Little Japan 32 Thurloe Street, South Kensington London SW7 2LT
Little Japan
Little Japan is a tiny restaurant located in South Kensington, close to the tube station. Actually we had intended to go to la Bouchée which we have already eaten at but it was before the blog. On our way we thought it was a bit of a waste to eat French cuisine in London since we are going to go to the French riviera on vacation soon. It was a bad decision as we found out the hard way.
The restaurant is quite small, with two levels and a counter in the background. The waiter comes to take orders and to serve you but you have to go to the counter to pay.
We ordered some sushi – salmon rolls (8 pieces – £3.50), the tonkatsu bento (described as “deep fried breaded pork marinated in tonkatsu, rice and salad” – £4.90), the Torikara Bento (described as “garlic chicken in teriyaki sauce with rice and salad – £4.90), some deep fried vegetables, a orange juice and a 7up.
Tonkatsu bento
Tonkatsu or cordon bleu ?
The “tonkatsu” was nothing short of astonishing. For a start, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t pork. It was, in fact, a sliced piece of chicken cordon bleu with a dash of tonkatsu sauce. I can’t say it was nasty exactly (though it was overcooked and rather dry) but it certainly wasn’t tonkatsu or even a close approximation. I mean, since when do you have a slice of ham in tonkatsu? LOL The rice was some form of long grain, so also rather dry and difficult to eat as it didn’t stick together (we stuck to chopsticks because, although a couple of forks had been provided, they weren’t too clean…). The rest of the bento box wasn’t worth eating. The salad, drowned in a pasty-white mayonnaise, was some wilted bits of lettuce and tomato whilst the seaweed was seriously nasty to the point I started to worry if I would get sick.
Fried vegetables
The deep fried vegetables were exactly as described. Seeing as it was supposed to be a Japanese restaurant, I had, of course, visions of tempura vegetables when I ordered this dish. What I got was chunks of a variety of vegetables, encased in a very peppery batter, and that had been deepfried. Not that bad in small doses, but they had a taste of very well used cooking oil (so the small doses was as much a health issue as anything else).
Torikara bento
Close-up of the garlic chicken...
The garlic chicken in teriyaki sauce was weird too. I couldn’t really taste the teriyaki nor the garlic and it was salty and spongious. In fact, the “garlic” was identifiably garlic salt – if you can imagine that added to chicken in a teriyaki sauce, you start to get an idea of my horror…
Salmon rolls
The salmon rolls were bad with a funny sour taste while the wasabi was probably old because it wasn’t very hot anymore. The salmon bits were tiny. You get a lot better salmon rolls at the take away section of Japan Centre, near Picadilly Circus or at just about any place selling sushi.
Cost and conclusion: it was £20.30. It was bad, one of my worst lunches in London. Even thinking about it makes me shiver.
This place has nothing Japanese, the name is very misleading. On the upside, the service was friendly and we did not get sick which is already something (or at least, so far we are not sick). We must be pretty tough! Or maybe just lucky… For more information about Little Japan, just google the name.
Japanese Tokiya Sushi Bar 74 Battersea Rise London SW11 1EH http://www.tokiya.co.uk
Tokiya Sushi Bar
We have already reviewed this authentic Japanese restaurant almost two months ago and found it quite good. This time we ordered Agedashi Tofu (Deep fried Tofu with Tempura Sauce – £3.80), Makazushi 5 pieces each of Deep fried Chicken Roll (£6.50) and Grilled Salmon skin with spring onion Inside out Roll (£4.00), the Nabeyaki Udon (White Udon noodle with Deep fried Tempura in pot – £12.00) and a Prawn Tempura (Deep fried Prawn & Vegetable Tempura – £9.50). As drinks we had a cold green tea and a calpico. The cold green tea (in a can) was excellent and refreshing, the calpico which is a milky sweet drink, was good. It is a drink for kids normally but as I lived in Japan for 4 years as a child I wanted to get that drink again. In Japan, I knew it as calpis. This was the same though, so I guess either rebranded for marketing reasons, or a rival brand.
Agedashi tofu
First to arrive was the agedashi tofu appetizer. It was nice and hot and well garnished with nori seaweed and green onions. One of my favourite light starters, Tokiya does this dish very nicely.
Makazushi 5 pieces of deep fried chicken roll
Close-up. Fresh hot wasabi at the left.
Grilled salmon skin with spring onion inside out roll
Close-up
The makazushi was also very good. We had ordered two types, both of which were inside out rolls. The first to arrive was deep fried chicken, which was nice and crispy and very tasty. A little later came the grilled salmon with skin rolls, which were quite nice as the skin was crispy.
Prawn Tempura (deep fried prawn & vegetable tempura)
The tempura was great: perfecly cooked, not too much batter so no greasy feeling, and the amount of tempura sauce was very generous. Often I find the sauce to be insufficient but at Tokiya it is more sauce than needed! The rice was good too.
Nabeyaki Udon
Tokiya’s nabeyaki udon was a work of art. Many other Japanese restaurants do a cut down version of this dish, which basically means some tempura atop your udon noodle soup. At Tokiya, you get the full works – there is a bit of everything in this soup bowl. I recall egg, crab, bok choy as well as the usual tempura shrimp and vegetables. Really a meal in a bowl, and a mighty fine meal at that. Definitely a dish I will order here again.
Cost and conclusion: it was £40.30 and no “optional” service charge automatically added to the bill. We appreciate it. The food was great, nice atmosphere and service too! Highly recommended!
