Brunswick Centre, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 1AE
www.yosushi.com
This morning I woke up and had no idea where I was, and that instantaneous panic, the one that comes with that child-like sense of being lost, took over. On realising that I was in my hotel room at The Club Quarters in the City, I calmed down completely. For a few seconds. Until I tried to remember getting back there last night. No idea. None. The last processes I semi-remember involved finishing up at the Portobello Star in Notting Hill, where the Gang of Eight at 19:00 had dwindled to just Ben and me - and then Ben getting off the Central Line and leaving me to continue on home. I know that, much the same as in vino veritas, there is a certain lucidity to drinking that always leads you back to your bed, but it's still disconcerting nonetheless to wake up sober yet amnesiac of the previous conscious moments. It'd all be OK, if only I could also forget that I was trying to get everyone to stay out all night. Great idea. I guess at this stage I have Ben to thank for saving us ending up at some dire karaoke into the small hours (surely not my idea?). Time to move on...
Got up, got ready, got out. Down to Covent Garden, kicking as always on a Saturday morning, although my oyster people seemed to have shut up shop. Usual nerdy squizz around the Transport Museum shop - the refurbished location had just opened the previous day, and is a designer oasis from the hordes outside in the piazza. Then off to Russell Square. I've been to Yo! in Poland Street, where Nabil and I ran up the expenses to our hearts' content many times. Been to a slightly less ambient one on the Haymarket once. Also to the outlet in Harvey Nick's in Leeds on a New Year's Eve afternoon last year, where I ate alone as Aoife and Suzanne were too scared to contemplate raw fish and seaweed and went to the "real" restaurant instead. But this time, I'd been sent a 50%-off-voucher from the Yo! mailing list, usable at Brunswick only, so two stops on the Piccadilly Line later, I was there.
The Brunswick Centre is a new, inner-London shopping centre, low-rise with paved outdoor malls, linked to an enormous block of council-type flats, and has recently undergone a £24m facelift. Probably what the designers of Harlow had in mind 50 years ago, but never quite managed to achieve. London was bathed in the Spring sunshine, and clientèle at other Brunswick Centre restaurants were taking advantage of it by eating outside on patios. However, Yo! Sushi is centred on the conveyor-belt concept, and so clearly doesn't lend itself well to exterior dining in the vernal brightness. I took a high seat at the bar abutting the sushi belt inside the door, ordered some miso soup and a spicy tuna hand roll, opened up my Times, and watched the selection go by.
Yo! has the usual scheme going: different coloured plates cost different prices. The difference here is that, what you'll get for $5 in East in New York (and that'd be seen as pricey there!) will set you back £5 in Yo! Sushi in London. I ended up with my spicy tuna tamaki (it's large, the red tuna is spilling out of the cone and the green onions are in perfect rings and ooze onto the plate, without the aid of any of that gloopy sauce you get in lesser establishments) delivered by my Ukrainian waitress, and over the next hour and a bit, chose another load of orange and pink plates from the kaiten. Tuna tataki, seared, and coated lightly with broken sesame; slices of premium salmon and sashimi-grade tuna, the flavour accentuated with squeezed lime juice; seared beef with a mustard mayonnaise; a crunchy tuna salad; and the signature Yo! Roll, which is salmon and avocado, wrapped in seaweed and rice and enfolded by an outer layer of bright orange tobiko. I eschewed my regular off-belt orders of tuna gunkan and miso black cod (I defy anyone to eat this and not dream about it that same night), in favour of a plate of dorayaki (a trio of custard-filled sponge cakes, accompanied by a raspberry sauce). I don't know quite how Japanese this dessert actually was, but it's something I'd been meaning to try at Yo! for ages, and it was pleasant enough, if not a Kobe-style ground-shaking gastronomic experience.
It should be mentioned that the miso soup for the price of £1.75 is unlimited, and is good value if you have three bowls like I did. On the other hand, water - self-served in unlimited quanitites of still or sparkling - is £1.00. Now, if you were charged this in a normal restaurant for a bottle of water, you'd probably think it a good bargain. But there's something psychologically annoying to pay it for water from a tap, and that you have to pour for yourself. Funny old world.
