Yashin Sushi

Two sushi chefs, one from Yumi and the other from Nobu, have joined forces here. On the ground floor there is a sushi bar with around a dozen seats with one additional table, and also a bar and several tables downstairs (not used at lunch). Just sushi was served, ranging from five pieces of tuna for £15 up to fifteen pieces of sushi at £60. The two page wine list was mainly but not exclusively French. Marcel Deiss Pinot Blanc 2008 was listed at £33 for a wine that retails at around £14, St Aubin Marc Colin Premier Cru Montceau 2008 was £78 for a wine that costs around £18 in the shops, and Bonneau de Martay Corton Charlemagne 2003 was listed at £168 for a wine that you can pick up in the shops for around £78.

Miso soup, served in an Englsh teacup, was a little lacking in flavour and not entirely hot (12/20) yet a simple salad was excellent. Very fresh mixed leaves and a nicely balanced citrus dressing would shame many grander restaurants (15/20 is probably too mean a score). I had the sushi selection for £30, consisting of eight pieces of sushi. The sushi here is briefly seared with a blowtorch just prior to serving, the idea being to release some sweetness. The sushi is not traditional, in that each piece is served with a little topping. For example bluefin tuna was served with both wasabi and a little ponzu jelly. Scallop was served with tomato salsa, squid with jalapeno, salmon with kosazu jelly, and otoro tuna with sake custard paste. The sushi itself was of good quality, and eel and cucumber roll was pleasant. Pickled ginger had robust flavour and appeared to be prepared here rather than bought in.

Rice was a little below room temperature, when ideally it should be a little above room temperature (at least, this is how it is served in Japan). The fish was of good quality, from Atari Ya and also a supplier called SKY, but I did wonder whether the garnishes were a bit of a distraction. To be fair, it is impossible to get the dazzling quality of fish in the UK that can be obtained in Japan, and I understand how a little garnish can add an interesting dimension to a piece of sushi. Hence I think 14/20 is a fair score, even though this may not appeal to sushi purists. A citrus sorbet with a little fruit salad was less successful. The fruit salad was fine, but the sorbet had a peculiarly dense texture, and for me did not work (11/20). The waitress service was friendly and competent. The bill came to £43 for one, with just water to drink.