Jugemu Japanese Restaurant
3 Winnett St, Soho, London W1D 6JY
Nearest Tube: Leicester Sq/
Piccadilly Circus
Buzz Factor 3.5/5 stars
Food 4.5/5 stars
Value for money 4.2/5 stars
4.1 Yummy Stars
Price £££ Hot dishes - £3.50-£11.50; sushi/sashimi/rolls - £6-£27 (at time of writing)
☏ · 020 7734 0518
Top quality Sushi/Sashimi authentic Japanese restaurant in the heart of Soho
Rarely do you find such a juxtaposition of sorts - top quality food by a talented Japanese chef, Yuya Kikuchi, in a tiny unassuming place just off Wardour Street in Soho, with an unusual approach to customer service.
About half of the restaurant is taken up by the sushi counter, presided over by Chef Kikuchi himself and the other half taken up by 3 other tables, feeding about 20 people in total. Forget about comfortable seating, wooden backless benches, with no cushion to soften any bony bottoms, you hang up your coats on metal hangers on the wall behind the tables.
Efficiency is the name of the game. You order by ticking off boxes on 2 short menus and writing down your choice from another 3rdmenu. We didn’t notice until the end of the evening, nor did our young Japanese waitress, speaking little English, tell us about additional items listed on black boards at the back of the room. Intriguingly, perhaps also to save the waitress wiping our table afterwards, she handed to us a dishcloth to mop up any spillage from pouring our bottle of wine. Staff time being more precious than the customer’s, you are asked to help yourself to tap water from a bottle on a table at the back of the room.
If you are still reading this review, you are in for a treat on the food. Dish after dish of deliciousness arrived. The Seaweed Salad was so refreshing and full of umami flavours against the backdrop of lettuce and tomatoes. The Baked Octopus balls (Takoyaki), a Japanese snack/street food, had a slightly crispy coating with terrific diced octopus cocooned in a luxuriously creamy batter, topped with ethereally light bonito flakes, adding saltiness and smokiness.
The aubergine was baked in a wonderful miso sauce, with sweet, sour and spicy notes. The Beef Tataki, ever so lightly seared, was another winner. The thinly sliced beef fillet, roaringly raw in the middle was as soft as marshmellow and was stonkingly delicious with its citrusy soya sauce based sauce.
Black and white fungus with snow crab was another joy with fresh crunch from the black fungus which worked well with the soft and sweet snow crab. Grilled sea bream was a great combination with girolle mushrooms, but was rather overcooked. You will have to order quite a number of dishes as they were on the dinky side. After our hot dishes, a long wait of more than half an hour ensued. However, all was forgiven when the stunning sashimi and sushi arrived.
We had ordered omakase sashimi and sushi – namely, fish as chosen by the Chef. You just have to place your trust in the Chef in choosing the best fish available that day. Each piece of fish looked vibrant and super fresh. The nigiri sushi had been brushed with an impressively flavoured sauce. Absolutely no need to dip it in any wasabi-based soya sauce. The Chef chose well.
Here is a place where customer service is an optional extra. However, if you can bear the idiosyncrasies of this bolthole frequented by mostly Japanese clientele, you will love the food here.
