When Sushi Met Ikea

Well, Jerry, they're Japanese. I mean, that TV you watch, that sushi you eat, I mean, even that kimono you wear. Where to you think all that money goes, hmm?

Cosmo Kramer (Seinfeld episode “The Checks”)

I would have never believed I was going to love a Danish Japanese restaurant. Let’s face it, Denmark has become in a culinary centre so it was about time that some of their concepts start to spread around the world. The place Sticks ‘n’ Sushi. The credentials “voted the best sushi restaurant in Copenhagen”. The concept sushi and Yakitori.

A Modern concept from Denmark that was born 18 years ago, Two locations in London Wimbledon and Covent Garden. Ample space, modern, upscale, Scandinavian atmosphere and functionality, definitely the place is IKEA meets sushi.

The decor

We opened with a miso soup, OMG! The Miso was dense, depth flavours, really nice, I can’t believe I’m praising a miso soup, but it was absolutely fantastic, a great start. Then we went for some sushi and obviously some sticks. Extremely difficult to choose as everything looked amazing. I was worried as they have pictures on the menu, but I think I found the exception of the rule! We got the table for 2 meal, Nigiri, Uramaki, Futomaki, Yakitori, edamame, and spicy chicken bites. It was fantastic, great flavours, the sushi and sashimi were fresh, the sticks had a nice and lovely flavour.

Sushi & Sashimi

Chicken wg

Yakitori

We got more sushi roles, the Futomaki, a soft shell crab with abocado, fantastic. Great flavours again, flawless execution.

Futomaki

We moved for more sticks and got the Man Food. Great name and amazing flavours. More Yakitori, more edamame, and lamb chops. The highlight I have to say was the goat cheese in dried ham, it was exquisite, it was so good we ordered more of that ham and melted cheese delight.

More sticks

Chops & Ribs

Sorry for the broken record but the food was perfect, this is one of my favourite restaurants in London for sure! A piece of advice the edemame in the meals wasn't hot, so you will need to tell the waiter in order to get it hot. Service spot on, food amazing, 10 over 10 for the Danish Sushi chain.

Sticks 'n' Sushi

T: 020 3141 8800

Japanese Cuisine

Approx Damage: £42pp

Area: Wimbledon

Borough: Merton

Twitter: sticksnsushi_UK

---

View Larger Map

---

Ramen Bar with Rock n’ Roll Attitude

I'm so sorry, you'll have to forgive me. I can't hear a damn thing. I went to that rock concert last night at the garden. My seats were right up against the speaker. It's a heavy metal group Metalli-something 

Limo Driver (Seinfeld episode “The Lip Reader”) 

The Ramen bar popularity has been increasing in the last year. One of the places that we got thanks to this trend is Bone Daddies. Chef and owner Ross Shonhan, the same of Zuma and Nobu opened his big obsession a Ramen bar. The place is loud, with no reservation policy, tight but cosy space, and of course full of steaming bowls of intense noodle soup. 

The place

Decor

Menu

My friend Patty was visiting so we took her there. We opened with a soft shell crab, quite nice, good flavours, and an intense green chilli ginger sauce. Then I ordered one of the day specials a Korean Fried Guinea Fowl. Amazing, sweet and spicy, really nice sauce and perfectly executed dish, really good. 

My friend Patty ready for Ramen

Crab

KFGF

Marisol wanted to try the salmon sashimi, nice, fresh, not over complicated, simple and good. 

Salmon

Finally, the main event. I went for Tomkotsu ramen, really good, nice flavours, strong broth as a result of simmering for 20 hours pork bones, well seasoned, all the trimmings. I’m not a ramen connoisseur but it was great. 

Ramen time

Be prepared to have a close conversation while listening pure rock n’ roll such as Springsteen, Floyd, or Doors while being impregnated by the aromas and depth of the broth.

