Yumi izakaya, the rise of izakaya places in London...
sweet corn tempura £4.50 – hugely tempted to order when I saw it served to the other tables. It came looking very promising – a big, round ball of tempura. It was not oily but the sweet corn itself was not particularly nice. It was not served with a sauce like with most tempura and had a rather generous sprinkle of salt, in fact it was way too salty.
Korean fried chicken £8.00 – a special dish for the night but was not very successful with a very not solid batter. I was never a big fan of the korean gochujang chilli paste and so, this did not appeal to me. The squeeze of lime juice was a good addition to the flavour and colour on the plate.
warm mushroom salad £6.00 – the best dish of the night. The lotus root was a very nice addition to the bowl but it was a little soggy so more of the same texture with the mushroom. The flavours were nice and gentle, warming and those shiitake were properly plump and fleshy.
braised aubergine £3.00 – the aubergine slices were a little too thin for an aubergine and that means that it was difficult to appreciate the meaty and voluminous texture of an aubergine. The sauce that it was drenched in had a nice flavour. Not too sweet, sour or spicy.
caramelised pork belly £15.00 – at that price, we expected a more complete plate of food with meat, vegetable and perhaps, carbohydrate. So lacking those other elements, the portion felt mean. Taste wise, I thought there was a floral scent to the dish but I cannot say what it was.
okonomiyaki £8.00 – this was very stodgy, floury and therefore seem like there was not enough cabbage. It was not pleasant at all. But thumbs up to the size of the dish.
thigh, chicken, heart, meatball, bacon, skin, liver, asparagus £2.25/skewer – the food on the skewers looked mean. Quite disappointing
GPS Coordinate : 51.5121934 N , -0.1340381 E
+44(0)02 7240 9329
http://yumirestaurants.com/