Asakusa

I know I'm not the first to say this, but this seriously is the best sushi in London, full stop. I spent YEARS looking for decent sushi here, and was incredibly happy to finally find this place.

The range is fantastic. The staff are friendly and helpful. The sushi is fresh and prepared perfectly. There is a wide variety of other Japanese foods, so if you are going with a non-sushi fan, they will have plenty of selections to choose from.

It's a little hole in the wall, and generally full of Japanese people. The walls are plastered with Japanese menu items. This is usually a good clue that the food is authentic and decent, and in this case the clue is accurate.

If you don't fancy eating in, they will gladly do takeaway for you so that you can enjoy this in your own home. The prices are also entirely reasonable for sushi.

Really, if you are a serious sushi fan, this is the place to go.
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Simone
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, May 23, 2008

Simply the best Japanese restaurant in town. Service is friendly and food is outstanding. Great atmosphere, great value for money.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Saturday, May 03, 2008

A place where they don't use proper Japanese rice and don't even cook it properly. The rolls are awful. But admittedly, the slow cooked pork belly was very good and the deep fried dishes are decent. But really.. not a great place. If you want something cheap, why don't you go for Ten ten tei?

And, the service was terrible. The waitresses really don't know what they are doing, except the lady (think she is the owner).
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- View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, April 30, 2008

This place is awesome, not one to use 'hidden gem' lightly but this really is, being so unpreposessing from the outside and next tot he dive that is Mronington Crescent Station. Very sweet staff presided over by a huge mama-san of a proprietress, an awesome old man of a sashimi-master with NHS specs which kept sliding down his nose. Almost exclusively Japanese clientele, although everything on the menu is in English as well. I loved the service, unlimited refills of smokey brown-rice green tea, it was a wonder how the tiny girl managed to squeeze in to fill up every single patron's cup throughout the night. They squeezed us in at the counter and it was heavingly packed, we tried booking a few days in advance for a table... We sat in front of the sushi master and it had the ambience of a typical no-frills Tokyo after-work eatery, tampopo style but with proper individual tables. The place was bubbling with conversation, vertical strips of paper everywhere to announce the faily specials. Lots of Japanese, friendly vibe and young and old things which is a good sign.

-We ordered grilled ox-tongue, yakitori which came on skewers which had a very buttery taste and came with a shaker of chili pepper powder. Very good with the Japanese black beer.

-Grilled octopus balls, 4 batter and seafood dumpling-type things with bonito flakes which made them look like they were 'slaming' and alive. Disconcerting, but delicious.

-Akusana salad, not what I really expected, being so abundant and intensely rich in its combiantion of flavours and its assembly of ingredients. What came was a huge flat bowl of slivers of raw salmon, mackerel, shavings of squid and cuttlefish, on top of shredded vegetables and carrot, fresh, crunchy red and green seaweeds (a little like englsih coastal laver) and covered in a creamy sesame and crushed peanut dressing.

- Mixed tempura fish set meal comprising of real miso, a bowl of sticky white rice and a huge black laquered bowl of panko-encrusted salmon, mackerel, king prawns, aubergine and courgettes with salad. A very good contrast of greaseless, hot crunchiness and the tang of Japanese pickles, covered in umami flavours.

- California roll. Difficult to choose from all the handrolls. Out of everything we ordered, I think I liked this the least, it came last due to there only being one chef and being too full to enjoy it properly. Really, too generous a portion, heaving with avocado and crabstick. Arranged as a mini-pyramid on a wooden stand.

All of this plus service and tip was £23 for 2 people. We were there for around 2 hours. Am going to go back to order the whole grilled salmon head. Soon.
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Lam Yee Wing
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Have been goint to Asakusa for years - since around 2000. Like a proper Japanese izakaya....authentic, tasty, fresh and friendly.... lovely atmosphere. Worth a visit for anyone who has never been to Japan to see what they are missing out on
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Steve
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, February 20, 2008

I really love this place. I eat out every week, usually somewhere outrageously expensive and more often than not go home disappointed. I haven't been so pleased with myself since discovering Asakusa. I hate the hackneyed term "hidden gem" but I'm struggling find other words that describe it as well.

It is located at the dingier end of Camden just around the corner from Mornington Crescent tube. The service could be more charming but is functional and efficient. And the decor isn't going to be featured in Homes & Gardens Magazine in this life or the next. But who cares when the food is this good.

Lightly battered tempura how it should be, tasty tender black cod and succulent spice simmered belly of pork were just a few of the dishes I would recommend. Sashimi is very fresh with a great variety in their mixed set. With a serviceable bottle of Sauv Blanc, £26 per head. Can't beat it.
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Cat - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Food is brilliant, from the starters to main dish. So I am confident to say order anything, and quite likely you will be satisfied. The teriyaki chicken main course was awesome.

Book way in advance - One day in advance may not be good if you have a large group. On a Thursday morning, I was able to only book a table for four at 6.30pm till 8pm (yes they also provided deadline), nothing more unless I could change the time to 10pm.

Be on time and eat fast - If you prefer to start dinner early, just need to eat fast! Be terribly punctual or eat by whatever deadline they gave you. We were there at 6.30pm and wanted to order more food. At 7.15pm, they constantly reminded us to leave by 8pm because of the next reservation. One by one of our preferred orders were turned down because they couldn't be ready for us to complete eating by 8pm. Worse, one of the approved orders arrived 10min before 8pm. As I start to have my 3rd bite, the bill came and asked us to pay first.

Squeeze - Yes, one of us pretty huge. We couldn't ask for extra chair or space. We had to comply with given space.

Be prepared for a nasty face - She runs the place. So it's not about customer requests, rather on helping the staff to work easier. Fair enough, which means don't be late, don't order late, get your order "approved" and eat within deadline.
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Su May
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Wow, finally found a good japanese restaurant! The service was very friendly, and food is good, and the rpice is reasonable.

If you don't know where it is, it is a little difficult to find, but still a great place to go.
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Hiro - Japanese
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Really, really good traditional japanese restaurant. Really small and intimate. Ate here some time ago-- five or six dishes with sake, for two, total of 30 pounds flat. It's always packed though, but can understand why! Best value Japanese so far.
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Maria
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Saturday, December 15, 2007

Followed a friend's recommendation to visit Asakusa and as a fan of Japanese food, I was not disappointed. We had booked as we'd been told that the place fills and were very glad - the place was packed. This lead to the only negative thought of the evening - there was a 45 minute wait for sushi. However, we opted to have our mains first and the sushi to follow. The meat was cooked exactly as ordered and melted in the mouth and the flavours flooded through. The sushi was excellent - for those not used to having wasabi in the sushi, note that it is the norm here! The restaurant was busy and our sushi arrived without the other plates being cleared away but I am not going to hold that against them as the food was great. The decor is basic but with food this good, you really don't mind. It was great value for money as we each had 2 large beers, a main, ample sushi and a complimentary green tea, which only came to £20 each (inc. service).

With certainly go back.
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Laura - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Friday, September 28, 2007