Sushinoen - unpretentious and affordable Japanese home-style cooking and sushi

Name: Sushinoen

Where: 2 White Church Lane, London E1 7QR, http://www.sushinoen.com/

Cost: Average cost per person is in the region of £30 excluding drinks. Sushinoen offers a range of lunch options including bento box sets from £12.90 to £19.90, sushi bar set menus ranging from £10.90 to £19.90, and several hot dish set meals with rice, a side dish and miso soup partnering hot main courses such as pork katsu curry, or bulgogi for a very reasonable £9.00 to £11.90. It is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.

About: In London's East End, just off Whitechapel High Street and a stone's throw from Aldgate East station, this cosy, unpretentious Japanese eatery offers authentic Japanese home-cooking style dishes and freshly made sushi.

Two things struck me quite favourably about Sushinoen which reminded me of similar eateries in Japan – it has a very laid back, even a tad shabby, feel about it like an old-fashioned Japanese izakaya (Japanese pub/cafe) somewhere in Asakusa or in some other less salubrious areas of Tokyo. I love those places.

The other was their pricing – it is surprisingly reasonable. It is refreshing to see Sushinoen in London, and I just wished they existed 25 years ago when I arrived here as a student and totally broke, what a contrast from the madly expensive Japanese restaurants in Piccadilly of the time.

What We Ate: We ordered a selection of bread-and-butter Japanese home-cooked dishes as well as some of Sushinoen’s more modern sushi/sahimi offerings. This included the shiro maguro carpaccio, a dish of seared white tuna slices (also known as butterfish or Escolar) with a yuzu dressing (£12.90). This was beautifully presented with little slivers of cherry tomato, the fish was topped with yuzu kosho (a deliciously spicy condiment from Kyushu Island made from chillies, salt and the rind of the yuzu citrus fruit) and fresh wasabi. With a fine and buttery texture and flavour and a lovely kick of heat, this made for a very good start to our meal.

The Aldgate Platter (£27.90) consists of 6 pieces each of assorted sashimi and maki and 5 pieces of nigiri sushi, although I asked for mine to be slightly tweaked to substitute more sushi for the sashimi. The sushi rice was well made and seasoned (the most important aspect of sushi), topped with an assortment of fresh fish and seafood including scallop, sea bream, sea bass, tuna, fatty tuna, salmon and octopus, as well as maki rolls of tuna and California rolls. The platter was well presented and a real pleasure to eat.

We also ordered the Bravo Duo (8 pieces - £16.90) – a Dragon style California roll topped with blow-torched tuna slices, garlic oil, ‘tenkasu’ (the crunchy bits of tempura batter), and tobiko eggs (flying fish roe). This was delicious – crunchy, well seasoned, and lovely.

To follow we had a platter of mixed tempura of fried prawns and vegetables (£9.90) including aubergine, carrot and courgette. I serve tempura often in my Japanese and Nikkei supper club, and hardly ever order it in a restaurant – but I was glad I did at Sushinoen - the tempura batter was light and crisp, the vegetables and prawns fried until just right (retaining still some their bite), whoever is frying that tempura, knows what they are doing.

With the tempura we enjoyed a portion of Katsu Don – breaded pork cutlet served on a bed of rice topped with Japanese sweet omelet (£9.90). I loved this – so simple yet so comforting, home-style Japanese cooking that I grew up with but hardly come by in London.

For dessert, we shared a portion of Sushinoen’s tempura ice cream (£5.50) - a kind of Japanese baked Alaska topped with Anko (sweetened Japanese red bean paste). For me, this dessert didn’t quite work – the ice cream was not of great quality and if it was, the flavour was masked by the tempura batter that encased it.

What We Drank: Green tea (£2.20) and Sapporo beer (£4.35). 

Likes: the sushi was well made, the tempura was also crispy and expertly fried, and a scrumptious dish of butterfish carpaccio. Friendly, informal setting. 

Dislikes: the tempura ice cream was uninspiring.

Verdict: For unpretentious Japanese home-style cooking dishes and well made sushi that will not break the bank, Sushinoen is the real deal. Recommended.

