sushi

Whenever people ask me which are my favourite Japanese restaurants, I always mention Yashin (MMMMM) as one of them. I was therefore very excited when Yashin opened another restaurant called Yashin Ocean House on Old Brompton Road, South Kensington. Just like Yashin, Yashin Ocean House is a modern Japanese restaurant that serves delicious sushi and other Japanese dishes.

One of the problems with Yashin has always been that it is quite a small restaurant, which does make it intimate, but means you are sometimes quite squeezed in there, and they have taken this on board and Yashin Ocean House is much bigger and feels different to Yashin. Whilst at Yashin half the seats are around the bar where you can watch sushi chefs make the most amazing sushi and sashimi, in Yashin Ocean House you do have some seats by the bar, but you mainly sit by tables.

One of the things I always wanted to do when in Tokyo was to visit arguably the world’s best sushi restaurant. Sukiyabashi Jirō is a three Michelin star sushi restaurant in Ginza, the expensive area of Tokyo. It is owned and operated by the 85 year old sushi master Jiro Ono (the world’s most renowned sushi chef, the first sushi chef to receive 3 Michelin stars and someone that Japan has declared a national treasure and the subject of seven books). Sukiyabashi Jirō was made even more famous by David Gelb's 2011 documentary film called “Jiro dreams of sushi” that talks about the art of sushi and the relationship Jiro has with his oldest son Yoshikazu Ono. His other son Takashi operates the 2 Michelin star branch of Sukiyabashi Jiro in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo.
 

I am a member of the Arts Club and have been going there for many years now, but during a recent visit with my friends one of my friends Katrina told me that, after I left, she stumbled upon a new Japanese restaurant in the Arts Club on the 2nd floor. I had not heard of any Japanese restaurant in the Arts Club so I was very shocked about this as I thought I knew all the things going on there, so next time when I went there I took the elevator up to the 2nd floor and saw this Japanese restaurant which is called Kyubi. Kyubi has not been open for long, only a few months, hence people don’t really yet know about it and they don’t really advertise it much.
 

Sushi Tetsu is the most amazing and homely and sweet sushi place in London, and I really want to work hard and earn loads of money just so I can afford to go there more. Sushi Tetsu has been named one of the best new restaurants in London by the Hardens guide and received recognition from various other food critics and it is located in Clarkenwell on a small alley way and run by a husband and wife, Harumi and Toru Takahashi. The husband is the sushi chef and the wife does everything else from welcoming you, to taking your order and to washing the dishes. The place only seats 7 people, as the sushi chef physically cant make more sushi for more people, so it is extremely cozy in the room as you sit by the sushi counter and watch the husband make sushi.

Kurumaya is a Japanese restaurant in the city with a sushi bar on the ground floor and a restaurant downstairs where you can sit on chairs in front of a table, and can also eat in the more traditional Japanese way on cushions sitting on the floor after having removed your shoes, which is what I did. The menu at Kurumaya is bigger than the menu in another Japanese restaurant in the city, Miyama, and you can have a decent selection of everything. The main chef is Mr Rico Venzon, who has more than 25 years of experience in the art of sushi. I had prawn and fish tempura, chicken teriyaki and loads of sushi, some of which I remembered to take pictures off, which you can see.