Tataki Tataki
AKASAKA Japanese

AKASAKA Japanese

23 Castilian Streetshire NN1 1JS, Northampton, United Kingdom

Sushi • Asiatic • Seafood • Chicken


"I wondered why this restaurant described itself on the board outside as ‘fusion’, why there were so many Korean dishes on the menu and why the serving staff have heard of Asahi beer but haven’t heard of The Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese daily newspaper that is at least 50 years old. The answer is that the Akasaka website isn’t being completely honest when it describes their Northampton branch as a Japanese restaurant. They aren’t really Japanese, although some of their menu items are clearly Japanese. Don’t let that put you off, however, as they are serving excellent food and we enjoyed our meal there very much. It cost us about £70 (inc. 10% tip) for our meal for two people including a 175ml glass of Sauvignon Blanc for my lovely wife and two 330ml bottles of Asahi Dry for me. The sushi was excellent, the edamame beans were great but we didn’t feel that the Dolsot Bibimbap (a Korean dish with loads of rice, some shredded vegetables, prawns and a fried egg on top) offered very good value for money at just under sixteen pounds. We would recommend Akasaka in Northampton and would certainly go there again, but if we want a genuinely Japanese meal, prepared and served by Japanese staff, then we will be sticking to Ginza Restaurant on Wellingborough Road in Northampton. Don’t like the way that the male members of staff at Sakura on Bridge Street speak to their female colleagues, very disrespectful, so we avoid that Japanese restaurant nowadays. Great to have a choice of three Japanese restaurants in Northampton post-pandemic, and our favourite of the three is Ginza."

Macellaio RC Fitzrovia

Macellaio RC Fitzrovia

6 Store StreetWC1E 7DQ, WC1E 7DE, London, United Kingdom

Steak • Pizza • Italian • European


"We went to Macellaio RC at Fitzrovia few days ago which I think it was Big mistake! I have been to Macellaio RC at South Kensington and Union Street many times and I love it, especially the South Kensington branch! Great atmosphere, amazing food and reasonable priced. Tried many of their starter, steaks and wine, they are always good. Unfortunately, our experience at the Fitzrovia branch was awful! I was so looking forward to it before going but after our starter, I was so disappointed and didn't even want to finish our meal there. Firstly, it was our mistake to order two glasses of House Red Wine which normally we would have ordered a decent bottle of wine. We were thinking to start with the house wine and order a nicer bottle for the meal, since the house wine was in their happy hour 2-4-1 offer. The House Red was absolutely disgusting, it was worse than cheap pub wine! We don't expect House wine to be good but as a restaurant famous for their steaks, I thought the house wine will be at least drinkable. After a tiny sip to try it we didn't touch the wine for the whole evening. Then our starter came, L'imperiale was the reason I wanted to go to Macellaio that evening. I was so disappointed and sad when I saw it, not only its at least 1/3 smaller than the one at South Kensington but also the quality of the meat was really not good. The tartare and capaccio were so dull, they looked more grey than red. I was so disappointed that I didn't even want our main course but since we have already ordered, we stayed too finish our meal. I was hoping the T-bone would at least make it worthwhile for us to spend our evening there. However, another big disappointment! They put so much salt on the steak that every bite was full of rock salt even though I tried to scrapped aside as much as possible. So we definitely will not go to the Fitzrovia branch again. I would still recommend the South Kensington and Union Street Macellaio RC though."