Nizuni

22 Charlotte Street is  an unfortunate address for a sushi restaurant, opposite Roka, the constantly packed and incredibly scene Japanese restaurant. It's a bit like being a normal person forced to stand next to a supermodel in a group picture. In this case the normal person was actually rather good-looking. 








Covent Garden lacks any Japanese restaurants, let alone any decent ones, thus The Boyfriend and I were forced to look slightly further afield for our mid-week sushi fix. Roka was out of the question, not only due to a lack of reservation, but also Roka involves effort, and the mid-week sushi place has to work with Ugg boots.

Starving, tired and craving sushi, is how The Boyfriend and I felt as we walked through the door. Thank god service was efficient and food came quickly or otherwise there is a good chance I would have been crying on the floor. Edamame was... well, edamame. Chicken gyoza however, was far more than chicken gyoza. Tight skin packed with flavour but with a melt in the mouth texture, who knew chicken could do that? Eggplant with miso was possibly better than the equivalent across the sheet and thinking about it now makes me salivate.

Sushi, was less impressive than the warm dishes but by no means bad. Some parts were poorly constructed, and the rice - filling ratio was off but flavour wise it was rather good. The Spicy tuna roll, had enough heat to make me wave wildly at the waitress to get some water and to kill off any other experience along with my taste buds. The Boyfriend called it "sushi with tabasco". Soft shell crab was simple, the crab itself was perfect but it required another flavour to bring it to the next level. Only the the salmon skin roll was really well balanced, possible thanks to the incredibly satisfying crunch marred with a creamy mayo type sauce.

I didn't really have high hopes for Nizuni, especially given the high standard set by the Supermodel across the street, so it was nice when it did exceed expectations. I would happily return, its a great neighbourhood sushi place, if a little but further away than I would have liked, and at £25 a head for the food plus two glasses of house white, a total bargain - something that couldn't be said about Roka. Service was genuinely nice, I got the impression it was a family run place, and the restaurant was on the busy side for a Tuesday.