Japanese restaurant Akasiro
8 Little Newport Street
WC2H 7JJ London

Reviewed on Sunday 31 May 2009

Akasiro

View of the counter

This is my 6th review of Akasiro in 2 months! We really enjoy this basic but good Japanese restaurant and the staff are always very friendly and efficient. This time we had as first courses the age dashi tofu (£4.50) and buta kakuni (£5) followed by a tonkatsu (£9.50) and a sashimi set (£11.50). We were a little stressed by work so we had 4 bottles of Asahi beer.

First, the beer was very nice. Unlike many places the beer here comes really cold and it is very refreshing during this rare hot period of spring weather. The buta kakuni, which is a braised pork belly, was quite good and its taste reminded me the ones I used to eat in Japan when I was a child. The age dashi tofu was good but we think the portion has shrunk a little compared to the time this place was Zipangu. Still, it was hot and tasty. The tonkatsu was nice and crispy, maybe a little bit overcooked and personally we prefer to have the bulldog sauce to add ourselves than to have it already on the plate. The sashimi set was also good but I wanted a larger portion The tuna was excellent and the wasabi was fresh so seriously hot… The kind that hits your sinus instantly.

Great cold Asahi beer

Age dashi tofu

Buta no kakuni (one piece is missing, I ate it before taking the photo...)

Tonkatsu

Sashimi set

Overview

Cost and conclusion: it was £42.10 which is not bad considering beside the two first courses and the two main courses we had four bottles of beer and the Asahi beer isn’t cheap. We will be back! If you wish to read previous reviews of this restaurant, go to the list of restaurants by alphabetical order and at Akasiro you will find five other reviews.