Asakusa

Consistency is a good thing.

Well, it is if the food is good.  If instead it is consistently less than that, other thoughts spring more readily to mind.  Although, perhaps being consistently mediocre is something to applaud as avoiding any highlights or downlights requires some degree of skill.  Although probably not the one you really want.

When I first got to London, pining for food from the Far East, this was my first proper Japanese meal.  In the early 2000s, Japanese food was hard to come by.

Salad with yuzu miso dressing.  A good preparation for the main event.

Nasu dengaku, miso eggplant.  Decent if perhaps it should have come with a slightly more crisp rather than slightly rubbery exterior.  Still worth a try though.

Agedashi tofu, fried tofu in dashi broth.  This was good.  Crunchy topping sitting in umami dashi broth, I ended up drinking almost the entire bowl.  It was that good, smooth sweet broth interspaced with clean tofu taste, excellent.

Tempura, prawn, egg plant, pumpkin.  As good deep-fried food is hard to come by in London, I thought to try this.  It didn’t really deliver what I hoped.  The tempura was ok although it had a bit too much oil as when I lived in Japan, I found what good tempura was like.  The best would have food only a little bit oily as careful control of oil temperature kept lingering fat to a minimum.  The ok would have a little bit more oil lingering, leading to a slightly heavier batter.  The worst would not be worth eating in a congealed mass of potato starch and oil.

This was not the best, not the worst but somewhere in the middle.  If I hadn’t spent so much time tasting fried delights in Japan, I may have happily thought that this was the bee’s knees.  Yet with the curse of experience, I now know what I’m looking for so know it can be so much more.  Then again, I guess I should give them credit as they are consistent at least and that maintained over almost two decades is no easy thing.  Now if only I could apply that to my weight.

 

A quiet eating 8/10.

Dinner (3 courses equivalent) was GBP35 excluding drinks and service.

 

Asakusa

265 Eversholt Street,
London NW1 1BA

 

Asakusa Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato



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