Not all sushi experiences have to cost a week’s rent, which in London is a mighty relief.
High-class sushi restaurants, mostly served on sweeping counters by experts in their craft, are certainly en vogue. Sushi Kanesaka (45 Park Lane, dorchestercollection.com) has an 18-course menu for £420. Endo at The Rotunda (Television Centre, Wood Lane, endoatrotunda.com) might be the benchmark: a relative steal at £250 per head.
But there is space too for more affordable options, those which don’t cut corners or use poor-quality fish but are pitched to a less moneyed audience. These are also all the rage: London’s appetite for nigiri, maki, sashimi and the rest is potent, rapturous; many of us love nothing more than the cooling touch of tuna, medium fatty, on its bed of vinegar-clad rice, as if that momentary morsel might save us from the wearying clutches of delinquency.
One of these more approachable restaurants is Temaki (12 Market Row, temaki.co.uk), a handroll sushi bar in Brixton Village. Founded by the Anglo-American chef A M Dupee, it specialises in elegant handrolls, a concept that hasn’t yet become mainstream. Sushi rice is mixed with trout, prawn tempura or barbecued eel, then wrapped tightly in a sheet of seaweed to form a cone. Set menus start at £24 (for four rolls; they are filling), moving up to the £39 blockbuster — featuring fine lobster, no less — which is a bargain.
Moving north, we find Akari (196 Essex Road, Islington, akarilondon.co.uk). It’s sushi in an old Islington boozer; dainty fish and good beers in traditional surroundings. Five pieces of shimesaba, or marinated mackerel sashimi, are a steal at £9. The aburi truffle white tuna nigiri, meanwhile, is £8.50, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a more agreeable way to part with a tenner and get change.
Some independent spots such as Zaibatsu, Greenwich, have closed, even if temporarily. Eat Tokyo (multiple locations, eattokyo.co.uk) is a group that serves affordable sushi to the masses. Despite expansion, the food has remained solid, and it’s a hit with celebs, Big Zuu among them. First-timers should visit the Soho branch.
In Kensington, try Kampai Kensington (127A Hammersmith Road W14 0QL, kampaisushi.co.uk), a bamboo-walled neighbourhood favourite often full of families feasting on scallop nigiri, while in Angel, Zen Mondo (326 Upper Street N1 2XQ, zenmondo.co.uk) offers a menu of classics. Those in the City might skirt Sushisamba in favour of Pham (The Heron, 5 Moor Lane, EC2Y 9AP, phamsushi.com), meanwhile, where diners will find bento boxes and set menus under £20. The salmon and jalapeño rolls are popular.
There is also a punchier middle ground emerging. The Michelin-starred Taku Mayfair has launched Iné (16 Hampstead High Street, takumayfair.com) a casual omakase venture in Hampstead led by Taku chef-patron Takuya Watanabe’s protégé, head chef Law Kwok Meng. Meng boasts 23 years as a master sushi chef, yet the 15-course offering will cost just £100.
London’s new penchant for affordable raw fish must be celebrated. Too often the capital is derided as expensive. Restaurants might be perceived as disparate: a cheap chain or a haughty independent with a star chef and big bills. When it comes to sushi, this is very happily not the case. Value is all, whatever the bracket.
