Posted by Krista on November 22, 2010
Shiso
449 West North Avenue
Chicago
Date of Last Visit: Monday, November 8, 2010
The Victims: Many. All from Grubwithus.com, a very fun and Web 2.0 way of going out to dinner with like-minded strangers, singles and couples alike.
The Damage: $25ish? Maybe $30. I forget.
The Background: There are two things I want to talk about today. Firstly, it’s sushi rolls in America. And how when I was in London, I used to beg and plead for interesting rolls. Fun rolls. Rainbow rolls, where the sushi chef topped any roll coming out of the kitchen with the most colorful things he could get his hands on, regardless of how it all tasted together. Dragon rolls, where that same sushi chef would would shape and dress his sushi rolls into animals. Like dragons. Yes, I’m serious.
In London, the sushi chefs were purists. You rarely saw a Philadelphia roll on the menu. (Yes, that a sushi roll with cream cheese and chives.)
Now that I’m back, I have to ask myself: REALLY? I MEAN REALLY?!? WHAT WAS I THINKING? Because if you give a sushi chef in America–the land of options–a blank check, you end up with this:
That, my friends, is the Volcano Roll.
Yes, the volcano roll: hamachi, escolar, avocado, masago, red tobiko, black tobiko, tempura crumb, unagi sauce and spicy mayo.
Thankfully, the Golden Triangle wasn’t as visually disturbing. In fact, it was quite tame in comparison to the Volcano. But note that each piece of the roll has been shaped into a triangle. Sacrilege!!! Ingredients? shrimp tempura,cream cheese, tobiko, avocado, spicy sauce, masago mayo, green onion, tempura crumb outside topped with unagi sauce and wasabi mayo.
Behold, the Crunchy Spicy Tuna: tuna, masago, spicy mayo, chili oil, cucumber and tempura crumbs. These were very spicy and strangely addictive.
And here, the Shiso Signature Roll: smoked salmon, avocado, jalapeño, cilantro, and cream cheese deep fried. wrapped with rice and black tobiko. served with unagi sauce and spicy mayo on the side.
And then there was the Tiger. Deep fried soft shell crab, cilantro, kaiwardi cucumber, avocado, masago mayo, topped with tamago, and green onion. Note the tiger stripes.
I’ve gone backwards, however, in my telling of the meal. Because we also had some calamari to start, which was tough and dry. A seaweed salad, which was actually quite delightful. And some spicy miso soup, which was also quite good.
Throughout it all, the staff was sweet and efficient. Perhaps too efficient. I felt a little rushed, with little space to breathe between bites.
The Other Thing I Wanted to Talk About: Since I’ve been back, everyone’s been very kind and asking about my repatriation and how it’s going and what I’ve noticed about life in America after being gone for so long. The list is long and I won’t bore you with all the details, but I do notice that the uniform for men seems to be khaki trousers and a blue shirt. American football–particularly on Sundays–seems to be much more important than it was when I left. There are way too many commercials on American television, and they’re all SHOUTING at you, desperate to grab your attention. And in the grocery store, there’s hardly any real food. It’s all in boxes and cans.
But what I really wanted to talk about is how life moves on, which was something I was very much aware of as I moved back. My single friends in Chicago are all married. My married friends in Chicago now all have kids. I thought it was timely that as I was pulling together my thoughts on this post, Sasha over at The Happiness Project London wrote this.
Where I am at the moment is why I love a new venture like Grubwithus, a social dining concept. To borrow their own description from their Web site:
Grubwithus connects people in the real, physical world. Every meal presents opportunities to befriend and network with an amazing array of personalities. So the next time you are looking for a place to eat in Chicago, make it social and eat at a Grubwithus meal!
We created Grubwithus Socializing to expand our offline connections and meet new people in Chicago. Being recent transplants to Chicago, we wanted to meet new people, but didn’t want to hang out at the bars and clubs every night. We thought it’d be much more fun to bond at the best restaurants in Chicago over a family-style meal. And so Grubwithus was born.
I’ve dined out twice now with Grubwithus (Korean BBQ post coming up next) and have had a great time on both occasions. While the food at Shiso may have seemed a bit odd at times to a returning expat, it’s rare that I’d go out for sushi with 12 people and be able to try such a variety of dishes. And it’s even rarer still to be able to say to 11 other people, “Hey, let’s go all the way up north to this Korean barbecue place I’ve heard about.” (Or Ethiopian. Ethiopian is up next.) It would take about three months to find a date that worked for everyone. Grubwithus does all the organizing for you. All you have to do is show up. And on both occasions, my meals have been extremely good values. $30ish. Not bad.
