MissSushi's Reviews

I never felt any desire to visit a Gary Rhodes restaurant. The main reason for this is that, as an avid food programme enthusiast, I have always switched the channel whenever his out-of-date coiffure invaded my living room. Not so much his hair, as his condescending tone irritated me. I never liked watching him degrading international star chefs in their own countries, to mere sous-chefs while he talked non stop about their dishes. Or speak to us viewers as if we were slightly moronic. And then I was invited to a birthday party at RhodesW1. The entire dining room was booked and the venue was quite pleasant. It boasts great chandeliers and very luxurious furniture.The light design was particularly nice.
When we arrived we had champagne and unmemorable canapes in the foyer until finally the dining room opened. Generally the service was good: attentive and unfuzzy. But it is very difficult to judge the service of a restaurant when the entire dining room is supposed to be served at the same time. That night they could have done with a few more waiters.
As for the food, it was not bad, but it was not great. For starters we were served foie gras with duck which was cold, although I am pretty sure it was supposed to be warm. It was fine. As main course the chosen dish was an unspectacular smallish cod with lentils which unfortunately was embellished with needless bits of bacon – as a result only half of our table ate it – the others did not miss out on much. It is a dish I have eaten many times before in other London restaurants (minus the bacon bits) at much higher executed standard, but at this point it wasn't important anymore. The dessert, a chocolate and hazelnut concoction, was a little too sweet for my taste.
To be honest our menu was boring and a little on the small-portioned side, but I recognize that it was pre chosen for us. It still did not change my mind. Gary Rhodes might be the complete opposite of what he comes across like on television, but now that I have eaten… More

You'd think that London already suffered from an over-saturation of contemporary japanese fusion restaurants, but Aqua Kyoto proves that if you get it right, Londoners will invade.
The venue is black&red chic, it isn't too loud or too bright. In fact the atmosphere is so inviting that you find it hard to leave, helped also by the existance of a roof terrace which allows smokers to smoke without having to stand on some street corner. I'm sure it will be a hit in the summer.
Since we were a large group, we opted for the private dining room, conveniantely located between the bar and the main restaurant, inside a glass cube, so everything was visible and we did not feel excluded. Our waiter was very personable, knowledgeable about the food and overall the service was faultless and friendly. Because we were many, luckily many dishes were ordered. Amongst the usual suspects was a tender not too sweet black cod, which had a delicate charcoal flavour to it, due to a different way of preparation than at Nobu or Zuma. Also recognizeable but perfected to higher standard was a simple spinach roll dish, which we all loved. The tataki sushi platter was light and refreshing, with every piece wrapped individually in cucumber, and the contemporary sushi platter is a must for any raw fish lover. But the outstanding dishes of the night for me were the alaskan king crab tempura and the sea bass with shitake mushrooms and truffle oil, the latter one being especially decadent and sexy tasting.
We finished our meal with some green tea ice cream and yuzu sorbet, which was wonderfully tangy, and the promise to be back soon to taste the rest.

The perfect italian for non italians who know nothing about italian food!
I can't tell you how many people over the years have raved about this restaurant – none of them italian all of them clueless about food in general.
This restaurant could be in Abu Dhabi. It is truly a shame because their location is great, but the old fashioned, boring menu and lazy cooking here will be it's slow death. Extremely tacky and very diasppointing.

After unsuccessfully trying to recreate my favourite Vietnamese breakfast at home, I started the search for good Pho in London and I came across this small chain. The restaurant is clean and friendly and the Phos are quite good. They might not be exactly what you have eaten in Vietnamese street cafes but better almost-Pho than no-Pho I say. So far I have tasted the Pho Ga (chicken pho) and Pho Tam (prawn pho) only at this place and they both tasted fresh and delicious, although the broth itself could do with a little more depth of flavour. I also like that when you take Pho away here they give you several containers, separating the broth from the noodles, which is super important so you don't end up with noodle-mush. Pho Cafe is a great addition to the London fast food scene and a lovely change from Wagamama and I do think that Pho itself is a gift to the culinary world, especially since every person can interactively alter the Pho to their own personal preference of salty, sour, herby and spicy.

A tiny little gem.
Although Dinings lacks in atmosphere due to its size and indeed gives one a bunkeresque feeling when sitting downstairs, the food definately makes up for it. I recommend sitting at the ground floor sushi bar if you're alone or with max 3 people. Staff is always friendly, efficient and knowledgeable and provides great service. Diners should share multiple delicious dishes such as their inventive tartare tacos, lobster miso soup, hamachi sashimi with yuzu, tuna or beef tataki, chilean seabass and soft shell crab roll. One dish I particularly recommend is the Wagyu Beef nigiri, which is dressed with truffle oil and garnished with a jellyfied piece of yuzu for sharpness. It's divine – for lack of a better word.
It is always worth (or actually imperative) to check the daily specials on the blackboard and chosing a couple of dishes from there because they never disappoint. Should you have any room left try the macha (green tea) créme brulee' for dessert.

You can't book a table here and it's always packed, but it's worth waiting outside, during the months with an ‘R’, when the seafood and oyster platters are at their best. The crab is always delicious too. Go with a group of friends and disregard the not so attentive service. A weekend brunch at The Cow, with a glass of wine or champagne, and then back home to take a nap, makes for a perfect sunday.

Wow. My mouth starts watering when I think about the tastes at Awana. All dishes we ordered possessed a fine balance between the fragrant lemongrass, the spicy chillie and the sour lime. I am far from being knowledgeable on Malaysian food, but one should know when something tastes special. Here the food is special and I want to go back to try most things on the menu – the only thing I was looking for and could not find was Prawn Laksa soup, which I love but I guess that's a very casual dish or, maybe to my horror, europeanized. We first started with a couple of Hibiscus cocktails which tasted of aromatic exotic flowers and then shared some malaysian bread (prawn murtabak) and seafood satay. Our main meal (on our waiters recommendation) included sea bass with lemongrass, chillie, garlic & lime, beef with ginger & garlic and a delicious stir fried lobster & prawn dish with rice noodles & greens with a little dark soya sauce and fragrant herbs and spices. Just writing this makes me hungry again – the taste combinations are just so complete in this type of food: the sour, sweet, hot and salty are all so perfectly amalgamated that it leads to new and overwhelming taste sensations. Yum.

This restaurant is for serious and generous sushi addicts. Due to lack of atmosphere I recommend people to sit at the sushi bar and speak directly to the sushi chef about your fish preferences – you won't be disappointed. As far as quality, freshness of fish and authenticity go, Defune is one of the top japanese restaurants in London. It is expensive, but very well worth it, although I have yet to try any cooked dishes (I keep going for raw fish here). Perfect for post-Selfridges lunch or early dinner and even satisfying and fresh on mondays.