My sushi adventure in London (II) -Hanasaki

When I am on diet and want to have something nice, the first thing pop-up into my mind is -sushi. I'm not talking about california rolls or dragon rolls that comes with tempura and/or mayo, but those sushi just simply with rice, raw fish/protein.

That's what I felt when I was in London a few weeks ago, just suddenly crave for sushi. After some unsuccessful walk-in attempts at Chiswick, I went to Fitzrovia and pop in Hanasaki - a restaurant with good ratings on Google, serves lunch set deals.

I didn't think too much, just picked the sushi set which is what I crave for. The first dishes came was salad and miso soup. Salad is popular at the Yoshoku (Western style food) culture of Japan, which developed since the Meiji period in late 19th centry. The widely known omurice, tonkatsu, Japanese curry also developed along the Yoshoku culture. The Yoshoku style salad, which is popular at the family restuarants in Japan, usually consist of some light flavoured vegetables, dressed with sesame sauce. The salad here is nice as the ingredients are fresh, and the sesame dressing is very tasty.

Karaage came the next - I was a bit surprised as I thought I only got sushi in the set (apparently I didn't read the menu in detail!), but also quite happy with that as I craved for karaage for a while, but wasn't dare to order a full portion during this 'on-diet' period. A small portion like this was just what I want! The Karaage is very juicy and well seasoned - I think it could have stayed at the rack a bit longer to drain more oil before getting on the plate, as it was quite oily, but still tasted well.

Then it came with what I was waiting for - sushi! There were 5 nigiri sushi, all in very good quality and the chef made them in front of you! all of them are not just fish and rice, but adding a bit more touches to it to enhance the taste - it's just like the 'omasake' quality, all taste so well.

The advantage of sitting at the bar in a restaurant like this is you can talk with chef - though as an introvert I'm not good at talking, I still treasure the opportunity to see the chef's work, also get some of my curiosity settled like which sushi I should start with. And the chef also let me to choose my roll - I just want to keep things simple and chosen a Temaki instead. Then I got one with little rice, loads of fish, and shiso - I told the chef I was on diet and I loved the nigiri with shiso the most, probably that's the reason I get this combination!

It's an overall joyful and satisfactory lunch experience. The sushi quality is far above my expectation before entering there. Will definitely come back for more sushi

Hanasaki Japanese Restaurant

53 Cleveland St, London W1T 4JJ