Tsuru

I was really craving some Japanese food in London, and ended up coming here because it was nearby. I was highly disappointed. It came in a cheap cardboard box and the curry and rice were served cold. The chicken katsu was also unpleasant and had no taste. The curry to rice portion was also underwhelming.
My friend and I came right when the restaurant opened around 11:30am on a Friday and there was no one else expect us until noon. The seats then quickly filled up.
Even though it is cheaper here than other places, I wish I spent a bit more for quality! I don’t recommend this place at all. The only pro about this place is how fast the food is ready, but I think that also says something about the quality.

OK. My friends pre-​made sushi was comparable to what one would get in a US supermarket. Fresh made should be better!.. The big disappointment was the ramen broth. The only difference between it and warm water was the color. Cloudy. but tasteless. The most important part of a Ramen soup is the broth! I’m sure there are better choices.

I went yesterday with another Unilocaler i’ve just meet, Maurizio A. Since i’m essentially a pescetarian, i proposed to eat Sushi for dinner and Maurizio (who also wrote a review) suggested Tsuru because it was near his workplace.
The place is small, but comfortable: i really liked the interiors and the atmosphere in general is quite relaxed. We went around 8pm therefore there were only 4 more people eating there.
The menù is not extensive, therefore we decided for Asashi (draft! first time in my life i’ve seen Asahi drafted), edamame and a mixed platter of sushi. While the edamame with chilly were an interesting improvement, the fact that they were cold was a bit disappointing. The sushi platter was excellent in quality, i would’ve eaten 5 plates like that! :)
Since i was still a bit pekish i’ve ordered a vegetarian curry rice: it was delicious! The salsa was great and mixed with rice it was perfect. The fried vegetables were ok, maybe they should cut the pieces in a smaller size to be fried evenly.
i can guess why people are so entusiastic about the pork curry rice.
In the end we split the bill and the final price was around 31 pounds each.

Not bad, but things can be improved!
Went here on a monday night, the place is very small (I think we they have less than 30 available seats) and a bit hidden, you basically have to go between two buildings in order to find it!
The menu is a bit small, basic nigiri and uramaki, some katsu and teriyaki bento. We ordered edamame (which was cold, strange, I usually eat them warm) with chili and a mixed sushi.
Of course, the mixed sushi platter is the basis on which every sushi bar is classified on my list when omakase is not available: based on that, this place is ⁴⁄₅. The only issue I have is the lack of variety: 4 pieces of salmon, even if 2 were cooked and 2 were raw, are definitely too many on a 13 total pieces. But the fish was really good! Well of course tuna can’t be a 5 stars piece of fish, but come on you are in London, you can’t ask for anything more! Of course the salmon is excellent (again, that is what I AM expecting in England!), but what really amazed me was tamago nigiri: sweet, soft, awesome! kudos!
For closing, I had takoyaki (octopus fried balls), not bad but I prefer to have them without mayonnaise, and the sauce was worchester. I mean, nothing wrong with it, but because there are such a few places where you can actually eat takoyaki, just put a bit of effort and prepare a proper takoyaki sauce, don’t put a worchester!
In conclusion, it’s not a bad place, not bad at all, and if we consider only the sushi it deserves ⁴⁄₅ stars, but the lack of dishes (there is only a prawn tempura appetizer, not even a main course!) and the lack of variety in a single mixed sushi make the rating drop to 3 over 5.
Still looking for the best sushi bar in London!

Small lunch spot under a gloomy corporate building. Got lured there because we felt like sushi and it had good reviews on here.
Meals were served in take-​away boxes (despite us eating at the restaurant), which where casually thrown into the table with the employee’s back already half turned away from the table.
Sushi was dry and fridge cold without any particular taste. I have no idea why anyone except those working in the building would come here. Prices were cheap, but the money could’ve been spent better at some random fast-​food chain. You have been warned.

best katsu curry ever. i just love this place for that.

