I was celebrating my friend David’s birthday. We walked in, and luckily they did not stop David in his “fancy” boot, because he broke his leg a week ago. It was a small restaurant, though of a very London-Japanese style: modern decoration with some transitional Japanese touch.
I usually ordered taste menu as it show the strength of the chef, however, David does not eat red meat.
The a la carte menu was as expected compared to many Japanese restaurant, but probably contains more selection of fish.
I ordered the chef selection of sashimi and charcoal grilled welsh lamb.
The sashimi selection was good and fresh, all nicely cut and presented.
I did not use much of the soy sauce, a special sour and vinegary sauce, nor the wasabi.
Though my criticise was, there were not much one could go wrong with sashimi except picking the best ingredients.
To the chef’s defence, it probably require years of training to identify the best parts of various fishes and cut then into the ideal thickness.
My main dish, which was also the main in the taste menu, was very disappointing.
The problem for me was they look and taste too dry.
They were very good lamb ingredient without doubt, however, there was almost no seasoning on both meat and side vegetables.
One could argue it is the purpose to enjoy the original flavour of ingredients but it certainly did not worked for me.
My last order was a dessert, a Japanese interpretation or twist of tiramisu.
Unfortunately, I only liked the look of the presentation and the tiny and decorative fresh pea shoots.
As a recreation of tiramisu, I expected layers of different textures and subtle balance flavours, yet I get none but pure sweet and sugar, in an unpleasant way.
Speaking for myself, this is yet another stared restaurants I disliked in London, at least for the dishes I tried.