The Verdict: Shiso is fun and the staff are sweet. Are they going to win any awards, food-wise? Probably not. But will Grubwithus win any awards? I hope so!
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Posted in Chicago, Japanese, Old Town, United States | 3 Comments
Posted by Krista on July 1, 2010
Today during lunch, @leeturnerconn and I dropped into the Orla Kiely sale off Brick Lane where I bought four too many purses. (And was overcharged £130 but that's another matter entirely.)
Shopping makes one hungry.
We stopped into Japanika before the sale, just to check it out. It was overflowing with sushi rolls. It was a contender for a luncheon destination.
45 minutes later, our shopping complete, Japanika was decimated. Completely. All that was left were some Japanika rolls…salmon as far as I could tell. But for £3.90, this was an excellent value.
Japanika is 95% takeaway. It's decently priced and, well, decent. Don't ask them to make you something you saw earlier on the shelves though. Cuz they won't.
I'm moblogging from my couch at the moment. Maybe I'll come back and expand on this post later. Maybe.
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Posted in E1, Japanese, London, United Kingdom | 2 Comments
Posted by Krista on June 16, 2010
Necco
52-54 Exmouth Market
EC1R 4QE
Date of Last Visit: Saturday, May 29, 2010
The Damage: £15ish
The Background: Yes, it's sushi week on Londonelicious, isn't it? Sorry…can't help myself…I'm sort of addicted.
Here's what happened…at some point in early may, before I left for Amman, I took a quick shortcut home through Exmouth Market and stopped dead in my tracks. My prayers had been answered! A Japanese place in walking distance from my flat…and one that's open on weeekends! (Ok, Pham is open on Saturday nights but on Sunday not at all.) Back from the middle east and in dire need of some seafood, I made a pilgrimage to my new local.
At Necco, it's like they've made all the menus by hand themselves. I like that. And apparently, someone really likes pink.
And someone else (or maybe it's the same person) must know how to crochet.
It's all a little Hello Kitty. In a good way.
Look…even my iPhone case is pink! I belong here. The agedashi tofu was a very nice example of such. It was also very, very hot.
Soft-shell crab. Nice. Maybe not as crispy as I would have liked it. But still pretty enjoyable.
And then some mackeral roll. With chilli. I liked this. Miles better than my sushi at Harrods earlier in May. Now that was truly dreadful.
The Service: Throughout it all, service was sweet and attentive. I couldn't help but fall in love with them. And Necco. Even though I hate cats and (IMHO) there's something odd about an Asian restaurant calling itself "Cat." Even if it's cat in Japanese.
The Verdict: Go for its simplicity and sweetness and nice food. Is it the best sushi I've ever had? No, not so much. But there's just something so genuine and lovely about Necco that's entirely endearing.
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Posted in EC1, Japanese, London, United Kingdom | 3 Comments
Posted by Krista on June 15, 2010
Harrods Sushi Bar
87 – 135 Brompton Road,
SW1X 7XL
Date of Last Visit: Sunday, May 2, 2010
The Damage: £15ish
Sushi two days in a row. Do you think I like sushi? My birthday was a few days prior to this, and as a birthday treat, I had booked myself into the Mandarin Oriental Spa. (Which is highly lovely, by the way. I very highly recommend it.) I had some time to kill before my appointment, so I popped into Harrods for some retail therapy and some sushi.
And I was very disappointed. It was the rice. There was something wrong with the rice. It ruined everything. Dry. Lumpy. Overly sticky. Sigh. Is it really so hard?
The Verdict: No.
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Posted in Japanese, London, SW1, United Kingdom | 7 Comments
Posted by Krista on June 14, 2010
Sushi Hiro
1 Station Parade
Uxbridge Road
W5 3LD
Date of Last Visit: Saturday, May 1, 2010 (Sorry, I'm more than a bit behind these days.)
The Damage: £18 or thereabouts
So I've finally beent to Sushi Hiro. You know…that mysterious place in Ealing that everyone raves about. The place that always looks like it's closed. (They really need to ditch the sex shop frosted glass windows.)
And you know, I learned some things. Yes, even after doing this gig for nearly six years now, I'm still learning things. "Gullible," you might know, is not in the dictionary.
Here's what I learned:
It's entirely possible to walk into Sushi Hiro on a Saturday afternoon without a booking. I did. And I got a seat at the bar.
You can pay by card at Sushi Hiro. Really. They don't mind.
Even if they look closed, they're not. Try the door, really.