On a busy Thursday, was rushing for a meeting in the City, dropped in for lunch at the new Tsurusushi. It was a bit of time to find it as it was not obvious where it was and actually found it at the back of the 301 Bishopgate building. The place even has tables outside under the spider like legs of the Broadgate Tower, would be a perfect place for lunch al fresco in this area.
Around the Broadgate area, there never used to be so many places to eat. When I used to work here for a Japanese bank, the closest we would get to a nice Japanese meal was a bento box delivered by an obscure Japanese catering company and this used to costs us about £8 a box which was a lot, quite a few years ago.
Since I didn’t have much time, I was quite glad that it was set up like a fast food, pay at counter or help yourself kind of setup. I ordered a Katsu curry and a small box of sushi. No sooner had I found a seat, the food appeared, that is quick service. The katsu was nicely crisp and the katsu curry sauce was not too sweet like some places make it and the portion was very generous. At about £6 for the katsu curry and about £4 for a small box of sushi, the prices were very good for the quality and quantity that we were served. At the next table were 4 Japanese salary men happily tucking into their Katsu curry (which seems to be their favourite lunch meal as this is what I see them ordering most often at other Japanese lunch places too) which gives that stamp of authenticity to this dish.
These are the small boxes of sushi. The sushi was quite good for a London sushi takeaway, fish was fresh but the rice could have been flavoured a bit more for my taste. The califonia roll was actually quite yummy and I will definitely be back for more of that.
Just before we had to run we very quickly sampled the Mochi Ice Cream which was both unusual and quite delicious.
If you work around Liverpool Street and in search for a good Japanese meal, you should try out Tsurusushi.

Pics available @
Remember back when you were a child and your parents promised you a treat/​reward when you’ve been good, and how you will be all excited for days waiting for the promise to be fulfilled? Now this is exactly how I felt once I booked the Tsuru Ramen tickets. It has been a while since I last had a bona fide bowl of Japanese Ramen. Not to be dismissive here, but after bowls and bowls of disappointing ramen from various restaurants and of course, the main culprit being the overexposed Wagamama chain. I have sort of given up on ever finding a good bowl of ramen. I had fond memories of this noodle dish as back in the days when I was living in Singapore, there were lots of excellent, authentic ramen restaurants serving proper labour-​intensive ramen that pack a punch in terms of flavour and freshness. The anticipation just kept building and the continuous good feedbacks and reviews from twitters and blogs have just excited me further. I was too late for the classic Tonkatsu and Hokkaido Ramen, which were sold out unfortunately, and I have been kicking myself since. Thankfully, I have still the Seafood and Tokyo Spicy Ramen to look forward to. Finally, the day has arrived. Like an obedient child, I have washed and dressed up for the ceremonious occasion. Yes, I was that excited! Arriving at Liverpool street station with my partner, we slowly made our way to the location, following the direction on my google map apps on the iPhone. The rainy weather didn’t dampen my excitement. Upon arriving at the Tsuru restaurant in Bishopsgate for our 3 o’clock sitting, we were shown to a quiet table in the corner right next to the toilet. But after some hesitation, we quickly asked to be moved to the table by the window instead. Laid out on the table, was the menu for today’s Seafood Ramen. The ramen and a drink were included in the booking which was £15 per head. On offer were some side dishes that were meant to go with the noodles or as starters. We promptly ordered the pork gyoza, free range chicken kara-​age and two bottle of asahi beer. The waitress took our orders, went away and immediately came back with a poker card, 3 of hearts. She placed that on our table and then gracefully danced away to work the room. By now, the restaurant was almost filled up, apart from the two seats next to us. There was certainly a buzz going on in the room. Everyone seems excited and laughter can be heard, especially from the table behind us. ‘Them lot seems to be having a good time, they are onto their second pint now and they haven’t even eaten!’ my partner whispered conspiratorially. Now, under normal circumstances, the interior of the restaurant plays a big part in creating the ambience to the dining experience, but this is different. Tsuru has not yet open a ramen restaurant. All these pop-​up events are just their way of testing the water or should I say testing the palate, so to speak, while they look for a suitable venue for their ramen venture. And what is quite admirable is that in order to pursue the authentic ramen recipe. Emma (the co-​owner of Tsuru) and her business partner, Ken (The Japanese Chef) have been making regular trips to Japan in search of the perfect ramen, kind of reminds me of the film Tampopo. However, I did notice the origami cranes that were handing down from the ceiling, which coincidentally is what Tsuru means. nice touch! As I was taking all these in, the starters/​side dishes arrive with a friendly smile from the waitress. ‘Here you are, can I get you anything else?’ asked the lovely waitress as she reach over across the table, to grab the poker card, which my partner has unwittingly moved to the hidden corner, thinking that it was intruding our private space,‘and I’m just going to move this over here, so we know what you’ve ordered.’ With a smile, once again, off she goes. I went straight for the gyoza, which was my favourite and swiftly took a bite. The juicy and sweet pork, accompanied with menma (fermented bamboo shoot) in an al dente skin were just beautifully cooked. Although it is a tad under seasoned for my taste, but the freshness and the ‘porkiness’ somehow turn this into a delicious morsel. The chicken was just as flavoursome, the subtle fragrant from the ginger is just divine. On this occasion, three is just not enough as we had to fight for the last piece of the chicken. trying to divide the chicken into equal halves with a pair of chopsticks is not easy. After devouring the starters, our plates were cleared and that’s when the waiting game began. After about what felt like forever, the star of the show made its entrance. What a magnificent sight! The first thing I noticed was the sheer size of the pan-​fried sea bass that topped the ramen. Was this even allowed?! And then I noticed the gentle, bobbling soft boiled egg. I plunge my face as close to the noodles as I can managed, without actually

