in other ways. Though this guy looks quite evil. I wonder what that means...

2005-04-04T22:38:00.000+01:00

Saki: Eel has the most calories of any sushi. Nooooooooo...

2005-04-04T22:37:00.000+01:00

Saki: Doh dull

2005-04-04T22:35:00.000+01:00

Buffy The Plant

Fine Feng Sushi

2005-04-03T10:26:00.000+01:00

Feng Sushi
Notting Hill Gate
I have Feng Sushi on speed dial on my phone, you know. 6 months spent living at the London Bridge hotel and eating at their outpost by Borough Market. Great days. Turned me into a right fat bastard though (incidently the quest is taking its toll on my waste line currently- but the good news is that its pretty much on schedule). The London Bridge out reminded me alot of Myo in Lausanne, Switzerland (favorite restaurant in the world) with a simple layout and some shared tables (kinda like Wagamama- only without the air of soulless corporation). Feng Sushi Notting Hill offers take away and a small seating area upstairs with 20 seats and some tables. It’s cozy and sweet and simple and cool.
I went for lunch on Saturday and at 1o'clock it was empty. Literally. Well there were tables and a waitress and napkins and stuff but there were no customers. I had a table with a nice view of McDonalds so I could see all the scum eating their "burgers" (for the record I think McDonald's do yummy breakfasts but that’s it). The menu offers a damn fine range of sushi, rolls and sashimi, along with set menus and cooked food including fish cakes and Japanese "fish and chips". They have a website with the menu on so just Google for it. I chose the 22 box sushi selection- though I'm really getting pissed off with cucumber maki being included- seems like such a cheat. At the least there should be an "upgrade" to tuna or salmon option.
People started to filter in. The first were a typical west London couple (he - jeans and shirt undone half way down his chest, her jeans tucked into boots). I instantly took a dislike to them. The second were two "plump" girls who at first I thought were undeserving of sushi goodness because they shop at primark, however they started to talk about their nannies and I decided that they were undeserving because they were rich. They also only ordered a set of maki each but also had a diet coke. You're not going to loose the flab that way ladies! The last people were a lesbian couple (although one of them could be a man- v odd looking) with a very sweet child who enjoyed chewing on the ginger packets. The v odd looking one managed to annoy me by taking for 15 minutes of his/her phone. People who talk on phones in restaurants should be destroyed.
The sushi arrived promptly as I was well chuffed. It didn’t just look fresh- it smelt fresh. The maki were chunky bastards with good quantities of fish and cucumber. All the nigri tasted fresh with special shout out to the squid. The rice was just the right temperature. The meal also came with a decent selection of ginger and pickles, and more is available in plastic packets (I pinched some for a mid-afternoon snack). It was damn good sushi and I'm pleased that there are a few other Feng Sushis left to visit in town.
Just as I left two Americans walked in. In this line of work timing is everything.
To close: Does anyone else think that Natasha Beeddingfield looks like Billie Piper?
Nummy nummy numm

2005-04-02T23:25:00.000+01:00

Feng Sushi: The sushi arrangement has been approved by the finest feng shui consultant in the land.

2005-04-02T23:23:00.001+01:00

Feng Sushi: I'm some soy sauce in a bottle baby, gotta rub me the right way honey.

2005-04-02T23:23:00.000+01:00

Feng Sushi: It's an 'ickle restaurant

Understanding nummy

2005-03-31T14:46:00.000+01:00

Nummy - Jedi Padawan
Nummy nummy - Jedi Knight
Nummy nummy nummy - Jedi Master

Itsu Revulsion

2005-03-31T10:37:00.000+01:00

Itsu
Draycott Avenue
I had intended to visit Kura in Knightsbridge but after finding it, sitting down and looking at the menu I discovered that they didn’t actually serve any sushi. The place is probably quite good if you are after noodles - though they cost around £12 a bowl, so Wagamama over in HarveyNicks is probably a cheaper option (they have nice juice there as well). There was a "modern day" Japanese cuisine restaurant a little way up the road but it looked crap, was empty and bloody expensive, Zuma was close by as well but I would rather go with some friends (or at the least some people I know). I decided to go to Itsu a short walk down Brompton Road in South Kensington. A few years ago I used to enjoy eating in Itsu in Soho, though I was living on corporate expenses then which probably eased the pain (should of undertaken the quest then!). I think I must have been more lighthearted or optimistic then, because I loathed my visit to Itsu.
There is bar upstairs, which I didn’t visit, and downstairs there are two conveyer belts, with one offering a selection of tables for 4. The sushi is all pre-made and stacked up ready to be placed on the labeled stands - meaning this isn’t gong to be fresh, even for a conveyer belt. The restaurant is populated by soulless bastards thinking that by consuming sushi they will become better human beings. Well I've got news for you, brother - there aint no soul in this sushi! Its barely even fucking sushi. Of the 35 different offering on the belt only 3 are nigri. The rest are variations of rolls, poncified sashimi or desert. I was sat next to a couple of girls who will soon graduate from "ladies who dinner" to "ladies who lunch" (and who seemed to think me taking photos of the food was odd - though it was hard to even do that given the crap lighting) and some asshole who was having his 2 minute weekly conversation with his son from a previous marriage while scoffing some fruit and yogurt. Here's an idea asshole - at least step outside the fucking restaurant to call him. To reiterate this guy was a complete and utter asshole.
I started with a spicy tune roll which wasn’t in the least bit spicy and which was dominated by a mayo like paste that came on the plate. Salmon nigri revealed that the rice was probably formed by machine - it was very compact and too regular to be formed by hand. Things did improve with the chili salmon and oba leaf which had some flavor and the marinated salmon, ikura roll wasn’t totally disgusting but by that time it was too late- I wanted to burn the restaurant down to the ground. In addition everything was massively overpriced, the minimum price for some sushi is £3.
The only possible positive was their take away boxes which are a couple of pounds more expensive than Pret, but which have more in them. However I have tried them over in Canary Wharf and they did not taste fresh.
So in conclusion
1 If you dont want to see what you are eating - visit Itsu
2 If you want to eat in a restaurant full of assholes - visit Itsu
3 If you do not want to eat sushi - visit Itsu
Nu

2005-03-31T09:34:00.001+01:00

Itsu: Saving grace?

2005-03-31T09:34:00.000+01:00

Itsu: This isnt sushi, this is rice and fish.

2005-03-31T09:33:00.002+01:00

Itsu: The sushi on the belt goes round and round (and round and round)

2005-03-31T09:33:00.001+01:00

Itsu: Non-spicy tuna roll

2005-03-31T09:33:00.000+01:00

Itsu: Full of assholes

Damn Useful Website

2005-03-30T16:59:00.000+01:00

http://www.eat-japan.com/map/index.htm