I also learned that at the end of the day, sometimes sushi is just sushi. Even if it's all the way out there in Ealing.
The Verdict: Sushi Hiro fans might kill me, but I didn't find Sushi Hiro worth the special trip. (Except maybe if you're going to Boden, like I was.) I like Kikuchi and Chisou better.
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Posted in Japanese, London, United Kingdom, W5 | 6 Comments
Posted by Krista on March 12, 2010
Kikuchi
14 Hanway Street
W1P 9DD
Date of Last Visit: Friday, February 19th
The Victim: Rutton
The Damage: Uh, £70 each. Blame the sake.
The Background: I haven't seen Rutton since the wedding. HIS wedding. So we make plans to meet up. I think maybe Roka, but something in me wants something less "all that." I just want sushi. I don't want pretty cocktails. I also want to give Rutton shit for putting me at the singles' table at his wedding. The single GIRLS' table. WTF?
The Arrival: Irasshaimase!!! Many times over. I've picked the right place. I'm shown our table and try to order a drink. There's a language barrier. I love Kikuchi already. Eventually, a beer arrives.
The Food: There was a lot of it, and I didn't take pictures of everything. I liked the tempura, even the mushrooms. (New readers: I generally don't like mushrooms. Or grapefruit. But luckily, there was no grapefruit here.) Was not the hugest fan of the chicken yakitori, but I think that's just because I don't really like working for my food. Loved the gomae. And the cod.
And then there was the sushi, and lovely it was. I went straight for the mackeral. Fresh. Generous cuts. Perfect.
Why I Came Here: Nuno told me to.
The Verdict: Loved, loved, loved Kikuchi. And they gave me a voucher for my next visit! You know I'm a sucker.
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Posted in Japanese, London, United Kingdom, W1 | 7 Comments
Posted by Krista on February 22, 2010
Itadaki Zen
139 King's Cross Road
WC1X 9BJ
Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
The Victim: Reiko
The Damage: £35 each
The Background: You might remember that I was in Cardiff towards the end of November. At some point, after the Australia-Wales Rugby Match, we ended up in a random Malaysian restaurant. (Never wrote about it, sorry!) I was with Craig and his wife Leanne. Craig leaves to go to the men's room and Leanne and I are sitting chatting. I make a comment about the people waving Australian flags in the restaurant. (Craig and Leanne are from Downunder.) Leanne follows my gaze and yells, "Oh my God! That's my cousin!
Yes, she ran into her cousin Taman at a random Malaysian restaurant in Cardiff. He was with his girlfriend Reiko, and we all got to chatting over the rest of our meals.
I told Reiko about my blog and my trip to Tokyo in 2008 and she pronounced herself a willing victim for any meal. So it was that we found ourselves at Itadaki Zen in King's Cross on a Wednesday night in January. This was Reiko's choice, and I was intrigued. It's a vegetarian Japanese restaurant, and I'd never heard of it. Never. I like never hearing about places.
But then of course, the week before we're supposed to go to Itadaki Zen, what happens? Time Out runs this review. I was kinda bummed. Mainly because I wanted to go someplace I knew NOTHING about. But I couldn't not read Guy Diamond's review.
The Entrance: Itadaki Zen is all light wood and quiet. They had an architect in from Japan who designed the space, and apparently, he thought people would never eat in groups of three or four because he built this huge mega-wide bar down the side of the room. Not so good. I was glad it was just me and Reiko.
The Food: I put Reiko in charge. I don't know what I'm doing. Reiko had the chef brought out so we could all chat. Or, well, that Reiko and the chef could chat because it was all in Japanese. So we started with the vegetable sushi and you know what, I wasn't so impressed. Vegetable sushi is boring. (And high-margin.) Luckily, I snagged the fried tofu bit.
The spinach and tofu, on the other hand, I really enjoyed. Dense and savory. I could have had more of this.
The beans…I could have passed on these. I'm not exactly sure what they were–soybeans of some sort. But they didn't talk to me. At the end, this was the only dish we didn't finish.
So I was worried about the agedashi tofu because Guy Diamond in Time Out said "…mirin and shoyu (soy sauce) broth called tsuyu – should have intense flavours to complement the delicate tofu, but this version disappointingly lacked great depth." But I actually thought this was one of the better examples of agedashi tofu that I've ever had. Normally, I find the broth too watery and lacking flavor, but I thought this one was pretty good.
I really liked the spring rolls. A lot. Eons later and I'm still thinking about them. I would tell you more but I've written this post like three times now because Typepad and my computer are not getting along at the moment. So I'm kinda highly annoyed.
