What’s the one thing about Japanese food that confuses you the most? For me it’s just about everything. Ingredients I’ve never heard of, things i never knew you could eat and an endless amount of dishes i cannot pronounce. I’ve always tried to avoid reviewing sushi restaurant simply because i don’t know enough about them to recommend it to you. I know what i like, but not enough to tell if you will – until now.
To centre my Japanese culinary journey i couldn’t think of a better way than to start off than at
Matsuri of St James. Opened in 1993 the restaurant was formed as part of a joint partnership between Central Japan Railway Company and
Kikkoman – they guys behind that delicious soy sauce we all know and love. Since the restaurant first opened there has been a sole focus on three things, sushi, tempura and the theatrical teppanyaki. No matter what modern techniques or trends have opened up around the corner, the restaurant has stayed true to its roots and been serving superior quality food here ever since.
After i polished off a full three glasses of stunning blanc de blanc champagne we waddled on down the stairs to the restaurant and sat ourselves around the teppanyaki chefs table which quite frankly, is the place to be here. Food at Matsuri isn’t cheap by any means, but what you do get is quality. No sous vide to cook that cheap piece of steak perfectly or long cooking in the oven to tenderise whatever the local butcher has on offer that day. Straight off the grill and everything tastes amazing. The only way to start a meal at Matsuri is of course with the sushi. Tuna and salmon nigiri rolls and a simple avocado sushi roll were stunning examples. Perfectly cooked sushi rice, fresh fish and soft fragrant avocado. These were simple pieces of sushi that were stunning. I could only imagine how good some of the more complex pieces were.
Tempura was a mixture of vegetables and juicy prawns, it couldn’t have been improved even if they’d tried. Fresh vegetables cooked just right with a nice bite and none of that sogginess you see far too much from using cheap oil. The prawns were unbelievably good and the tempura batter had that all important crunch and salty tang to it.
Alaskan black cod marinated in ginger was by far the best thing we ate at
Matsuri. If you haven’t eaten black cod before, then add it to your bucket list. I’m always describing dishes as ‘melt in your mouth’ – which is always meant more as a figure of speech, but here it’s true to its descriptor. The ginger marinade lingered on my tongue for so long afterwards it wasn’t easy to forget this dish, nor would i want to have reason too.
Apart from the counter at the Ginger Pig, have you ever seen a piece of beef so beautiful as this? Because it’s been a long time since i have. About two inches thick, and a foot wide this really was a mammoth piece of beef which had been aged beautifully. One side was completely covered with sea salt while cooking to lock in moisture and the beef slab also sported a layer of fat which was reminiscent to eating melted foie gras. Once cooked cutting through it was like slicing into soft butter.
Garlic butter rice was as good as I’d hoped. Perfectly cooked rice with a little bite, garlic butter, egg and spring onion. I’m not the best when it comes to attacking my food with chopsticks so this dish took me a rather long time to eat which wasn’t a problem given it was such a joy to eat. Even if it was all down my shirt, along with that sumptuous red wine i was drinking.
I struggled to criticise much at Matsuri, but when it came to dessert I’d expected much more. Huge blocks of ice cream were loaded on to the grill to melt down on top of the freshly prepared pancakes. It was all pleasant enough and great after a long heavy meal, but hardly show stopping – apart from the flames arising from the cooking of it.Out of all the restaurants in London, this has to be by far one of the best I’ve been to in terms of simplicity and quality ingredients coming together in a way which immediately makes you fall in love with it. And its rare things like this in London that can quickly be forgotten with all the new opening. When making your booking at the next Japanese restaurant that’s trending on sweet & sour cupcakes topped with a tuna nigiri – don’t forget about Matsuri. Because you’ll be hard pushed to find this quality of Japanese food, the endless sake, and all the tradition that goes with it in London.
8/10
That black cod was my stand-out dish too, the ginger flavour was absolutely perfect. Very, very good.