Sea Bass
Nobu

Nobu

19 Old Park Lane London, W1K 1LB, United Kingdom

Sushi • Asian • Seafood • Japanese


"I remember when I was younger the idea of eating raw fish seemed quite strange and at that time it wasn’t hugely popular in the UK but in my late teens eventually sushi boxes started to take the place of sandwiches, Yo! Sushi became a regular haunt and I started to fall in love with Japanese food. My sister was my partner is sushi-crime and we loved the fun of the Japanese ‘Kaiten’ and sharing selection boxes from Marks Spencer and other high street places. But soon our fondness for sushi rolls meant we wanted to try the real deal. Back then there wasn’t the plethora of sushi restaurants in London that there is now but we set our sights on the very best…Nobu, Old Park Lane. Once there we clumsily held our chopsticks and we feasted on the freshest succulent sashimi, marvellous maki rolls and crisp shrimp tempura.And then the black cod arrived, the delicious flesh of the fish marinated in miso, had a sweet, buttery taste on the tongues of us young sushi novices…it was incredible…that was it…we were hooked. I’ve now revisited Nobu Old Park Lane many times, always remembering it was the first time I ever had proper sushi…But Nobu has become a bit of an addiction for me and not only do I also love the Berkeley Street branch in London but I’ve actually visited Nobu restaurants on four different continents. My favourite being Nobu Malibu, a beautiful open restaurant where you can sit nibbling on edamame beans whilst taking in a stunning view of the ocean."

Koji

Koji

58 New Kings Road London, SW6 4LS, United Kingdom

Sushi • Asian • Japanese • Vegetarian


"It's no secret that I love Japanese food. And even less of a secret is my fondness for a good cocktail. So put the two together and I'm a very happy girl. Koji which ticks both these boxes in Parsons Green, seems to be a bit of a secret.... I'd never heard of it until researching sake cocktails for a piece I wrote for Time Out, but when they read my piece they invited me down to sample the cocktails and food in person. I went along with Lucy the night before heading to Tresco to do a weekend of pop ups, and we had the most delicious feast of delicate yet punchy Japanese food with punchy yet delicate cocktails!Koji have an ex Nobu chef in their kitchen and you can really tell there's someone who knows what they're doing there. Every dish was exquisite, and the whole experience heightened by being in such a gorgeous setting if you want to impress a date then head straight to Koji. We started with cocktails in the elegant bar area, which is lit by huge feather covered lights. When you go to Koji (which you really should if you're anything like me about good cocktails and Japanese food) order the lemongrass and chilli martini. The perfect balance of zesty and spicy it left our lips tingling in all the right ways. We didn't get round to trying it but the watermelon martini also sounds divine.The food at Koji is Japanese,with a modern twist. The menu's divided into snacks, hot and cold tapas, robata grill and various forms of sushi and sashimi. Being the good (greedy) reviewers that we are, we tried to sample something from each section. Starting with the most wonderful soft shell crab and asparagus summer roll. Light, fresh and expertly rolled it was a great start to what turned out to be a top notch meal."

The Restaurant Bar & Grill Manchester

The Restaurant Bar & Grill Manchester

14 John Dalton Street Manchester, M2 6JR, United Kingdom

Asian • Cafés • Mexican • Barbecue


"Restaurant Bar Grill is owned by Individual Restaurants, of which own a couple of restaurants around the city, including on in partnership with celebrity chef, Gino D 'acampo which is one of my favourite Italians in the city, this offers a different type of cuisine in a large, stunning building just off Deansgate on John Dalton Street, it is opposite Salvi 's. Walking in, it doesn 't feel like a restauraunt at all and I did struggle to find this place at first and I had to use Google Maps in my own city and only located it through it being opposite Salvi 's. The place inside is huge, you enter through a bar, upstairs you have the restauraunt and terrace area, keep going up and you have Head Office. The staff were so friendly and kind especially the host who escorted me upstairs and to my seat. The gluten free menu had some good options, I ordered a gluten free greek kebab, I was told it consisted of chicken, peppers, onions and it sounded pretty good so I ordered it, the service, however, was really slow and I must have been waiting over 20 25 minutes only to be served a gluten containing item instead, it was served with a form of bread, I had to check it was gluten free, only to be told No I asked them to remake the dish as it wasn 't gluten free to avoid cross contamination which they had no problem with, again this meant I had to wait even longer which was a pain considering the restauraunt was mostly empty, with only 3 or 4 tables of which looked like staff sitting there, probably from Head Office as they didn 't seem to be ordering food either, I totally understand waiting for food when it 's busy but considering it was virtually empty, I can 't understand why or at least I didn 't understand why until I tasted the food, I couldn 't understand why a stunning, large venue offering 50% off food could be empty, of course until the food. My kebab was awful and if it wasn 't for the staff making it free due to my long waiting time and the fact I didn 't want to spend much longer in the restauraunt, I would have sent it back. The chicken was bland, and it also had halloumi on which I wasn 't expecting, I bit into this and it tasted so bad, halloumi is one of my most hated foods anyway, accompanied by something which tasted like pico de gallo, this just put me right off my food regardless, I do think a better explanation either on the menu or from the staff at what food would be served is warranted, as I didn 't get what I was expecting at all. The portion size for the prize also is laughable, my dish normally would have cost £18.50, with no sides plus a service charge. 1* Considering how great the host and most of the staff were it 's a shame to give such a low rating, but I think it is warranted given the circumstances of the long wait times, poorly described terrible food and the fact I was given gluten by mistake and if I hadn 't of been suspicious and asked to confirm if my food was gluten free, I could have been really ill. By the time my dish was remade, I had lost all confidence in this place to be able to deliver a safe meal regardless."