Japanese Restaurant TOKU 212 Piccadilly London W1J 9HX
The neon signs at Piccadilly Circus
It has been over 4 months since I was last at Toku, so are they still doing well? Toku in the past was located within the Japan Centre (the Japanese store) which was not very convenient since you had shoppers in the restaurant. The Japan Centre has since relocated next door and now Toku occupies the full area.
As starters we ordered the Age dashi tofu and the sweet shrimp nigiri sushi (2 pieces). The main meals were a salmon sashimi and Ikura don and a chicken Kara Fry Set. As drinks we had a lotus tea and a peach flavoured water, since I wanted to know what it tasted like.
The Agedashi tofu was a little disappointing. It had a nice flavour and texture, no complaints there. But it was lukewarm, not hot. A decided shame, as it ruined what should have been a great start to the meal. I’ve had this dish at Toku many times previously, so I know they’re capable of doing it properly – but it wasn’t the case on this occasion.
Shrimp sushi
The shrimp sushi wasn’t that easy to eat, detaching from the rice with only the slightest provocation. I wasn’t too fond of the texture either, which didn’t quite seem as firm as it should have been.
The main courses
Chicken kara fry set
The kara fry set was good, but again not quite up to their usual standard. It was, on this occassion, a bit greasy and that is not usually the case. In positives, they certainly weren’t stingy with the portion of chicken (just as well, as the prices appear to have risen since we were last here), the salad was fresh and crunchy, and every thing was nicely seasoned.
Salmon sashimi and Ikura don
The don was very hot, which heated the sashimi – and doesn’t make for a very pleasant meal. As for the ikura (salmon roe), it didn’t seem to have the usual firm texture, but instead seemed just a bit soggy.
Tea
The peach water was OK, though a little sweet. Probably something that kids would like. Flowering lotus tea was excellent, as usual. In a small complaint, not a lot of hot water was given in the little tea pot it came in (small pot, and also not filled to the top). That was a bit of a waste and a shame, as much more tea could have been made and drunk from it.
Cost & conclusion: It was £45.43 including a 10% service charge. The service was not good. It was very slow and took a good 15 minutes before someone appeared to take our orders. Also, the main meals did not come together. There was a 5 minute delay between them. We have had better experience in the past at Toku, so I hope they are not going downhill.
Japanese restaurant Akasiro 8 Little Newport Street London WC2H 7JJ
I reviewed Akasiro 6 times but it has been two months since the last review so how are they doing now? As usual it was just time for a quick lunch. We took Katsudon (pork cutlet with egg sauce topped on rice, served with miso soup – £6.50) and Yaki Udon (£5.90). As drinks, we had an Asahi beer (£2.90) and a green tea (£1.50).
Yaki Udon
The Yaki Udon is a meal made of fried thick udon noodles with seafood. It was very tasty. Nice crispy bean sprouts, good range of seafood (mussels, shrimps, calamari…).
Katsudon
The katsudon was also very good – surprisingly tasty and even quite crispy, which is quite a feat considering that the tonkatsu strips are cooked in an egg sauce atop rice.
Cost and conclusion: as usual, a good meal at reasonable price from Akasiro. Their lunchtime prices really are good value. It was £16.80, not including tip. For reading the previous reviews, please visit the list of restaurants in alphabetical order page. It only lists London based restaurants.
Japanese restaurant Miyajima 196 Lavender Hill, Battersea London SW11 1JA 0207 223 1144
Miyajima
Red!
More red...
Miyajima is a Japanese restaurant located near Clapham Junction. At night you can recognise the place quite well because of its red display. The door is solid wood and does not really look like the entrance so first you wonder how to get in. Inside, it is black and red. Black for the tables and the ceilling. The rest is red, and deeply red. Put a chamaleon on that red wall and I believe it will die… The tables are canteen-like which is fine as they are quite large. Like at Franco Manca you choose-your-own cuttlery (chopsticks here) from a wood tin in the centre of the table. It’s a bit classier than the recycled tin at Franco Manca of course, but the same principle. The menu is large and thick. Not like a phone book of course but there are many pages. I did not take the time to read everything.
As starters we ordered the salmon rolls (£3.60) and the California rolls (£4.10). They were followed by a tempura bento (£9.50) and a yakitori bento. As drinks we had two Miyajima juice (£2.50 each) and two Tiger beer (£3 each).
Miyajima juice
Good Tiger beer
Californian and salmon rolls
The salmon rolls and the California rolls were nicely presented and good, but not as good as at Tokiya which has better sushi. The wasabi was very fresh and quite strong.
Yakitori bento
Details of the yakitori
Tempura bento
Details of the tempura bento
The bento boxes were quite good, with generous servings. The tempura bento had 5 good size shrimp. Considering it cost less than £10 it was a very good value. The fried vegetables were good too. The only thing I did not like was some sweet confit stuff that was put into the salad. Also, the sauce provided here is not the usual tempura sauce. It was more like a lightly sweet soy sauce. The portion of rice was huge.
The yakitori bento was excellent too. There were three skewers with plenty of chicken bits. They were tender and well marinated. Same reserve about the salad: it is fresh but it could do well without the sweet stuff. Actually it is quite amazing how much food they managed to fit into the box. Everything is densely packed.
Cost and conclusion: it was £41.31 with a service charge of £3.76 included in the bill. Without the two beers and the starters it would be around £25 which is good value for money because the bento boxes are quite large. Friendly staff, reasonable prices and good food can resume Miyajima. I find it better than the other Japanese restaurant Ukai Sushi located accross Lavander Hill street but if you are into sushi mostly, Tokiya Sushi Bar not far on Battersea Rise is the best in this area and more authentic.
