All reader reviews by Anonymous

Nobu

Hm...Nobu is a genius, he really does deserve a michelin star as he did take Japanese cuisine to another level! No Doubt that is what you should get michelin stars for!!!!

His dishes are fantastic and famous all around the world and he is the most copied chef in his field. I am sure anyone opening a japanese restaurant will have his books as a reference.

The reality is though that we should not forget the following: Nobu is not at his restaurants any more cooking away for us. It is a business now a posh chain!

Nobu park lane is nothing what it was 10 years ago and is surly decreasing in quality year by year. The omakase dishes are french french french trying to be japanese and nobody seems to reconnect to the south american thing anymore as nobu is Japanese south american fusion!!!!

I would say a case of lazy, no imagination or enthusiasm.

I had an oyster platter that looked it had seen better days, it looked like an oyster grave. No passion came on any of the dishes I had that evening. How sad! I have a nobu cookbook and I use it for my partys and Nobu dishes are fun to make. Any chef that can not find his life in each dish irregardless of how many times he has to make it has to take a inspirational holiday!

Service at Park Lane is exceptionally good! Shame about what is coming out of the kitchen but believe me Nobu New York is amazing still!

Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 5

Umu

I absolutely love japanese cuisine. I have eaten at all the best japanese restaurants in London and have been several times to Japan treating myself to the famous kyoto cuisine.

I have to say that Umu is disappointed me for the following reasons:

First of all I have to say the service was really positive and the waiter did everything to make us welcome and very attentive.

I had the kaiseki menu and my partner the sushi kaiseki.

The dishes were well presented however the sequence of how dishes arrived seemed confused. I expected the dishes of my menu to have a beginning a middle and end a crescendo or something. It started interesting but then lost its theme its sense of season flavour... it seemed lost and it felt the chef run out of gas a third into the meal.

The sushi menu was very good however for a kaiseki sushi menu it was boring as well.

The quality of sushi and sashimi was very good but as a kaiseki presentation it should be more then just nigiri and sashimi!

The head chef looked grim working away occasionally barking at a lower ranking chef. I felt that this was quite unpleasant to see. The lower ranking chef was a lady who conveyed much more grace then the so called master who obviously was superior in skill however one can not help notice a certain arrogance oozing from him.

I would recommend a visit to umu at least once to see for yourself.

Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 5