Dinings

When people ask me what my favourite Japanese restaurant is - my reaction is always Dinings. This answer is always met with the same response - "Where? What about Zuma? Or Nobu? Or Umu?" Nope, as much as I love all three, there is something nice about the utilitarian approach of Dinings, where one gets the impression, that this place is serious about their food. There is little in the way of atmosphere, and the decor is bland, although service is perfectly acceptable. 

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. 

Sumosan -

About a month ago, I went through a stage where I failed to book any restaurants due to not knowing where The Boyfriend or I were going to be. Now we are paying for it.That is how we ended up at Sumosan, the only sushi restaurant we wanted to try that had availability last minute on a Friday night.


I had heard about Sumosan via A Small World, so assumed it would be another Zuma/Nobu carbon copy. It certainly didn't look it. The décor was pretty boring. The bare purple walls and tables that clash with the chairs didn't really do it for me. It was like they hadn't quite finished decorating yet. If it wasn't for the Balenciaga to the left of me and the Celine to the right, it wouldn't have been obvious that this was an upmarket restaurant.

Jin Kichi

I don't like to travel far for food. Its not that because I am an inherently lazy person, I am, but that is not the real reason I don’t venture too far from Holborn. The real reason is, I think it puts too much pressure on the experience, so it is almost always going to be a letdown. Take The River Cafe. It took The Boyfriend and I at least an hour to get there, 30 minutes on the tube plus another 30 wandering through the residential streets of Hammersmith, begging residents to point us in the right direction. When we did finally arrive, everything about the place was a letdown. Impressive, given I don’t recall hearing anyone say anything bad about the The River Cafe. Ever. The food, the service, the decor (don’t even get me started on that blue carpet), were all distinctly unimpressive. Anyway, this means I am wary about leaving Zone 1, or even heading to the edges, for a restaurant.

This made my trip to Jin Kichi last week, located in Hampstead very uncharacteristic. Whilst I didn’t go just for the food, I went for the company of two friends who live locally, the food lived up to all expectations. In fact, I would happily, make the effort again. In fact, I want to make the effort to go again.

Roka Canary Wharf - Third Time's A Charm

I've had bad experiences every time I've been to Roka. Nothing to do with the food, mind. Just for some reason every time I go it immediately triggers a crisis at The Boyfriend's work. The first time we went he was 2 hours late for dinner, which meant that I actually ate alone. The second time, I had to sit and watch him talk on, not one, but two conference calls at the same time, (a phone at each ear) throughout our lunch. Surprisingly, each time I stil enjoyed myself because the food is so good I don't think I would even have been capable of talking. I'm pretty sure anything could happen in the restaurant around me and I would still be a supremely happy bunny. Which is why I will jump at any chance to go. My only real problem with Roka, (bar the Bank world collapsing every time I go) is that its too popular for its own good. It takes at least a week to get a table, and inside they've tried to squeeze too many people in, which also has consequences on the service, which suffers as a result.

Chisou - What a let down.

Chisou apparently means in Japanese either -


a) 'a treat'
b) 'a dinner'
c) 'delicious food' 


In our case it was one of these - dinner and not a very good one at that.