Lunch is very different to dinner

Firstly there are two pieces of good news: (1) a new follower has just appeared, thank you Mr C (my telephony advisor), and (2) Soho Bar on Greek Street East has closed down so that's one less to do.

Now on to the main events: today I discovered what a Bento Box was in Hi Sushi on Frith Street West. The window promised quite an extensive menu along with lunchtime specials of various Box types for £4.50. The restaurant at street level is fairly small and simple with four high tables and stools designed for two, and another dozen high stools around a semi circular counter. My Box arrived and divided into five sections: (1) sticky rice, (2) an English salad with various lettuce leaves, sweetcorn, tomato and grated carrot lathered liberally with what I can only describe as an un-Japanese creamy dressing, (3) four semi circular slices, the size of a 10p piece, which could have been pickled ginger without the taste of ginger, (4) a small salad of more grated carrot with thinly sliced cucumber in a sweet chilli sauce with four postage stamp squares of something unidentifiable and not particularly pleasant (maybe tofu) and (5) the main event of chicken teriyaki which was a sliced chicken breast with its skin on and deep fried. All I could think about was the calories. It was accompanied by a side order of a bowl containing a cloudy, watery liquid. On the basis that I only had chopsticks, I wasn’t sure whether to drink it or wash my fingers in it. However on stirring it, I discovered some ‘bits’ including seaweed, so assumed I should eat/drink it, but I’m now sure how. A rather expensive bottle of sparkling water at £2.40 bumped the bill up to £6.90. Now I don’t want you to get the impression it was bad, it’s just that my knowledge of Japanese cuisine is very limited and so it’s difficult to judge how good/authentic it was but all I can say is it wasn’t exactly my favourite lunch to date. It does appear to have a larger restaurant downstairs as my table contained a list of ‘rules’ for the all you can eat buffet (rule number two: you can only stay an hour and a half)!

That evening we tried Zilli Green on Dean Street http://www.zillirestaurants.co.uk/ but you will have to wait for my review.