Kian said, “Win you have to go to Sushi Tetsu. If you
don’t, I’ll kill myself.”
Well, I don’t usually give into death threats, especially
when it doesn’t concern my life. But I like the sound of eating to save my
friend’s life. And more importantly, Kian knows his stuff. Turns out getting a
seat at the sushi counter is a challenge, as more bloggers dub this little 7-seater London’s best kept secret. When I called
in August, the earliest for 2 people was end-Oct. So I decided to go solo and
got myself in before the end of Sept.
Given the intimacy of the sushi bar, I didn’t feel like a
lone diner. Harumi, chef’s wife, is very conversational; she shared Chef Toru
was helping out at Shiori as Tetsu was being set up, and this husband-and-wife
team is good friends with the other husband-and-wife team.
I thought about going omakase, but decided against it
because I was pretty sure there's sea bream and akami somewhere in there. So I
went wild with the a la carte. Sushi is served piece by piece here. Love it already.
Yellowtail
Harumi explained chef gently
brushes his special soy sauce on the fish, so we don’t have to flip and dip or
drown the rice, hence the slightly brown appearance.
The temperature was
oh-so-perfect. Rice was body temperature-warm, and the fish was just ever so
slightly cooler. Chef’s pressure on the rice was impeccable; the grains held
together in its perfect shape, but disintegrated, almost candy floss-like, on
tongue; gentle rice wine vinegar brought out the sweetness of rice... just a
full mouthful of perfection. Never have I had better sushi rice.
The piece of yellowtail was
more white than pink before the soy sauce, which means I luckily got the fatty
belly part of the fish. The scoring was so delicate, it tenderised the fish to
melt onto the rice without losing the bounce of fresh raw fish. Absolutely
master-class.
Razor Clam
Didn’t recognise the razor
clam until chef said so. Lightly torched, followed by a sprinkle of sea salt and
a squeeze of lime. It was razor clam like no other; the clam was vertically
scored to ease off the chew and tone down the contrast with the soft sushi
rice. Flavours were balanced, instead of gushing rush of seafood sweetness, it
was balanced and delicate.
Salmon
Harumi and I chatted a bit
more as Chef attended the omakase
diners. Unlike chef Toru, Takashi-san at Shiori trained as a Kaiseki chef, which explains his
immaculate presentation of every course as edible art. Kaiseki
cuisine is often served as portrayed scenery, with various elements of Japanese
cooking contributing to the overall piece. Takashi-san is now setting up his
full-scale joint at Queensway to flex his muscles.
Scallop
Again lightly seared, lightly
brushed with soy sauce, lightly scored. Top notch stuff. It is somewhat less
remarkably different to the usual hotate
nigiri we get elsewhere, that said the searing helped to reduce the excess
moisture, concentrating the flavours without compromising the creaminess.
Otoro
Watching chef at work was mesmerising. The tip of the knife touched the fish, then he flattened the
tendons with the blade near the base of the knife. Every tiny detail was taken
care of. The otoro melted, oils mingled with the rice; the small bits of tendons left encouraged chewing to unleash more fragrant grease. Oh-so-rich.
Snow Crab
Chef skinned a thin sheet of
cucumber, so skilfully as if he could do it with his eyes closed, to replace
seaweed for this gunkan. The cucumber
was less overpowering so the crisp, clean taste of shredded snow crab came
forward better.
If I am forced to pick a
weakness of the evening, this might be it. Probably because the flavours were less powerful, perhaps I was still lost in
the word of tuna oil, or maybe chef wanted to cleanse my palate before the
next course... whatever.
Seared Otoro
Ta-da! I wish you could smell
the dining room when this was blow-torched. The quiet sizzle, light crisp on
charred edges, melted fat infused with sweet sushi rice... I thought I was going to pass out. Last food
before I die? This might be it. On that thought, I indulged on a second round
of the mighty seared o-toro. It was simply eyes-rollingly good, I knew I had that stupid grin on my face.
Ikura
We all know I love Ikura. The
pearls at Tetsu are less marinated, so there was a cleaner, fresher taste to
it. Just blissful, so much so I went for another round.
Mackerel
The piece of fish was
incredibly soft and incredibly fat. The special touch was the thin sheet of
transparent konbu (wet seaweed) that
accentuated the dissolving effect and made up the lighter touch on the
marinade. Seconds please.
Botan Prawn / Jumbo prawn
I saw my neighbours having
this with their omakase menu. It
looked so much like a meringue I had to dig my teeth into one. It tasted as
good as it looked, it carried the smoky aroma of grilled prawns, but held onto its
playful springiness. The small curls added an interesting texture to the roof
of the mouth too. And boy, it was a big prawn.
Omelette
Harumi recommended this, she said it’s nothing like the
usual Japanese omelette. I was dubious. Chef waited until I finished my second
rounds of sushi before serving up the omelette.
And Harumi was right, it was nothing like the typical tamago. The cubes were feathery, Japanese
cheesecake-kind of feathery, or angel cake, but moist, not soggy. The omelette somehow evaporated. It was truly unique. A perfect way to finish the meal. In
fact my look of satisfaction was so pronounced, I managed to convince my new
friends next door, lawyer at Blackrock and South African IM, to order a portion
each.
The place was cosy but not cramped. It almost encourages
conversations with the lucky people around you (lucky in the sense they got a
seat, not because they sat next to me... though one could argue...) One of the
fellow diners asked if Chef could seat people at the tables by the door. Chef
explained those seats are for waiting, he doesn’t serve food outside this
counter.
I think this is it. The Best Sushi of London. I can’t
think why not. I am running through all the good sushi bars I have been to in
this city... Yashin? Tetsu is in a different league in terms of authenticity
and skills. Shiori? Not in the raw fish department though the overall dining
experience is not too far behind.
And I get it now. I understand Kian’s odd death
threat. Deep down I’m hoping you won’t believe how crazily stunning the food is
here, yet it’s too good not to share - almost sinful. Oh, by the way, Harumi said Tetsu is
booked up for dinner until Christmas. Lunch is looking more hopeful, but solo
diners are more likely to get lucky.
I died and went to Sushi Heaven.
12 Jerusalem Passage
London
EC1V 4JP
Tel: 0203 217 0090
You may also like: Yoshino, Atari-ya, Sushi of Shiori