Itsu (Chelsea)

Wednesday, January 09, 2013 - Still famished after five small plates, we ordered crispy chilli squid and tiger-prawn tempura. These really sang out, in a devil-made harmony of fresh fish and fabulous batter. The squid was the thinnest, youngest baby variety, dainty and exquisite, with chilli rounds mild enough to eat whole, but fiery enough to remember. The prawns were wrapped in an oba leaf, whose perplexing heritage takes in both mint and sesame, but whose abiding taste was a pleasing, bitter freshness...In sum, the cuisine itself is healthy, delicious in parts, in other parts a bit neutral, but for a variety of reasons, impossible to stop eating.