14 September 2011

Minato

Hammersmith is not the first place that springs to mind when you think of great food - there's Indian Zing which is pretty good and you could always walk to Chiswick where there are some lovely places but in fact Hammersmith does a great line in delicious sushi ranging from the affordable lunch in Wasabi to special birthday supper in Minato via fun date night in Yoshi Sushi.

What I love about Minato is that we're usually the only non-Japanese people in there and even though this restaurant is not the cheapest (it's about £25-£40 per person depending on what you have) it is the real deal. Atmospheric with a wide-ranging menu and thoughtful food presentation I can't think of anything I don't love about this restaurant.

We went last night for my mother's 'special' birthday and it didn't disappoint. It's always quite hard to order for six people and include everything that everyone wants so we decided to have three deluxe sushi and sushimi platters and then just add any starters that we personally wanted. These included tasty but unadventurous squid tempura (the batter was slightly heavier than I expect tempura to be but I'm not an expert), salmon and avocado maki, pork dumplings, salmon roe maki, soft shell crab and most excitingly kimchi (a Korean fermented vegetable dish) - which we got brownie points for ordering.

The deluxe platters were just amazing - they arrive on fan shape boards and one was the perfect amount to share between two sushi lovers. Mackerel, salmon, tuna, squid and other sashimi and the most amazing array of sushi I've ever seen some of which I have no idea what they were. Beautifully made, perfectly sized I'm day dreaming about having this for lunch and I only went last night.

The service was charming, helpful and friendly - when we requested a plate of Japanese pickles and were told that they are hard to get since the earthquake in Japan we were bought all the pickles they had left and complimentary miso soup with incredibly tasty seaweed salad to make up for it. We weren't constantly being asked how the food was and I think the only place I've had similar great service is at the River cafe. Highly recommended not only for sushi fans but those who prefer curry, tempura or noodles but especially those West Londoners who feel they are missing out on anywhere good to find it.

Minato on Urbanspoon
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