London Supper Club Review - ferdiesfoodlab

ferdiesfoodlab is the latest and among the most anticipated supper club launches in London recently, and I was fortunate to be there for their soft opening last weekend. 

A spin-off from the much loved, late lamented Fernandez & Leluu,  ferdiesfoodlab is the brainchild of Simon Fernandez, a British-Spaniard, a tremendously ambitious and accomplished cook and one of the pioneers of the Supper Club movement in London.

The Location

ferdiesfoodlab is set in Toynbee Hall, a Grade II listed Arts and Crafts building constructed over 125 years ago. The venue is rather grand and contains two large halls. The Lecture Hall, where ferdiesfoodlab takes place, is an elegant wood-panelled room, with parquet flooring, impressively large latticed windows, period art work and a grand piano.

Some may argue that the space might lack the intimacy or character of a host's living room, but I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the room and the sense of occasion that it imparted to the evening.

Toynbee Hall is situated on Commercial Road, close to the City and round the corner from Aldgate East Station. It is also close to Whitechapel Art Gallery and Brick Lane.

The Food

Having tried Simon's cooking many times before (reviewed here, here and here), I knew I was in for a treat. What I most enjoy about his cooking is his ambition and desire to experiment with different flavours and techniques. Simon is a bold and adventurous cook, and this is what, in my opinion, makes his food so exciting.

For this soft opening, Simon kicked off proceedings with a platter of Liquorice Cured Fillet Steak Cubes w/ Baby Peppers & Pimientos de Padron served with rosemary and garlic bread. The fillet was meltingly tender with a delicate hints of aniseed, beautifully accompanied by a homemade mayonnaise infused with Simon's tomato reduction. I didn't get to eat or see any Pimientos de Padron on the platter that was shared at our end of the table, but I guess it would have gone well with the other flavours in the dish.

To follow, we had Champagne Poached Pears served with cured ham on a bed of green leaves. This is one of Simon's most popular dishes, an interesting take on the classic Melon and Parma Ham, and one I have enjoyed at F&L on previous occasions. The pears are lightly griddled and tenderised through gentle poaching in a champagne syrup.

Another excellent and rather dramatic dish was the Barents Sea King Crab with Creamed Samphire. The huge claws were served on sharing platters with samphire and were surprisingly meaty, tasting both sweet and fresh. A real winner.

The pièce de resistance was still to come. A 5-Hour Slow Roast Shoulder of Lamb served with the most sensational roast potatoes came next. Fragrant, tender, succulent and simply delicious, this was by far the best dish of the evening. This could only have been improved had there been a double helping of roasties.

For dessert, we had a lovely sorbet with passion fruit, banana & white chocolate sauce, followed by petit fours of Seville Zebras and Black Olive and Salted Orange Chocolates. These were all expertly prepared.

The People

There were about 30 of us at this launch event, a mix of young and not so young (myself included) faces, of different nationalities and backgrounds. It was lovely to see some familiar faces there like Jones of I Couldn't Possibly Eat a Whole One, Claudia of White Room Supper Club and Nathan of Mr Drink n Eat.

Helping in the kitchen were also Jen of Cook School Cat who has just completed her one year chef's training at Leith's and Robbie of NoReservations, a Fifteen-trained chef who most recently worked as Claudia Schiffer's private chef, and who joined us at our end of the table.

The Drinks

There is no corkage charge, and we were served a complementary glass of Mondelli, an Italian semi-dry sparkling rose.

Other Stuff

The first official ferdiesfoodlab event will take place on Saturday, 27th August from 7:30pm, with further dates on 9th and 23rd September 2011.

To reserve a place contact: bookings@ferdiesfoodlab.co.uk.

Cost: minimum suggested donation of £40.

Likes: top quality ingredients expertly cooked and presented, grand venue, central location.

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: There is a touch of brilliance about Simon's cooking which demonstrates an increased confidence and audacity beyond that which was evident at F&L. I see ferdiesfoodlab as a very exciting project and definitely one to watch. Highly recommended.