Restaurant Review: Yoshino, Piccadilly Circus

If you're going to go the whole hog and actually name a restaurant as one of your favourites, it helps to have more than a passing knowledge of the place, really.

Like a bride-to-be with no clue about the groom's middle name, someone who claims a restaurant as their 'absolute favourite', then admits to have been there all of twice, should have their judgement severely scrutinised. A few highly enjoyable nights does not a marriage (or great restaurant) make.

So when it comes to naming favourites, I don't want to hear that 'you just know when it's right'; I want the full due diligence report. Starting with:

How long have you and said restaurant known each other? Studies show that a minimum of two years is often sensible, to allow for the initial food lust to wear off and for you to see the menu for what it really is.

Have they met your friends and family? After all, you've not truly experienced a restaurant 'til you've seen how they treat your perpetually-late best friend, your pernickity great-aunt, and of course, the parents.

Do you have compatible views on finances? Some restaurants make it clear early on that you're not in their league -- a sniffy 'still or sparkling' when you specifically ask for 'just a jug of water, please' will tip you off to that. Others will try to bankrupt you over the course of a few dates (tasting menu, sir?). If things are going to last, you have to meet on common ground. That said, if they're offering you 50% off every other week, beware -- who knows who else is being offered the same deal behind your back.

But most important of all, do you feel it? Do you relax when you step foot in the front door? Do you spend the whole day in anticipation of tonight's dinner reservation? Do you feel a tingle of pride every time someone else speaks well of them?

If you and your restaurant pass the test, then you might, just might, have found something really quite special.

So I'll say it. Yoshino is one of my favourite restaurants. I've been going there a handful of times a year for the past five years, ever since a Japanophile friend introduced us. Since that day, I've been back with more friends and family than I can remember. Hidden down an alley off Piccadilly, Yoshino is classy enough for a date, sedate enough for dinner with the parents, and buzzy enough for a meal out with the old gang.

And don't be fooled by the neon 'sushi' sign outside. While they do offer the standard range of sashimi, nigiri, and maki, this is so much more than a sushi joint. The Yoshino Zen Yuki set comes with grilled mackerel (always excellent), swordfish sashimi salad (sashimi marinated in a soy-based sauce, under a layer of cress salad), tuna rolls, a sunomono (vinegared) dish, sesame fine beans, tofu teriyaki/potato salad, pickles, and home-made miso soup. All for less than a tenner -- now that's financial compatibility.

Being a huge chirashi fan, the sight of sashimi on sushi rice is always a thing of beauty to behold, but Yoshino goes one better. Two stacked lacquer boxes, the bottom containing a bed of sushi rice scattered with mossy-fine nori, shredded tamago, and sesame, the top an array of iridescent sea shells nestled in packed ice, each filled with generous amounts of wakame, then sashimi: mackerel (fresh and not the slightest fishy), salmon, tuna (melty), squid, hamachi (I think), and more tamago.

What else? The staff are lovely, unobtrusive, and get the job done. The toilets are tiny but stylish (that is, there's handcream provided). Decor is simple, and the ambiance warm, unlike the more austere feel of certain pricier Japanese restaurants around.

So if you're going to Yoshino in the near future, please send my love. I'll be back soon. Because when you know, you just know.

  

Around £15-30pp, including service. Check out the menu on their website below.

Restaurant Yoshino
3 Picadilly Place
London W1J 0DB
020 7287 6622

www.yoshino.net

Comments

[Kavey]

Ha haa yes, for me, to be a favourite means the kind of place I want to return to again and again, for casual meals and special occasions, on our own or with lots of friends and family...

[Greedy Diva]

Thanks for the reocmmendation, Jen. I tried Yoshino this week. Great place, great value. And they do takeaway. I'll credit you for the tip when I blog about it!

[JenJen]

Glad you liked it =) Wanted to go this Sunday, but then remembered they're closed - sigh!

[Notjustsushi]

Just found you on Twitter, I used to love Yoshino and went a couple of times a month for 2 years maybe, and then, I had two bad meals in a row. So sadly I stopped going. Your review and that of another friend makes me think it is time to go back. I agree the staff is lovely and when they were on, the food was great and tremendous value. Thanks, I'll go back now.