Chicken Yakitori Chicken Yakitori

Grilled skewered chicken with savory soy glaze and scallions, a classic Japanese delight.

Okasan Sushi

Okasan Sushi

301 Portobello Road, London, W105TD, W10 5TE, United Kingdom

Fish • Soup • Sushi • Coffee


"Okasan, meaning Mother in Japanese, is a bijou restaurant on the fashionable Portobello Road in W10. A yearning for a plate of sashimi, tempura and some dumplings drew me in to have a final treat before the rigours of co-running my own food business set in after a brief and well deserved break. My companion, a lover of Japanese salad dressings ordered a simple salad, chicken karaage, deep fried chicken and ginger with a spicy mayonnaise and we agreed on a delicate Pinot Girgot blush, a Sospiro priced at £17.00. The salad arrived first and the dressing was so good I had to beg the waitress to tell us what the ingredients were. The chef duly obliged. It was a mix of vinegar, peanuts, sugar, apple juice, water, salt, vegetable oil, sesame seeds and soy sauce. Knowing what is in your food doesn't mean you can recreate the same taste, but I'm going to give it a damned good try. It was simply sensational. Next came the steamed and pan fried dumplings; little golden nuggets of yumminess. My sashimi was spankingly fresh and served with the usual wasabi and the thin slivers of ginger had the perfect tartness to marry with the oily fish. If I had a little gripe it was that there was no daikon, the shredded Japanese radish (or mooli) that has a lovely crunch to it and nearly always accompanies it. The deep fried chicken that had been marinated in soy and ginger was delicious and the spicy mayo packed a punch. I don't recall ever seeing mayo on a Japanese menu before, (this was mayo mixed with chili sauce) but it worked. The wine, ice cold and very pleasant quaffing vino to boot slipped down all too easily. Being a greedy git I then ordered some prawn tempura, the batter of which was light as a feather and a crispy, heavenly coating for the juicy king prawns inside. A double espresso later and the bill came to £60. Japanese food is never cheap (especially when you think of the price of sashimi grade fish which only lasts a day at most) but the flavours, the delicacy, the quality of a good Japanese experience is well worth the price in my book and that's exactly what we had. I'm already looking forward to the next visit."

Wagamama Bristol Cribbs Causeway

Wagamama Bristol Cribbs Causeway

The Mall, Merlin Road,Patchway, Cribbs Causeway, Bristol, BS345DG, BS34 5DG, United Kingdom

Cafe • Wine • Italian • Burgers


"Absolutely shocking experience! We (me and my 10 yo nephew visited Yo! Sushi on Cribbs Causeway on Friday around 2pm. We were sat very quickly and the lady explained how things work as it was our first time there. Then we were asked to wait for her to bring us chopsticks for good 15 minutes even though the place was not busy at all. When we finally started eating (food was ok, nothing wrong with it altough very expensive for what it was but I am not complaining about this as the prices are cleary shown on the menu my nephew had asked for a glass as he was thirsty. Guess what? Another 10 minutes of waiting... Shortly after receiving the glass he spilled the water all over the table and himself (kids... so I asked the waiter for some napkins and general help as all the water was going down on the floor and he couldn 't continue eating there. Guess what again? They have never come back to us with any help or even more napkins! So the boy finished eating his sushi standing in the middle of the wet floor in his wet clothes! I was so angry that I did not order anything else apart from the first plate and I requested the bill. While the lady who met us at the entrance was wandering around pretending being busy, another staff member brought the bill but he was clearly not happy with 'the mess we made ' (maybe if his colleague reacted to my help request instead of ignoring us... . I paid and stormed out of there as I was extremely angry and hungry. It was the worst customer service experience in my life and I will surely never ever go back there."

Wagamama

Wagamama

N1 Centre, 40 Parkfield Street,, London, N10PS, United Kingdom

Asian • Vegan • Japanese • Vegetarian


"Love Wagamama, But the Southbank one pushes the limit to what is acceptable! Let's first set the scene, Sunday early evening (17:00), walking along and think let's pop in. A small queue is common which was the case of 7 people (3 groups), so we thought let's join the wait. The restaurant itself, on this particular evening was not excessively busy so we had assumed our sitting would be quick. Staff did not come outside to tell us how long the wait was going to be, or engage with people in the queue to get an understanding of what seating demands were necessary. We continued to wait, 15 minutes later we were at the front of the queue, then nothing... No engagement from staff, people were leaving the restaurant and the queue outside was growing. After 10 minutes I braved going in and was told to go back outside and the queue time is 15/20 minutes. To which i informed the staff we've already been waiting 25 minutes (Staff didn't seem happy). I left and took my place at the front of the queue, people contained to leave while 4 staff huddled together laughing about something (maybe us all outside in the cold). Finally we were seated, and at which point the usual Wagamama experience kicks in with good food, reasonably priced and a casual dining experience. As a customer though to have such a terrible initial experience and no apology for the delay just seems to be a fair deduction. Maybe it was an off day but with such limited places along the Southbank at least having a smile on your face and engaging with customers would have made things better."