Bone Daddies

T: 020 7287 8581

Ramen Bar

Approx Damage: £25pp

Area: Soho

Borough: City of Westminster

Twitter: bonedaddiesRbar

---

View Larger Map

---

Robatayaki Takes Charlotte St

“George is right, Jerry. See, here, you're just another apple, but in 
Japan, you're an exotic fruit, like an orange. Which is rare there” 

Cosmo Kramer (Seinfeld Episode “The Checks”) 

Fireside cooking or most commonly a charcoal barbecue is the Robata cooking style. The place in London to find this is no other than Roka. Rustic design but still the place gives you comfort, two locations in London and one in Hong Kong. In Roka you will find a Sonchu Lounge, 6 course tasting menu, sushi, sashimi, and of course robata dishes. 

The Robata

We started the night with a salmon sashimi, simple, well presented, and fresh. Tuna tartare and quail egg with caviar was the next dish, amazing flavour combination, the caviar with the delicate quail egg was perfect, a dish to die for. 

Sashimi

Tartare

Moving on in the starter section we got soft shell crab with a garlic and soy mayo, nicely battered and fried, crunchy, not oily, the homemade mayo was spot on, in conclusion it was excellent. Keeping the frying note we got some tempura prawns, nicely executed again, great tempura, really nice. 

Crispy soft shelf crab

Tempura

A dish I couldn’t missed was the chicken wings, excellent glazed, great flavours but just a bit dry to my dissapointment. 

Wings

To end the night we got our Robata, baby back ribs, glazed with spiced master stock and cashew nuts. Awesome, excellent flavour, the master stock has lemon, oranges, cinnamon, and other secret ingredients, they were lovely, perfectly cooked and with a great flavour. 

Ribs

I just can say a really nice diner, good service, and amazing presentation in Charlotte St

Roka

T: 020 7580 6464

Japanese Cuisine

Approx Damage: £38pp

Area: Fitzrovia

Borough: Camden

Twitter: RokaCharlotteSt

---

View Larger Map

---

Iron Chef Time [On The Road: Napa]

I'm a huge fan of Top Chef but I have no idea about Iron Chef, haven't seen any of the shows so don't ask me much about that. The one thing I know is everybody recommended eating at Morimoto. Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, legend of the Japanese TV reality show Iron Chef and its American spin off, born and trained in Hiroshima, moved to the USA and opened his first Morimoto in Philadelphia in 2001, 11 years later and 7 restaurants more it was a must during our trip to Napa. 

The place

Morimoto

I apologise for the long story but I need to share what happened before we got our food at the place. We got a lot of issues to get the table/reservation at the place, we had to wait forever, at least two hours to get the table, then by some strange reason a couple guys in the restaurant bar while we were waiting started a fight with some of my friends, the manager apologise and gave us some starters on the house, finally we were seated and we wanted to have the Omakase which is the multi course chef choice, the waiter told us that it wasn't possible due to the time, they were closing the kitchen, too late to get the full multi course menu, we again called the manager stated our reason was to have the Omakase and wasn’t our fault they took more than an hour to get our table ready, after a couple minutes talking to the chef we got the green light to have the culinary journey. Sorry for the long story but I want to emphasize how traumatic was our night, having said that the food was so good that all of us agreed if we had the chance we will come back and eat at the place. 

Kitchen

The waiting time © Liliana DuBois

Ready for the Omakase © Liliana DuBois

Now the good part, first tuna pizza, crisp tortilla spicy tuna carpaccio, anchovy aioli, brilliant, then the rock shrimp tempura, spicy kochujan aioli perfection, great flavours. For drink shochu, distilled spirit from Japan, similar to vodka, the grain is converted to sugar using the mold called koji, same used for sake.

Shrimp

Shochu

Now for the Omakase we started with the Tuna tartare 6 sauces, wasabi, sour cream, seaweed paste, chives, avocado, and rich cracker, awesome, the wasabi sauce was the killer one. Then seared kampachi fish cilantro, light, great, perfect as a second dish, the shitake touch was great. Third course a Japanese fondue, olive oil heated with anchovies, and assorted veggies to cooked, it was great, nice spices, good heat, excellent and the presentation was superb. Next one the egg custard, a twist from the chef, foie gras custard with duck and wasabi, pretty good, the balance spot on, really nice. 

