Review: Ichi Sushi, SE1

It’s Thursday, and I’m meeting a friend for lunch.

It needs to be convenient for Waterloo, it needs to be “nice”, and it needs to fit into a lunch break. Should be easy, right? Wrong. In my experience, Waterloo isn’t the best area for food (if you have any good suggestions, please do let me know!)

So I ask around, and am reminded about Ichi Sushi, located on the first floor of the Westminster Bridge Park Plaza Hotel, just 5 minutes’ walk from Waterloo Station. Perfect.

I’ve already had the pleasure of eating at Brasserie Joel at the same Hotel, so was interested to see what Ichi Sushi had to offer. It’s a much smaller restaurant, with the Sushi Chef in the main space, behind a bar full of the freshest, sushi grade fish that you can select from. When we visited (1pm Thursday) it was quiet, so we had the full attention of the staff, but I suspect it gets busier in the evenings, so be wise to book.

For ease, we decided to go for the Sushi experience menu at £44 each, although you can of course go a la carte. The sushi experience menu has some amazing choices – you get to pick various different fish or vegetables in various different styles and pretty much everything is covered – Nigri, Sashimi, Maki rolls, etc.

We both chose the Jalapeno Tuna to start, which comes out on its own, and was, well, OK. Seared Tuna slices in a Jalapeno sauce, exactly what you’d expect. The fish didn’t have as much flavour as I’d like, and the jalapeno didn’t have any real kick. I don’t think I’d choose it again, but it wasn’t bad.

Then came out the main selection of sushi, and I was immediately impressed. Presentation was excellent – the sushi was all laid out on a long dish, individually portioned, it looked great. Tasted it too. Every bite was delicious – particular favourites were the Scallop Sashimi and Spicy Prawn roll – and I have to say the fresh (real!) Wasabi was the best I’ve ever tasted. As a lover of the Wasabi burn, I definitely wasn’t disappointed.

Apart from the Starter, everything was bursting with flavour, prepared beautifully and was in plentiful supply, so much so that I had to give my last few pieces to my companion (and I never leave food!)

The Sushi experience also comes with Sake, which I had never tried before, and was delicious. Warming and tasty, if it hadn’t been lunchtime I definitely would have finished that off too.

Dessert is included in the price of the experience and my friend opted for the Carrot cake, which comes out completely differently to how you’d expect, but was lovely regardless. I was far too full so gave it a miss, but the Passion Fruit Cake sounded wonderful.

Overall, we had a great lunch, with fantastic service and good sushi. It’s definitely a place to take colleagues/clients, or meet with friends for a bite after work.

Would I come back? Yes. Just wouldn’t have the same starter.

JJM

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JJ - Editor

Londoner. Excessive Tea Drinker. Foodie. Party Goer. Geek. Email jj@thislittleladywenttolondon.com.

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