Akasiro
8 Little Newport Street, London WC2H 7JJ
Monday to Saturday from 12 to 11:30pm (last order)
Sunday from 12 to 11pm (last order)

Reviewed on Wednesday 1 April 2009

Japanese restaurant Akasiro

It has been a long time since I have been to Leicester Square area because I was mostly in France lately (most of November, a week in December, three weeks in January, three weeks in February) and I lost a little bit track of old habits. I wanted to go back to the Japanese restaurant Zipangu next to Chinatown and instead there was the Akasiro! There was a change of owner and the menu changed a little too. The Bento boxes disappeared, same for the tempura set which had a miso soup, three pieces of sashimi and a tempura of three prawns and a selection of vegetable (carrot, aubergine, green pepper…) for £10.50. I often used to take that tempura set and had to replace it by something new this time. Overall I found the new menu easier to read and the lunch special menu (from 12 to 4 pm every day) is extremely well priced.  They are divided in 5 categories: Main dishes, Furai dishes, Sushi and sashimi, Donburi and Noodles. Most of them are served with rice and miso soup and the price range goes from £5.90 for most of them to £6.50 with an exception for the Unaju at £8.50.

There are of course appetisers like hiya yakko (cold tofu with spicy sauce – £4.50), yakitori (£4), plenty of tempuras (a mixed tempura costs £6.50 for two shrimps, two fish and four vegetable), sushi/sashimi (around £3 – 3.50), sushi rolls (6 pieces from £3.00 to £7.50), sashimi or sushi set (£11.50), noodles, katsudon etc!

We decided to go with the chicken teriyaki (served with rice and miso soup – £6.50) and the hot tempura udon (thick noodle with shrimps and vegetable tempura – £5.90). For drinks we got two Asahi beer (twice £2.90).

A nice Asahi beer

The Asahi beer was great and it was nicely served chilled, something not that common when I think about some other Japanese restaurants like the Hazuki not too far from the Akasiro or the Toku where the beer has been too warm to the point we were taking wine or tea instead. Sorry for the photo, it was taken with a Blackberry cellphone.

The hot tempura udon was yummy. It was hot, tasty and spicy. They provide some chilli powder so you can adjust to your own taste. There were two prawns and several sort of vegetable for the tempura. Not that easy to eat with chopsticks even with the spoon but delicious. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo. Same cellphone.

The hot tempura udon

The chicken teriyaki was great too. It was not too sweet, as is sometimes the case with teriyaki and the chicken tasted very good. The bean sprouts were fresh and crispy. Excellent miso soup.

Chicken teriyaki with rice and miso soup

Cost and conclusion: for a little over £18 (service not included) I think it was a very good value for money. We found the lunch excellent and cannot wait to come back to try some other meals  The service, just one Japanese man serving where we were there, was efficient, polite and friendly.