Restaurant Toku
212 Piccadilly
W1J 9HX
Date of Last Visit: Saturday, January 17, 2008
The Victim: Me
The Damage: £30. And so not worth it after Chisou.
The Background: I have some errands to run. I'm going to Milan next month and I need some English-y gifts. So I want to go to Fortnum & Mason. And then I'm heading over to Bryan & Stacey's for dinner (Three roasted chickens! Three!) and I'm in charge of the cheese plate. So I triangulate, and come up with Toku for lunch and Paxton & Whitfield for cheese.
The Entrance: Resturant Toku is packed. And a little worn around the edges. That's okay. So is Pham. Eventually, they seat me at the bar. Normally, I love the sushi bar. But nothing in the sush bar window in front of me looks appetizing. It all looks a little warm. And there's a lot of saran wrap (i.e. clingfilm) on display. Now maybe this is a good thing, keeping things fresh? But I don't know. It's a lot more saran wrap than I've ever seen in a sushi bar.
The Food: I order some of what I'd call Gomae–spinach in sesame sauce. But they call it something else. That's fine. Then, I just order the sushi combo. It arrives, and it does look very pretty at first glance. But then if you look at the fish, it just doesn't look as pretty as the fish did at Chisou. Should fish shine? I don't know. The fish here just looks dull. And it tastes dull here too. My gomae is nice though.
The Verdict: Eh. For £30? I'd go back to Chisou. The food is better, and I don't feel like my purse will get snatched at any second.
3 comments
I went here a couple weeks ago and was definitely not impressed. The prices were excessive for the portions and the fish wasn’t even that good. The biggest disappointment, however, was the tempura. Never have I had to pay £12 for such s soggy, greasy mess.
I went to Tomoe the next day on your recommendation and loved it. Definitely won’t be going back to Japan Centre any time soon.
I’ve never eaten in there, but will pick up a couple of packages of rolls to go when I’m hungry and in the area. Eaten of the hoof, a decent-sized snack/small meal comes in under a tenner. I’d never claim it was great (or even particularly good) sushi, but it fills a hole. Not (even) as good as the Itsu branch around the corner on Lower Regent, but cheaper and more variety.
are there any cheap places to pick up some sushi, I love it but having it often kills my pocket!
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