Then there was the tempura. The carrot and onion mish-mash was pretty fantastic. The rest was good, but would have been better with the tempura dipping sauce I'm used to. (At Itadaki Zen, the tempura is served with just the salt. I don't know enough about dipping sauce vs. salt to comment.) Once this stuff was cold…well, not so great. (In comparison to say, cold fried chicken, which only seems to taste better the next day!)
And here's the sesame pudding. I'm a sucker for anything sesame but I can see many people not liking this. But you know what, I don't care what you think. I really liked this. Anything sesame is delicious to me.
The Service: Sweet. Not Japanese. (Just stating some facts.) Very knowledgeable about the food and what they're trying to accomplish. I like that.
The Area: Sketchy.
The Verdict: I'd seriously go back for those spring rolls. And the carrot and onion tempura. And some sesame pudding. Oh, and some more of that spinach and tofu mixture. Don't be worried about the lack of meat and fish. There's enough choice here to make up for that.
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Posted in Japanese, London, United Kingdom, WC1 | 17 Comments
Posted by Krista on February 10, 2010
Tenshi
61 Upper Street
N1 0NY
Date of Last Visit: January 17th, 2009
The Victim: Me
The Damage: £15
The Background: You have to imagine me, sitting in my flat on a Sunday afternoon thinking, "I really want sushi." But it's Sunday. Pham is closed on Sundays. And I don't want to get on the tube. Why why why is there no sushi in Islington???
Well there is now. Thanks to Tenshi. And I'm pretty happy about it.
I liked Tenshi's spicy tuna rolls. Nothing special. Just honest.
Service is prompt and efficient, or at least it was when I was there. The atmosphere is VERY basic. This is really more of a take-out place. The good news about that, though, is they'll be open ALL the time. (I hope.) Not just from 12 to 3 p.m. and then 6 to 10 p.m. like Sasa Sushi down the road. So if you want sushi in Islington, you can have sushi whenever you want.
You can also have chicken katsu whenever you want, and this was a fine example. I'd eat it again. Good panko crust. I still like chicken katsu curry better, though.
The Verdict: (Relatively) cheap fun. Welcome to the neighborhood, Tenshi. I'm sure I'll be back many times.
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Posted in Japanese, London, N1, United Kingdom | 10 Comments
Posted by Krista on August 3, 2009
Taro
61 Brewer Street
W1F 9UW
Date of Last Visit: Thursday, July 16th, 2009
The Victim: Me
The Damage: £10
The Background: I have the day off of work. Why? Because I need to go shopping. My friends Richard and Mireia are getting married in Barcelona on the 18th and I need some nice outfits. Plus, about 10 hours after I return from Barcelona, I have to head to Chicago for work and BlogHer. In short, it's time to update the wardrobe.
And although I'm really trying not to eat so much these days, the Pret Smoothie I try to pass off as lunch isn't really communicating with my brain or my stomach. My body wants food-food. I'm sorta by Brewer Street so I figure some sort of Japanese food might be nice. And there's Taro right there in front of me. So in I go.
The Entrance: Taro is packed. They try to seat me at the bar, but I'm not having any of that. There's a large man at the bar and I've got all my shopping. Borrowing a trick from my friend Yusuf, I don't say anything when they offer me the bar seat. I just stare at the server, and at the bar, and then at my bags. Like magic, it works. They give me my very own table.
The Food: Pork katsu don for me. It's okay. The egg is good. The pork tastes old. The breading tastes old. Eh. I'm not so impressed.
The Verdict: People seem to love this place. It was packed! Not my favorite.
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Posted in Japanese, London, United Kingdom, W1 | 9 Comments
Posted by Krista on July 6, 2009
Dinings
22 Harcourt Street
W1H 4HH
Date of Last Visit: Thursday, June 25, 2009
The Victims: Craig, Leann, Mikaela, Jen
The Damage: About £40 each
The Background: Craig is my London sushi buddy. It started many years ago, at Kurumaya in the city. A great little place that you should really visit. (Even the skeptics on London-Eating.co.uk like it.) (Get a booking for downstairs.) Last summer, Craig invited me along to check out Matsuri St. James. For some odd reason, I still haven't taken him to Pham. One of these days. Anyhow, Dinings was next on our list of London sushi joints.
The Entrance: Dinings is small. Very small. Much smaller than I expected. We're shown downstairs to a small room that we end up sharing with that one other table in the photo. It's perfect, really. Although it's a bit hot. Just a bit.
