Tag Archives: sushi

Makiyaki

October 16, 2015 Fork & Talk Leave a comment

We love sushi, we really do! Makiyaki in Wimbledon has been on the sushi hit list for a while now so on a hot summers day it was the perfect cuisine to have.

To start with we had Natsu Agedashi. Loved this dish, we are aubergine fans and love to try dishes belonging to our purple veg pal. The dish consists of pieces of aubergine deep fried in katsu crumbs and served in warm house soya sauce. It was sweet and savoury all at once.

We went all out on the sushi but have to admit it will take weekly visits for about two months till we get through the menu.

We had the Scallop Volcano which had an eruption of caviar on top. The sushi had scallops as the name suggests, octopus, crab stick, shrimp and red snapper. It was pretty sweet and I just loved the soft texture throughout. It all just melted in your mouth and was such a joy to eat.

The Kingston was another hit with tempura prawns and chilli. Very yummy and I do love a good crunch in the centre.

The Salmon Tampura Roll was another favourite with a juicy piece of soft avocado in the centre. I have never had salmon tempura but it just make the fish even more flakey.

The presentation at Makiyaki I must say needs a bit of work especially when you are competing with the likes of Stick’n’Sushi down the street. I like to think of sushi as an art form and as you can see from the pictures it doesn’t have the high finishing skills we are used to seeing. Nevertheless, the flavours and textures are good.

The staff are lovely and the interior is so quant.

We do look forward to returning and sampling the other million sushi types on offer at Makiyaki.

Makiyaki
149 Merton Rd, London SW19 1ED

Japanese

Sen-Ryo

May 26, 2015 Fork & Talk 1 Comment

Okay, so it’s our third meal and we haven’t got any closer to eating Chinese food yet. We keep being blinded by all these other kitch restaurants but we will be dining Chinese style for dinner for sure.

Having spent the afternoon browsing flower and bird markets in Mong Kok, we were too tired to travel back to Central for lunch. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try some sushi so we went with the first open restaurant we could find. You know how we love sushi!!!! Also, being a Street Fighter lover I went crazy at the association with Ryo “adooookin!”.

The interior is very traditional with soft lighting and dark wooden cladding everywhere. Seating is a mixture of booths and bar seating which is cosy. Something interesting we found out on our visit was they apparently Hong Kong is full of single female diners and so therefore a lot of the bar seating was actually designed for them. However, don’t be feeling sad for them, these are the Hong Kong power women that have amazing careers and have little time for social hang outs.

Sen-Ryo have a bit of an Argos approach to ordering food. You have a catalogue (menu) from which you select dishes from and you simply fill in the sheet and hand it to the waiter and wait for your platters to arrive. I think we have had some incredible sushi presentation in the past so the presentation was a tad disappointing. Though still nice and appetising. We had a selection of nice sushi offerings from tuna rolls to jumbo rolls (made with eel here so be careful as eel seems to feature a lot in the sushi of the orient). A must try is the fried egg which is comes in cubes taste like a sweet omelette. Another thing to recommend is the tuna sashimi which just melts in the mouth. Actually, saying that all the fish is just stunning and fresh, really makes you question what ‘fresh’ seafood actually is a home.

For a meal for 3 it cost a total of 490 Hong Kong dollars meaning about £40 so it was a pretty good spend.

Anyway, next stop must be some Chinese. I’m feeling Shanghaiese in particular.

Sen-Ryo

Shop 362, 3/F, Moko, 193 Prince Edward Road West Mong Kok.

Japanese

Nobu

March 11, 2015 Fork & Talk 1 Comment

Everyone who’s into Japanese cuisine heard of Nobu. It has been leading a long list of London’s prestigious eateries for many years. A week ago when my father was in town, we finally decided to book a table and see what’s the fuss is all about.

We booked a late Sunday lunch time slot at Nobu at Metropolitan hotel. We wondered how we got so lucky as the restaurant was packed! Service was friendly and to the point. Instead of choosing a selection of dishes, which would have taken a while considering menu was quite long, we were recommended ‘chefs choice’ lunch feast. For £70 per head Omakase is a multi-dish course which lets you experience Chef Matsuhisa’s cooking in full glory. So we have put our trust in his hands and tucked in.

