Tom eats late at Yuzu
I’ve foolishly neglected Fortune Green when eating out recently. On my list are Bombay Nights (any excuse to eat more curry), and the renowned Nautilus for some good old fish and chips. Last week though, a late-evening pit-stop at Yuzu proved an interesting choice on the eve of the new F1 season (this doesn’t really work as the race was in Australia, not Japan, but never mind..)
Synopsis? I sense a really fine restaurant, but perhaps I didn’t see the very best of it on this occasion – not that it wasn’t enjoyable.
Arriving after 10pm, the place was packed and buzzing, and service was excellent throughout. I note a “your recent requests” section on the website, showing people’s customisation of orders – nice work
My salmon teriyaki was delightful. How pleasing it is when salmon is just-done, pink in the middle, delicate and flavoursome. I was happy with the portion size of my mixed, crunchy, stir-fried vegetables, though the soy sauce had a slight bitter edge of which I wasn’t sure was deliberate? Of extras, I thought I was ordering a side of cooked greens, but in fact this was a salad – more obvious on the website menu where it is described as such. This was a large portion by default, which made for a rather pricey side dish, but with the nice touch of warmed cherry tomatoes, all was gobbled up.
Bream was declared all gone a few minutes after ordering, but sea bass replaced this in a subtle dish with red chilli, a citrus dressing and soy sauce, and which like everything else was elegantly presented.
An Argentinian Shiraz turned out to be a Shiraz / Malbec blend, and whilst having a decent finish and stiff tannins was perhaps a touch light, surprisingly. Not that I was making any effort to match grape and grub anyway; sometimes (OK, often) I’ll go for a heavy red when something else would be far more apt, I’m such a simpleton when gasping for a drink.
Glancing round, the various sashimi plates looked really impressive, and I’d certainly like to try more in general at Yuzu. It’s clearly popular with locals, and the staff were warm and enthusiastic, but in a nicely reserved way.
Please rest assured that my worrying phase of sharing desserts has passed for now; though in this instance I skipped pudding anyway. Actually, some might say that’s even more worrying!