Now this blog starts getting serious about London restaurants. We cannot talk about food in London without talking about Japanese food and more particularly about sushis. Reviewed today is Atari-Ya.
There is lot of mystery behind Atari-Ya. I live right off Marylebone High St and the very few times I tried the touristy restaurants on James St, it was almost always a catastrophe. It took me some time to try Atari-Ya. From the outside, the place looks dodgy and I would not even want to try the fish there judging by the vitrine. There are 5 VERY small tables. No decoration. Now, I noticed the place is often busy... after a few months, I gave it a try.
I'll be straight. The place serves excellent sushis.
For foreigners who do not speak good English or people doubting about what I said above, I'll repeat it. Sushis at Atari-Ya are excellent.
In fact, they are so good, I did a bit of research about the place. It's not often you find a gem in London. And there is a lot of mystery about the bar (it's a sushi bar, not a restaurant). I heard Atari-Ya supplies 80% Japanese restaurants in London for their sashimi grade fish. Honestly, I doubt they do, because 80% seems a huge number. However, I wouldn't be surprised if they did supply some Japanese restaurants. After all, you can buy sashimi grade fish if you ask (I did it). What it means is that you're one step before in the chain of food when going to Atari-Ya... hence the fresh fish. I also heard the chefs come and work here for a few years and master the art of sushi-making so quickly that they go in top sushi restaurants (including Nobu). Again, I don't think it's 100% true, but it might be somehow true. Some Nobu chefs might have worked here before. Don't get me wrong, I still think Nobu is overpriced, expensive, you don't get what you pay for... etc. However, everyone believes the best sushi chefs are there. Why they cannot deliver food in line with their high quality staff is another question. Finally, I heard Nobu staff (including chefs) from time to time, come to Atari-Ya after lunch and before the evening service to eat good sushi... We won't blame them? Why would you blame someone wanting the best sushi in town? Well you get the picture, I wont write a novel. Atari-Ya serves among the best sushis in town. Those sushis are recognized as being some of the best by the Japanese community living London. Oh, by the way, have a look at Atari-Ya website (google it), you'll see it targets Japanese living in London. It rightly does, a large number of customers are Japanese.
The best surprised is that it is very cheap too. £1.80 the salmon or tuna roll?!? Are you joking me? Now the photos... There is no point uploading regular sushi photos as almost every sushi place have them almost the same way (salmon roll, tuna roll... etc). I want to talk about three rolls worth talking about...
The best sushi I tried at Atari-Ya is the rainbow roll, you cannot find it everywhere in London. The name is pretty straight forward. The roll is filled with salmon and Japanese mayonnaise (Kewpie type) inside (you cannot see it on the photo). That's cheating to put mayonnaise, but it is just a lush roll.
Salmon roll is very well realized. But again, every sushi is good.
Spider rolls are good, very good even. Spider roll is how they call soft shell crab rolls. But, I can think of places where they are better than here (they re-heat the soft shell crab at Atari-Ya). Now, it is well above the average soft shell crab roll in London and even I would recommend trying it once.
Rainbow roll?... what about it on a rainy day?
I could have it any day, if I am honest... like sex.
Left: Salmon avocado roll
Right: Spider roll
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