My last day in London was characterised by frantic shopping on High Street Kensington. I think I bought at least 3 pairs of shoes, then wondered how I’d fit them in my already full bag… After all that running around on a stinking hot London day (where are you air-con??!?!) there’s only one type of food that calls to me – Japanese! Yashin Sushi and Bar is tucked away in a side street off High Street Kensington, and with those tinted windows you’d never know it was there. Luckily for me, S. is in the know and we stepped into a calm oasis of Japanese foodie precision.
Some Edamame Yuzushio (£3.80) was ordered to start, which came with some rather fancy yuzu himalayan salt. Always good to have something to nibble on while you peruse the lunch menu (they have a separate dinner and tasting plate menu). Seated at the bar we also got mightily distracted by the goings-on behind the bar. Each chef, with their stern, serious and concentrated faces, working with the greatest degree of precision to slice sashimi, prepare dishes, cleaning their knives and most excitingly, blow-torching individual pieces of nigiri on a stump of wood. See the gif below for the awesomeness.
Each lunch dish is served with miso soup and a salad. I’m not a huge fan of salad in any case, but the light sesame dressing and garlic flakes were a nice touch to lightly season the salad. Next we were served miso soup, to our utter delight, in a teacup!!! And not just any teacup – a floral, super-girly teacup like the ones you get at high tea. They say that presentation makes the food taste better (or worse) and in this case I know that the miso soup was utterly amazing (mini mushrooms FTW!) and the teacup just added to make it a delightful slurping experience.
S. and I may be different in many ways, but we often go for the same food. Both of us had the Aburi Salmon Ikura Don (£16.00). again the presentation was lovely, and just thinking about those fat, juicy balls of ikura roe make my mouth water. Underneath the seared salmon slices were some rice toppings including shredded seaweed and sesame seeds to add extra flavour to the rice. I’m not used to having such large balls of roe so that was an extra treat! Every mouthful was incredibly fresh, bursting with flavours.
After this lovely lunch I was so keen to come back to dinner – but alas! My time in London was over. However, there is always next time…a girl can dream.
Yashin Sushi and Bar
11A Argyll Road, Kensington
London W8 7DB
http://www.yashinsushi.com/