I had eaten my fill, so asked for the bill - and whipped out my voucher. Miss Ukraine tells me that it's only valid between 15:00 and 19:00, and it's now about a quarter to two - and anyway, it states it clearly on the coupon. Arrgghh! I need to RTFM before I go off half-cocked to sushi belts in future! Still, I was essentially on holidays, so it didn't impinge on my enjoyment too much that I paid over £30 for lunch. And I will be back - this Brunswick Centre is a great alternative during the daytime when the sun is beaming outside and you don't mid a little shade and air-conditioning; but for an evening atmosphere, you're best advised to try Poland Street. Nothing beats the original and best.
www.yosushi.com
This morning I woke up and had no idea where I was, and that instantaneous panic, the one that comes with that child-like sense of being lost, took over. On realising that I was in my hotel room at The Club Quarters in the City, I calmed down completely. For a few seconds. Until I tried to remember getting back there last night. No idea. None. The last processes I semi-remember involved finishing up at the Portobello Star in Notting Hill, where the Gang of Eight at 19:00 had dwindled to just Ben and me - and then Ben getting off the Central Line and leaving me to continue on home. I know that, much the same as in vino veritas, there is a certain lucidity to drinking that always leads you back to your bed, but it's still disconcerting nonetheless to wake up sober yet amnesiac of the previous conscious moments. It'd all be OK, if only I could also forget that I was trying to get everyone to stay out all night. Great idea. I guess at this stage I have Ben to thank for saving us ending up at some dire karaoke into the small hours (surely not my idea?). Time to move on...
Got up, got ready, got out. Down to Covent Garden, kicking as always on a Saturday morning, although my oyster people seemed to have shut up shop. Usual nerdy squizz around the Transport Museum shop - the refurbished location had just opened the previous day, and is a designer oasis from the hordes outside in the piazza. Then off to Russell Square. I've been to Yo! in Poland Street, where Nabil and I ran up the expenses to our hearts' content many times. Been to a slightly less ambient one on the Haymarket once. Also to the outlet in Harvey Nick's in Leeds on a New Year's Eve afternoon last year, where I ate alone as Aoife and Suzanne were too scared to contemplate raw fish and seaweed and went to the "real" restaurant instead. But this time, I'd been sent a 50%-off-voucher from the Yo! mailing list, usable at Brunswick only, so two stops on the Piccadilly Line later, I was there.
The Brunswick Centre is a new, inner-London shopping centre, low-rise with paved outdoor malls, linked to an enormous block of council-type flats, and has recently undergone a £24m facelift. Probably what the designers of Harlow had in mind 50 years ago, but never quite managed to achieve. London was bathed in the Spring sunshine, and clientèle at other Brunswick Centre restaurants were taking advantage of it by eating outside on patios. However, Yo! Sushi is centred on the conveyor-belt concept, and so clearly doesn't lend itself well to exterior dining in the vernal brightness. I took a high seat at the bar abutting the sushi belt inside the door, ordered some miso soup and a spicy tuna hand roll, opened up my Times, and watched the selection go by.
Yo! has the usual scheme going: different coloured plates cost different prices. The difference here is that, what you'll get for $5 in East in New York (and that'd be seen as pricey there!) will set you back £5 in Yo! Sushi in London. I ended up with my spicy tuna tamaki (it's large, the red tuna is spilling out of the cone and the green onions are in perfect rings and ooze onto the plate, without the aid of any of that gloopy sauce you get in lesser establishments) delivered by my Ukrainian waitress, and over the next hour and a bit, chose another load of orange and pink plates from the kaiten. Tuna tataki, seared, and coated lightly with broken sesame; slices of premium salmon and sashimi-grade tuna, the flavour accentuated with squeezed lime juice; seared beef with a mustard mayonnaise; a crunchy tuna salad; and the signature Yo! Roll, which is salmon and avocado, wrapped in seaweed and rice and enfolded by an outer layer of bright orange tobiko. I eschewed my regular off-belt orders of tuna gunkan and miso black cod (I defy anyone to eat this and not dream about it that same night), in favour of a plate of dorayaki (a trio of custard-filled sponge cakes, accompanied by a raspberry sauce). I don't know quite how Japanese this dessert actually was, but it's something I'd been meaning to try at Yo! for ages, and it was pleasant enough, if not a Kobe-style ground-shaking gastronomic experience.
It should be mentioned that the miso soup for the price of £1.75 is unlimited, and is good value if you have three bowls like I did. On the other hand, water - self-served in unlimited quanitites of still or sparkling - is £1.00. Now, if you were charged this in a normal restaurant for a bottle of water, you'd probably think it a good bargain. But there's something psychologically annoying to pay it for water from a tap, and that you have to pour for yourself. Funny old world.
I had eaten my fill, so asked for the bill - and whipped out my voucher. Miss Ukraine tells me that it's only valid between 15:00 and 19:00, and it's now about a quarter to two - and anyway, it states it clearly on the coupon. Arrgghh! I need to RTFM before I go off half-cocked to sushi belts in future! Still, I was essentially on holidays, so it didn't impinge on my enjoyment too much that I paid over £30 for lunch. And I will be back - this Brunswick Centre is a great alternative during the daytime when the sun is beaming outside and you don't mid a little shade and air-conditioning; but for an evening atmosphere, you're best advised to try Poland Street. Nothing beats the original and best.
No comments:
Post a Comment