Ramen seems to be increasingly popular in London and grabbing food headlines more often. Tsuru Ramen is the latest one I’ve had the pleasure of trying and what a pleasure it was. Note: This isn’t offered by Tsuru, rather it is a separate Ramen shop that has been using Tsuru on Bishopsgate to serve up some quality meals twice a month on Saturdays. They will be opening up their own place soon but it’s unclear when or where. I will update when I get the info!
With just a little bit of difficulty finding the place, we were soon seated a large table and served by some very happy and smiling girls. These special meals are basically £10 for a bowl of ramen and a drink (any drink on the menu is in the offer). For a bit extra, you can get pork or prawn gyoza and chicken kara-​age. It’s not much extra, about £3−4 per dish and each has 4 – 5 pieces. If you do manage to book one of these (I had to book almost 2 months in advance as they are proving to be very popular), get the kara-​age and pork gyoza which were fantastic. I could have easily eaten my fill of the kara-​age but there was ramen to eat. Lots of ramen.
Our bowls of steaming ramen arrived as soon as we’d indicated we were done with appetisers and they looked beautiful (see the pics). I can’t help but compare to the places Josy has taken us for Ramen Club so here we go. The broth was a bit light on the meatiness so I would rank it as richer than Nagomi but weaker than Cocoro. The noodles were thin but excellent and I heard they were handmade. They absorbed just enough broth to be flavourful but retained a good texture. As this was a spicy ramen as opposed to my usual Tonkotsu, the meat was a shredded spicy beef which was incredibly addicting. My main complaint was that the handful in the ramen wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy my craving for it.
I plowed through my first bowl of ramen in about 5 minutes flat and drained it dry of broth. I say first, because after seeing me demolish it, a friendly guy at the table next to us offered me another bowl. I’m not in the habit of taking food from strangers but as he was full and his daughter wasn’t going to eat it I figured why not. Everyone else finished as I was halfway through, leading the waitress to believe I was just a slow eater (probably better than a bottomless pit though). My cold sake was a perfect accompaniment and it was refreshing and dry and helped cleanse that palate in between bites of different foods.
Overall, an excellent ramen outing and worthy of four stars. If only if the broth was a bit meatier and there were a few more crunchy veggies it would have made it to the 5-​star hall of fame.

