Ten Ten Tei platter of Super Sushi!
Originally uploaded by Manne.
Met up with my budding francophile friend A in Soho last night, as he is on visit from Toulouse. After a quick drink at The Crown we went for sushi at nearby Ten Ten Tei on Brewer Street, as recommended by @HollowLegs (blog) on Twitter.
In her words "it is nice - not fancy" and I think that is an excellent summary, provided that "nice" is read as "they serve really fresh food with a smile, and I can imagine this is what it feels like walking into a sushi bar in a Tokyo suburb somewhere".
Update, 13/03/2010: Ten Ten Tei gets some love from Chris Pople over at Cheese and Biscuits. Also check out this post about Ten Ten Tei from An American in London.
As we walked in we were greeted by the sushi chef, working away behind the bar, and we were immediately shown a table. The place isn't big, you either sit by the chef or at one of the four small tables in the back.
Menu is a simple affair, text only and very sparse in description, so I recommend to take a look at the front window before you walk in to get an overview of their main dishes. A feature I liked was their set lunch and dinner menus, which were quite exciting combinations of smaller dishes, and good value for money.
A was really intent for sushi, so he ordered the "Super Sushi Platter" (£19.50) with a Kirin beer. Having been quite enticed by the nice photos of the set menus in the window I settled for one of the dinner menus with tempura, agedashi tofu, a selection of sashimi, Japanese pickles, teriyaki chicken and a bowl of rice (£18.80).
While we waited for the food we talked about the decline in SciFi sales while fantasy is booming (A arrived at the restaurant from Forbidden Planet where he saw a whole shelf dedicated to "paranormal romance"...), variations on Faster Than Light drives and recent book recommendations. Apparently I have to read Alistair Reynolds' books in the "Revelation Space" series, on par with Iain M Banks. Not sure I believe that, but I will give it a go!
Food arrived promptly, so we decided to focus on our bellies instead of our brains for a while.
Agedashi tofu seems to me to be a good test of the quality of food at a Japanese restaurant (along with the freshness of their sashimi). A seemingly simple dish, it must be quite tricky to get right. Here they do it really well, the tofu was cool, silky smooth and creamy inside, covered with a perfect thin layer of golden savoury batter. Really nice. I only wish the serving was bigger, two pieces just left me craving for more.
My sashimi and A's sushi were very fresh, especially the mackerel, a fish I normally don't like to eat as sashimi. For once I really enjoyed it. A nice touch was the prawns, which had been peeled and rolled up in a little spiralling tower with the tail sticking up as a flag.
Service was quick and friendly, although my dishes arrived a bit haphazardly and they were a little bit to keen to get them off the table I thought.
Brilliant and affordable sushi place for a quick bite when out and about in Soho, we both agreed on. Will go again to try more dishes.
Bonus-URL: www.foodspotting.com
I also posted the photo of the Super Sushi Platter on foodspotting.com, a relatively new site for foodies. Focus of the site is to capture photos taken of food at restaurants, to provide a more food oriented way of finding restaurants you like. I find it really inspiring as it makes my mouth salivate every time I go on there to see the new photos. Right now I seem to be one of the few doing it in London, would be great to see some more people trying it out.
One thing that really impresses me in their solution is the way it attaches photos to venues. So far it has not failed to find a single venue, even for quite obscure restaurants like Fenan Klein Afrika in Amsterdam. I think they use the location data from Foursquare to deliver this magic, but I am not sure. Either way, impressive, and great user experience.
ooh hurrah! Really glad you like it. Ten Ten Tei have always been consistently good for me. Having made agedashi tofu at home, I can confirm its not the easiest dish to make!
Posted by: Lizzie | December 09, 2009 at 09:44
And again thanks for the tip! That place is right up my alley. Simple, honest, good. Really looking forward to trying out Smokey Jerkey soon. Hopefully this weekend. :)
Posted by: Manne | December 09, 2009 at 09:55