Sushi and Chocolate In One Day! :D

On a cold winters afternoon date with my friend, we decided to venture to Eat Tokyo, a friend of hers had recommended it as a very authentic Japanese restaurant with affordable prices. My sushi loving self just had to give my taste buds an early Christmas tease! 

Eat Tokyo has 5 branches within the U.K, all located in London. This particular branch we went to was the Trafalgar Square branch, just 2 minutes walk away from  Piccadilly Circus tube station! For a place that is located in the heart of London, the street that it was on was relatively deserted. When we stepped into the warmth of the restaurant however, the place was full of people! 

We were greeted by an oriental lady wearing a cute kimono, a nice little touch to add to the Japanese vibe! All the waitresses were wearing kimono's and the waiters were wearing smart black waist coats. One thing I did notice that did look a bit odd however, is that one of the waitresses was wearing trainers with her kimono!! Lol! XD Don't think I didn't spot you lady! Where were your sandals?! 

We were told to sit down and wait in the seating area as all the tables were full, and after about 8 minutes we were shown to our table and given our menus.

And oh boy,  was there A LOT to choose from! The menu ranged from sushi sets, sushi rolls, tempura, dumplings, rice to noodle dishes, bento boxes, salads, meats. I was honestly spoilt for choice! All the prices were very decent, for £15 I would say you will be walking out a very satisfied and happy person! After 20 minutes of deciding what to get, I settled for Chirashi-Don (Assorted Sashimi on Sushi Rice) and a sushi roll to share with my friend. 

The waitress poured us green tea while we were choosing what to order

Green Tea £2.40pp

Chirashi-Don (Assorted Sashimi on Sushi Rice) £9.50

20 minutes after ordering, my Chirashi-Don arrived. My friend's dish arrived 10 minutes before mine, it was a shame they didn't arrive around the same time. My disappointment evaporated however when my colourful assortment of sashimi dish arrived. Lovely presentation, plus super healthy! The dish was a very large portion, made with fresh ingredients, even I could not finish the whole bowl. I left a third of it, being too stuffed to continue. 

Miso Soup

Most of the noodle and rice dishes came with miso soup. The soup was at a perfect temperature, hot but not scalding. They used fried tofu strips instead of the usual cubed silken tofu. The hot soup was the perfect compliment to our meal!

Unagi and Avocado Roll £6.50

Our sushi roll arrived not long after my Chirashi-Don, equipped with ginger pieces and wasabi. The sushi rice was super soft and fluffy to taste, it was gorgeous! The rice could have done with a bit more flavor but that didn't bother me too much. Like with my Chirashi-Don you could tell that the sushi roll was made from fresh ingredients. It was pure delight!

I loved that the food in Eat Tokyo was so fresh, my meal made for a very light lunch; light as in the food was very healthy and natural, I didn't feel like a greasy pig afterwards. Next time I may feed the devil on my shoulder and opt in for a cheeky bit of tempura :) I say next time because I will definitely be visiting this restaurant again! There were a lot of things on the menu  to try out. 

With its relaxed atmosphere, affordable fresh dishes and okay service I will be looking forward to my next visit to Eat Tokyo!

Where was the chocolate involved on this day you may be thinking... ^^ This came later on in the form of a free sample at Godiva Chocolate shop along oxford street, but that is a different story... b-e-a-utiful! My taste buds were well and truly satisfied that day!

Atmosphere    8/10

Food                9/10

Service            8/10

Chocolatesushi Rating 8/10  

Sammii 13/12/12

The Future of Dining?

For my friend's birthday we went to Vapiano, which is an Italian restaurant in oxford street. The Italian theme continues!!

Vapiano proved to be a unique dining experience for a number of reasons:

1. Unlike traditional restaurants where once shown to a table your order is taken by a waiter or waitress, Vapiano is a 'made to order' restaurant, and there are no waiters or waitresses. Just staff occasionally walking around the restaurant and asking if everything is going well. 

2. As you walk into the restaurant you are given a card (see image A and B) which you need to make sure you don't lose as this is the card that you will use to order your food from the pasta, pizza and salad bars. How it works is that you select a dish from the menu and go to the right bar. So for example, if you want pasta you would go to the pasta bar. Once there you tell the chef your chosen dish, who will cook it there in front of you, using fresh ingredients. You then touch your card to the scanner. All the orders will be saved onto the card as you touch it and you pay at the end, at the same till where you were given the card.

3. Dining at Vapiano, you are able to see your food made in front of you (hence 'made to order'). Fresh ingredients are used for the pasta, pizzas and salads.

'Made to order dining' at Vapiano is a new concept in restaurant dining, already established in Europe, and one of the first of its kind in the UK.

Image A (front of card)

Image B (back of card)

Image C Starter Bruschetta [toasted bread, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil]

Image D Main Margherita Pizza [tomato sauce, mozzarella]

Image E Dessert Strawberries & Cream Haagen Daaz

The starter's saving grace (see image C) was the tomatoes on top of the bread which were rich in flavour. Otherwise I found the bread to be quite bland and boring.