Nice sushi but sometimes of iregular freshness, better than thevusual chains but lack a bit of originality compared to some other good sushi place

Another Monday night date with the boyfriend! If you haven’t been to Tsuru before or know the area, it’s handy to know that it is located off the main drag, up some stairs, in an internal shopping area (with pretty cool architecture).
When we arrived at Tsuru there was only one other group there, which made us nervous, but our scepticism soon wore off. First up, a pint of Asahi each, and tap water, which the waitress offered us without prompting.
For our meal we enjoyed edamame, vegetable gyoza, and a tonkatsu bento box for him, a vege katsu curry for me. The crumbed vegetables were delicious! As good as I’ve had in Tokyo (or Auckland, where you can’t walk 5m without tripping over a Japanese restaurant.)
Bonus points for having lots of vegetarian options!
All up it was £29 including tip — and we walked away pretty satisfied. I liked the décor and the food was authentic. Perhaps not the best date venue ever, but it’d be a great place to meet a friend after work for an early dinner.

Pics@Chopstix2Steaknives

Sashimi moriawase £14.25
Sliced just right that the sashimi is silky and smooth, it was eaten with pleasure.
Soft shell ‘spider’ crab tempura uramaki £8.45
The soft shell crab tempura was a little greasy which took away the nice crispy crunch associated with this.
Edamame £2.6
The edamame is standard fare and does well as an appetiser or if you just can’t get enough of them.
Pork and vegetable gyoza £4.75 -£5.75
I tried both the pork and vegetable gyoza and both are delicious juicy little parcels.
Aburi Saba
Seared cured mackerel sashimi with English mustard £5.1
The smell and taste of mackerel is quite strong and if you don’t like mackerel or strong fish smells, you might want to skip this one. Otherwise, I like the mustard and mackerel combination, it is not the usual pairing but I guess you need a strong condiment like mustard to match the mackerel.
Nasu Dengaku £4.75
The very first time I had the nasu Dengaku here in Tsuru, it was the best that I’ve ever had. The aubergine was so soft that it was almost melting in your mouth. The sweet and savoury combination of the caramelised miso engulfs you with it’s scent and was just to die for.
Sadly, that seems to have been the only time that it was THAT good in Tsuru or anywhere else I’ve tried. Im beginning to wonder whether the chef has changed.
Tonkatsu curry £8.20
I’ve had the the tonkatsu curry a few times and it seems to suffer from consistency issues. It was just right the first time, the second time was too salty and the third time too bland?!
Mochi Ice (Green tea, yuzu, sesame) £3.85
This always hits the spot with my favourite surprisingly being the yuzu.
Strangely, the standards seems to drop just that little bit more with each time that I come back.

Sashimi moriawase £14.25
Sliced just right that the sashimi is silky and smooth, it was eaten with pleasure.
Soft shell ‘spider’ crab tempura uramaki £8.45
The soft shell crab tempura was a little greasy which took away the nice crispy crunch associated with this.
Edamame £2.6
The edamame is standard fare and does well as an appetiser or if you just can’t get enough of them.
Pork and vegetable gyoza £4.75 -£5.75
I tried both the pork and vegetable gyoza and both are delicious juicy little parcels.
Aburi Saba
Seared cured mackerel sashimi with English mustard £5.1
The smell and taste of mackerel is quite strong and if you don’t like mackerel or strong fish smells, you might want to skip this one. Otherwise, I like the mustard and mackerel combination, it is not the usual pairing but I guess you need a strong condiment like mustard to match the mackerel.
Nasu Dengaku £4.75
The very first time I had the nasu Dengaku here in Tsuru, it was the best that I’ve ever had. The aubergine was so soft that it was almost melting in your mouth. The sweet and savoury combination of the caramelised miso engulfs you with it’s scent and was just to die for.
Sadly, that seems to have been the only time that it was THAT good in Tsuru or anywhere else I’ve tried. Im beginning to wonder whether the chef has changed.
Tonkatsu curry £8.20
I’ve had the the tonkatsu curry a few times and it seems to suffer from consistency issues. It was just right the first time, the second time was too salty and the third time too bland?!
Mochi Ice (Green tea, yuzu, sesame) £3.85
This always hits the spot with my favourite surprisingly being the yuzu.
Strangely, the standards seems to drop just that little bit more with each time that I come back.