Tuna Tartare

Kampachi © Liliana DuBois

Fondue

Egg custard

Next a palete cleanser, tamarind ice cream with cilantro with a small chilli, even that it was perfect, the ice cream with the cilantro sublime, a friend of mine said her palate just had sex. Then it was time for the sashimi, fresh, nice, just great. Basically I lost the count by now, so our next one was Surf and Turf, filo pastry with tuna and foie gras, half angus, and half tuna battered bread pudding with chimichurri and onion foam, the foie and tuna were awesome, the angus was exquisite, best of the night, the tuna was great, the battered, the chimichurri, and the foam, explosion of flavour just great. Finally sopa borracha, which is a Panamanian dish, nicely twist Morimoto standards, good ending. 

Sorbet © Liliana DuBois

Sashimi

Surf and Turf

Top of the night

Sopa Borracha © Liliana DuBois

A complicated night but great food makes you forget easily, if you have the chance just go for it you won't regret it. 

The Bill © Liliana DuBois

Japan reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Checks” 

Kramer: Hey, well, this was downstairs for you 

Jerry: Oh no, not more checks. They're coming faster than I can sign them 

George: What checks? 

Kramer: Oh, you didn't hear? Jerry's a big star in Japan 

Jerry: I don't know why. There's a one-second clip of me in the opening credits of some Japanese comedy show 

Kramer: Yeah, the Super Terrific Happy Hour 

Jerry: They run it all the time, and now I'm starting to get all these royalty checks 

George: Look at all of those! You're rich! 

Jerry: No. Each one is for like twelve cents. It's barely worth the pain in my hand to sign them

Morimoto

T: +1 707 252 1600

Japanese Cuisine

Approx Damage: $120 (Omakase mulit course)

Area: Napa Valley

Napa

Twitter: MorimotoNapa

---

View Larger Map Get Directions View Bird's Eye

---

Probably the best Sushi in London

A place I wanted to go for a long long time was Asakusa. I found excellent reviews about the food , the price was reasonable, actually quite cheap, and every time I tried to go without a reservation was impossible to get a table, add to that a couple cancelled reservations as my friends changed their mind at the last moment or got busy.

The Place

Inside

The place is quite small and intimate. Two levels and just a handful of tables in each of them. Simple decoration but nothing simple about the food and the vast menu offering Japanese classics including a Sake tasting which caught my eye and couldn’t resist. I got to the place with my lovely friend Sarah, and we went with a mission trying as much as we could. 

Decor and Menu on the white board

We went for sushi, sashimi, tempura, scallops, octopus, salmon, octopus, tofu, eel, seaweed, and of course the Sake sampler. The sampler brings three different Sakes, Akitabare (Northern Skies), Masumi (Mirror of Truth), and Dewazakura (Tenth Degree).

Agedashi Tofu (deep fried tofu with special sauce) 

Zucusu (seaweed in vinegar)

Yasai Furai (deep fried vegetables in breadcrumbs) 

Sake Sashimi (salmon)

Scallops

Umaki Tamago (eel omelette)

Sushi Time

Asakusa Sake Sampler

The food was superb, the price is cheap, and probably it is one of the best Japanese I have had. Really worth all the hassle to get a table. 

Sake reminds me the Seinfeld episode "The Checks"

Jerry: Yeah? 

George: Jerry! The Japanese guys had sake in the hot-tub! You got to get them out the drawers and get them down here, or I don't have a focus group to sell the pilot to Japanese TV! 

Jerry: Uncle Leo? 

George: JERRY! 

Jerry: Alright, alright. I'll wake them up.

Asakusa

T: 020 7388 8533

Japanese Cuisine

Area: Camden

Borough: Camden

---

View Larger Map

---