I found my main dish (see image D) to be disappointing. When I first saw the pizza come out of the oven I remember thinking how beautiful it looked, with the big tomato in the middle and the soft doughy crust. However, as I began to eat it I realised that the layer of cheese was far too thick. I usually love cheesy pizzas, the cheesier the better but this proved too much. I must admit that after trying my friend's main dish (arrabbiata: tagliatelle pasta with tomato sauce, garlic and chilli) I preferred it to mine. So, if I was to go back to Vapiano, I would definitely go for the pasta dish, which with its combination of flavours proved to be a tasty dish!

Advantages of dining at Vapiano

• Chefs use fresh ingredients


• The dish is made in front of you, hence you know what is going into your food


• Great atmosphere! This was actually my favourite thing about the restaurant. There is also a variety of seating arrangements, from wooden bench style tables to cushion style seats which are very comfortable! We  sat in the restaurant for a couple of hours and unlike some restaurants where you are constantly asked whether you are finished so someone else can sit down we were not in any way made to hurry, even though the restaurant was full


• Reasonable prices (starter, main, dessert and a soft drink all for under £15)

Disadvantages of dining at Vapiano 

• When the restaurant gets busy, as it was that day, it can be a long wait in the queue to order your food! This can be especially annoying if you want to order a pasta dish and a starter (which most of us will want to do!) and will therefore have to queue up twice. As a result there is a chance of either your starter or main dish going cold, depending on which one you ordered first. Yes, you could order your starter first, eat, and then go back to queue for the main but if you are like me you will want to order everything in one go so that you can sit down and enjoy your food, rather than have to worry about queuing again!


• Balancing a pizza, starter and glass bottle of coke on a tray is actually a tricky business, particularly if you are going upstairs or walking around the restaurant to look for a seat. I think this is when I really missed being in a traditional restaurant, where the food is brought to me, as there is no chance of me accidentally dropping a plate or bottle!


• The food is actually a bit of a disappointment, and ultimately the restaurant's focus is on providing a good atmosphere and dining experience rather than the food

Atmosphere                       9/10

Food                                   6/10

Service                               5/10

Chocolatesushi rating     7/10

Nabs 13/12/12

 

Italian and Apple Pie

After working up an appetite from a morning of uni and work, we walked around Leicester Square looking at various menus along the way and finally settled on having a bit of Italian at Leicester Square Bella Italia. It turns out there were 3 Bella Italia's to choose from! All less than a minute's walk away from each other!! It was calling for us to eat there! haha.

 When we walked through the door we were greeted straight away and shown to our table. We chose one right at the back around the corner, very cosy!! 

There was a lot to choose from on the menu, the prices being fairly average at around £9-10 a dish! There was also a lunch menu available, but we chose to try something from the main menu. 

 This is the shared starter we ordered: 

Calamari £5.95

Lightly breaded and deep fried tender squid with lemon and caper mayonnaise

It took roughly 13mins for it to be brought out, so all in good time for a nice chat!

The dish was very nice! The batter was light and not too oily, however the squid pieces could have been more 'squidier' xD We would have liked to have bitten into a bigger piece of squid meat!!

For Samantha's main dish she ordered: 

Polle e Spinaci £9.45

Wholewheat riatoni with sliced chicken breast, field mushrooms and baby spinach in a creamy gorgonzola sauce

Samii: The dish was ok..... not as nice as it looked however! There was nothing wrong with it don't get me wrong! Guess it lacked a flavor I could say.. But I would not be ordering this dish again in the future. 

For Nabila's main dish she ordered: 

Gamberoni £9.95 

Eight succulent king prawns sauteed with garlic and chilli in a spicy pomodoro sauce, with spaghetti

Nabila: Now I'd like to start by telling you that I am a huge fan of prawns so this dish was a no brainer for me, especially since it said in the description 'succulent king prawns'! I mean what could be better?! Still it took me a while to select this dish as my final choice as there were just so many dishes on the menu to choose from! When the dish arrived I did oo and aah at the plate as it was nicely presented apart from the splattered chilli sauce on the side! 

The dish as a whole was very tasty, I especially liked the prawns as they were nice and juicy! And big too, which is very important as sometimes on the menu they say king prawns and when they arrive they are definitely not king sized! Also, there was a very generous helping of spaghetti but the dish did not fill me up. I am a person who usually gets full quite quickly but after cleaning my plate I was still hungry! So perhaps it wasn't value for price and the dish looked bigger than it actually was!

For both of our main course dishes we were given the option to have the dishes sprinkled with grated mozzarella cheese and pepper! Lovely!

Overall, our waiter was pleasant, the service was timed nicely and the waiter got the balance right between checking if we were ok and leaving us to enjoy our meal, which is always nice!