Fantastic, fresh, tasty, healthy sushi at a reasonable price + all of it’s sustainably sourced
I had the Chef’s special — a box with 3 sushi rolls, 3 nigirizushis and — my favourite — seared tuna, plus edamame beans on the side.
They also have wonderfully refreshing WB&Co fresh vegetable juices — carrot and ginger was just what I needed on this uncharacteristically hot day!

The sushi in Tsuru is very good quality. The selection is always fresh and varied, with a choice of take-​away or eat in (or outside on a nice day).
I couldn’t compliment the staff more, as they are always helpful and even dished up some Inari when it’s not in a set box.
The price is what to expect for sushi, maybe a little more, but it’s worth it. The location is a little difficult to find, but hopefully it will keep it just low key enough to escape from the office for some peace and quiet.

Woohoo! One of my favourite Japanese restaurants in London now has a second location!
Tsuru has recently opened their second location very near Liverpool Street Station at 201 Bishopsgate (the original Tsuru is south of the river on Canvey Street near Tate Modern). Just like Tsuru’s original Southwark restaurant, this stylish and welcoming little eatery with a contemporary and casual feel offers an enticing range of top quality dishes made from scratch daily.
Highlights include Japanese staples such as agi dashi dofu, chicken yakitori, nasu dengaku and seabass sashimi. All of Tsuru’s seafood (line-​caught yellowfin tuna, Cornish crab, Scottish salmon from the Shetlands, etc) is sustainably sourced and especially delicious. Rounding out the menu is a tasty assortment of bentos and Ippin Ryouri (Japanese tapas) and more as well as a commendable list of sake and shochu … and, of course, the best katsu curry in town!
City workers, commuters and East End folk rejoice! You now have a brilliant new dining option!

I went there yesterday evening and returned drunk and impressed. I went there again today at lunchtime. No mistakes … Tsuru is equally good even in daylight :)
The first visit was for a Unilocal event … where the chef there patiently taught me (and several others) how to roll various kinds of sushi. I will not be putting up any pictures of the ugly nigiri that i rolled, but it sure tasted good. The prawn tempura as well as the salmon. Thats a good thing about sushi … i can actually enjoy the food even if i screw up with the rolling :)
But what amazed me most was not the various kinds of sushi they served or the asahi beer or the prosecco, though i admit that all of these were good. The best dish Tsuru offered me yesterday was Chicken Kara-​age, which is «Bite size chicken thighs and wings marinated in soy, mirin and ginger, coated in katakuriko flour and then fried» (okay … this part is taken from their website). But these double fried pieces of delight ranks right at the top of my list of the best chicken i have ever had in London (alongside the chicken wings at Levant). Juicy, succulent and incredibly tasty. For a moment i had almost forgotten about the sushi. I tried it again at lunch. It was almost as good. I think i was slightly unlucky to have got pieces fried a little while earlier. If it were as hot as last time then it would have been perfect again.
The chicjen katsu curry here is also among the better ones i have had here. I felt this one was better than what i usually have at Wagamama or K10. From what i observed, this city branch of Tsuru is probably slightly more expensive than the other Japanese alternatives around (like K10 and Wasabi) … but i would gladly pay more for the food that they have to offer.
Tsuru is not very crowded at lunchtime yet (probably because it is a bit off the beaten track and so is slightly difficult to find … or maybe because it has been open for only about 3 weeks or so), but i am sure that will soon change and it will turn into a popular lunch haunt for the bankers around. With its nice ambience and the spacious seating area, i am sure Tsuru has managed to snatch atleast my business off from its competitors for the foreseeable future.