The Service: Exceptional. I had run into our server the previous weekend at Taste of London–she was working the Dinings booth–but she had no recollection of me whatsoever. Before we figured this part out, I asked for a run-down of her favorites. Total enthusiasm for and great knowledge of the menu. She was so good, I asked her to do the whole thing again when the rest of our party arrived. Some might have found this annoying. But she obliged. And it was even better than the first time.
The Food: We followed all our server's recommendations and the food just kept coming. We started with the seabass carpaccio with truffle salsa and ponzu sauce. Lovely. Clean. But my absolute favorites were grilled eel and foie gras maki with summer truffle and the pork belly. The pork belly! Really, the pork belly.
The Verdict: I liked it here. A lot. Nice service. Really interesting menu. This is not a California rolls kind of place. Really great food. Not cheap though.
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Posted in Japanese, London, United Kingdom, W1 | 4 Comments
Posted by Krista on June 18, 2009
Saki
4 West Smithfield
EC1A 9JX
Date of Last Visit: Saturday, June 6th, 2009
The Victims: Stacey, Feathers
The Damage: £50ish each
The Background: Stacey and Canadia Boy had a baby last month (yey!) and tonight is Stacey's first night out alone. She feels like sushi–I didn't ask, but I'm guessing it's because she didn't each much raw fish during her pregnancy–and we want to stay in the general neighborhood, so Saki it is.
The Entrance: The ground floor of Saki houses a little shop. That's their sake and beer collection there. I liked this. The restaurant is downstairs, and I didn't like it so much: it's a bit worn around the edges. Maybe that's just because I was eating in a basement. I'm not a big fan of basements. I need to go back and re-review and look more closely.
The Starters: We order the three-course chef's menu. The menu's not online so I can't tell you all the choices, but I went with the pork katsu to start. It was nice, but we couldn't figure out what the pork was rolled around. Our server told us it was celery, but it seemed a lot more gelatinous than that. Maybe they did something weird to it? Not sure. I thought this dish was nice.
The Tempura: This was good tempura. But maybe I just don't know tempura dipping sauces enough because again, I thought it was pretty bland. I expected a bit more saltiness. The batter was good though. Crisp.
The Sushi: It looks lovely, doesn't it? It was lovely. But still not as good as what I had at Chisou. Must go back to Chisou and see if I was imagining things.
Dessert: Green tea tiramisu. I thought this tasted pre-prepared and it was overly cold. It didn't do much for me.
The Loos: The Xcelerator! (The other Dyson Airblade.)
The Verdict: I thought this was good. Not great. Just good.
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Posted in EC1, Japanese | 4 Comments
Posted by Krista on June 11, 2009
Yoshino
3 Piccadilly Place
W1J0DB
Date of Last Visit: Saturday, May 30th, 2009
The Victim: Myself
The Damage: £30
The Background: I used to rely on my blog to remind me what I was doing on any given day. (Very helpful in my application for Indefinite Leave to Remain, for example.) Now I rely on Twitter. What a crazy way to diary your life.
That being said, I apparently didn't tweet about the 12 loads of laundry I did on Saturday, May 30th. (Oh, for an American washing machine! Really, people, how we live here without one, I do not know.) But then again, the Twitterverse probably doesn't want to know about that stuff.
Laundry works up an appetite. And I felt like sushi. I was willing to travel, but maybe not THAT far. (Like Sushi Say or Sushi Hiro or any of those type of options.) And as it turns out, a lot of Japanese places in Central London are closed for lunch. They're just open for dinner.
So Yoshino it was. Despite warnings and a bad review from Beas of Bloomsbury.
The Entrance: Yoshino is empty at around 2 p.m. when I enter. Very empty. There is one other customer on the ground floor and she is Japanese and happily chatting away with the staff. She later leaves and is replaced by an elderly Japanese man who also happily chats away. In Japanese. I feel left out.
The Staff: Are totally in a Madonna video from Blond Ambition. Headsets. Who are they talking to? My server is also kinda hot.
The Food: I just ordered a combo. And some agedashi tofu. The tofu itself was okay. The dipping sauce was bland, bland, bland. The sushi combo is fresh. The mackeral is particularly good. So good that I order more. And yes, my camera phone does totally suck. I know that. Thanks for reminding me.
The Decor: I think most restaurants should paint their high-volume areas at least once a year. Yoshino needs a good lick of paint.
The Verdict: This was okay. Of all the Japanese places I've reviewed lately, I still think I like Chisou the best. (For the food. Not the service.)
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Posted in Japanese, London, United Kingdom, W1 | 1 Comment
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