Both of us LOVE sushi and we can definitely appreciate a bit of yellow tail, so the starter was a hit. Raw fish was supreme quality – delicious! Plus who can resist a bit of caviar!

Both me and dad ordered a taster tray of sake to go with our lunch. A great way to sample all different types of sake without the commitment. My favourite one was naturally with gold leaf on the bottom. Real smooth!

Our second course was black cod with miso. Wrapped in a banana leaf it was steamed to perfection. Lemon slice was on the side in case you found miso marinade too sweet, which I did, but lemon juice added a little edge. It was a great portion size as dishes kept coming!

Next up was stunning Wagyu beef with Japanese mushrooms on the side. This is my first time trying Wagyu and it was very good, but portion was small so I didn’t quite taste all of that stunning marbling of fat that Wagyu is famous for. I did however love the Japanese mushrooms for their slightly pickled taste and crunch.

Lunch was rounded off by chocolate fondant and green tea ice cream. As much of a chocolate lover as I am, I felt as though dessert have let the meal down. The fondant is a weird dessert to have after spectacular sushi, there was nothing special about it. Green tea ice cream however was perfectly refreshing.

Now you don’t go to Nobu for the location or the decor, both of these didn’t exactly swipe me off my feet. The food however deserves all the praise! I now get what all the Nobu fuss is about.

Nobu
Metropolitan Hotel London, 19 Old Park Lane, London W1K 1LB
http://www.noburestaurants.com

Japanese

Sticks’n’Sushi

October 2, 2014 Fork & Talk Leave a comment

It was a cold Wednesday evening and I have made my way down to Wimbledon to meet an old school friend. Since neither of us been there for a while we have decided to take a walk and see if we come across anywhere to eat.

We walked down Wimbledon Hill road, past pubs, past all the estate agents and then the road turned empty and dark…we were about to turn around and head back to the station when we saw an inviting glimmer of the lights.

Walking into Stick’n’Sushi was like discovering an oasis in the desert. We were surprised to see that it was packed out to the max on Wednesday night. Soft groovy house music played in the background, waiters buzzed around the tables and the crowd certainly looked very stylish.

I loved the layout of the restaurant, it was a smart casual feel that I have only seen in European metropolitan cities such as St. Petersburg, Russia. There was a mix of small tables for two and large long ones for a party of 20, wanting a comfy low key spot me and my friend made ourselves comfortable on the low sofas and our food was served on the coffee table next to it.

The service was amazing. Having never been to Sticks’n’Sushi before we were talked through the menu, which I must say was impressive. Our waiter certainly knew what he was talking about, with total ease he would list all of the ingredients in each sushi roll which would on average be up to eight items. On top of that all of his recommendations were delicious!

As I mentioned the menu is HUGE, although they did make it easier by creating a separate set menu where you find sushi platters of different sizes and flavours. But if you are feeling brave or picky, they also have a thick menu of individual rolls, sushi, sashimi and ‘sticks’ dishes.

I am not going to go into the detail about what we ate but I am going to say that this was THE BEST SUSHI I’ve had since Sushinho in London closed down. Innovative flavours, amazing arrangement, it was feast for the tummy and the eyes. Although we didn’t order any of the ‘sticks’ we checked out our neighbours table and they certainly looked yum.

Deserts were incredible. Divided into tiny pots we got a taster of creme brûlée, lemon sorbet, chocolate fondant and almond ball. It was a perfect end to a perfect dinner!

We got so comfortable with our sushi and cocktails, time flew by. We ended up being one of the last people to leave that place. Although not cheap, it was not expensive either and I was more than happy to pay £30 for my dinner.

I am so glad I stumbled upon Sticks’n’Sushi, and just found out they have a central London branch, now I have to go back!

Star Rating: *****

Sticks’n’Sushi
58 Wimbledon Hill Rd, Merton, London SW19 7PA
http://www.sticksnsushi.com