When I think of a Japanese restaurant in London, I imagine dim lights, low tables and over-priced little bits of fish. Fortunately, Tsuru is nothing like that!
A popular lunchtime destination for the city workers, Tsuru is a cozy dwelling to the best sushi I have ever had and is situated on Bishopsgate near Liverpool street. The decor is not trying to be something it isn’t and this is one of the few places in London I can truly say I’ve had great food without the pretentious atmosphere. The menu features a wide range of Japanese nibbles (or Ippin-Ryouri), super-fresh sets of sushi, as well as traditional Japanese katsu curries and teriyaki dishes. Having tried a katsu curry in Tsuru’s other branch a year ago, and despite being impressed (although I’m not a fan of breaded and deep friend food in general) I wanted to try something a bit more fresh and varied. So Tom and I started with a platter of nigri and maki sushi or “Tsuru premium sushi moriawase” as they call it. The menu gave nothing away and as our platter arrived I was stunned by the beauty of the fresh fish before me, and even more so by the wide variety of it! The rice was light and fluffy, a perfect base for the silky smooth fish. A tuna could have swam out of the sea, filleted itself and jumped onto my plate (I wouldn’t mind nesting on that lovely rice myself) , it had all the flavours of a good quality fish and the wasabi that lie on my plate was left almost untouched. I mean why waste the incredible natural flavours already there by blowing your nose off with overpowering wasabi? I did enjoy the ginger, which was lightly pickled (unlike the overpowering pink stuff you get in yo sushi) and sweet. The maki featured on the platter included king prawns done two ways- one fresh and de-shelled with avocado, the other deep fried in its shell for a good crunch!
Yes once again, bad photography by me. The colours are actually more vivid in real life!
On the right of the picture you may notice 6 more maki, which we ordered alongside our sushi platter. 4 pieces of soft shell crab fried in tempura batter are wrapped in seaweed and sushi while two extra crunchy pieces of crab feature in the other two. It’s great to see what a difference texture can make to a dish even if the ingredients are the same, and we both preferred the less crunchy version, although both were phenomenal! I could have eaten all 6 myself!
We then went for 3 of the Japanese tapas dishes to share, the two you can see in the pictures are a large mackerel fillet, lightly seared and cured and served with a dollop of English mustard on a bed of fine strands of raw carrot, and the other is a carpaccio of salmon with ponzu dressing.
The mackerel had that perfect combination of freshness and smokiness, that I thought one can only achieve by barbequing fish on the beach 10 minutes after catching it. The mustard was pungent and like the wasabi, only good in small doses as the dish on its own is a true celebration of this under-rated fish! The carrots were actually a very clever garnish (which I’m sure some people assume is just there for decorative purposes and don’t even touch it) and provided a burst of refreshing sweetness to contest the delicately smokey fish.
Our salmon carpaccio matched the standards of the other fish, but perhaps a little on the small side (being given fish this good in small amounts is just teasing!). Yet again it was silky and the thin slices had a melt in your mouth quality about them while the zesty ponzu dressing packed a punch and made it impossible for the salmon to simply melt and disappear into the ether! Delicious combination!
Our third dish came out a little later and I’ve forgotten to take a photo. The plate featured three scallops, three meaty king prawns and two and a half baby asparagus spears. The medley was pan fried in garlic butter with some chillies tossed in at the end, but did not pack as much flavour as the rest of the dishes. Maybe I just got used to appreciating the raw form of the fish! As there were two of us and an extra scallop and king prawn left, we ended up playing rock paper scissors to see who would get the last kings prawn (it was scrummy!). Despite losing, I ended up with the prawn due to my boyfriend’s generosity, thanks Tom!
We finished off on a rather curious note with a dessert of ‘Mochi Ice’ (we had a portion each this time to avoid another game of rock paper scissors!), and it is what I can only describe as 3 icey balls of fun! The outer layer consists of a doughy, soft and slightly chewy concoction made from rice (think a cross between cookie dough and bubble gum!) and protects the gooey ice cream centre from melting. The flavours were also unfamiliar to a western palate, the first one is a delicate green tea (or matcha) ice cream filling, but a little sweeter than the real drink. The second was our favourite, a sesame seed crusted exterior revealed a yet another unfamiliar tasting (but again delicately sweet) ice cream centre while the last mochi revealed a zesty punch from a lemon flavoured filling. Aside from the fact I wasn’t sure of the way in which to eat it (quite impossible to get through with a spoon but too cold to hold in your hands), the dessert was extremely refreshing and the perfect way to end an equally impressive dinner.
Everything is fresh, everything is reasonably priced (you should have seen my smile after the 50% discount with my tastecard...) and some chilled, frothy Japanese beer on tap was just the cherry on top of a tasty evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment