Prawn Fried Rice
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."

Banana Leaf Swansea

Banana Leaf Swansea

7 St Helen's Rd, SA1 4AW, Swansea, United Kingdom

Asian • Indian • Seafood • European


"I've eaten here a few times with my partner and always been blown away by the food, so for my birthday this year I thought I'd arrange a meal with some friends to share the deliciousness with loved ones. Big mistake. The restaurant clearly don't want to cater for large parties (there were 12 adults and 4 kids in our group . We booked an early table at 5pm to make this easier for the restaurant and free up the space for evening diners. From the moment of our arrival we were treated with utter contempt, bits of our order never turned up, drinks took ages to arrive. When it came to leaving, we were told we had underpaid by £25 but previously the waitress had said we had completely covered before I'd even paid my portion so the £25 I paid for my meal was essential the tip (way more than 10% . The hostile manager wouldn't let us leave and insisted we pay the missing money plus a tip. After we left we checked all our receipts (though most of us paid in cash , added them up and saw we had indeed been swindled. I am genuinely devastated because I have loved eating here until this point, but I won't be going back because of the way we were treated. If you are a solo diner or couple then please do visit because the food is absolutely out of this world, but if you are a large party please avoid the awful experience I was unfortunate to have at the hands of such a grumpy man completely devoid of human kindness (who really shouldn't be front of house ."