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Did Tom Love Sushi?

Everyone knows a bowl of noodles is a great hangover cure, so I recently tried my own remarkable scientific experiment by doing things in reverse: noodles before launching into the wine. Would this be the first of my self-proclaimed hangover cures to actually work, after the disappointment of late-night asparagus and, more recently, coconut water (wonderful stuff though it is)?

I used to love a small chain called Noodle Bar (now Noodle Nation) – big, bold plates of noodles, beansprouts, fresh, lightly-cooked chunks of veg, and king prawns, with excellent sides of salt & pepper squid and miniature spring rolls. And that’s what I was hoping for at Me Love Sushi on West End Lane.

Marinated salmon on soba noodles turned out to be a moderately likeable, if somewhat dull dish. The salmon was slightly over, not marinated in anything aside from air or water, and the noodles were largely absent of the veggies listed above – and what there was were more slivers than chunks.

Across Captain Tom’s Table (not bored of that one yet), chicken teriyaki seemed to be decent enough, and the Salice Salentino proved an enjoyable drop of wine.

Dessert was a little weird; a pre-made chocolate tartlet, which held the amazing distinction of being the only tart in the world in which the base had exactly the same texture as the topping!? I’m not sure even Heston could manage that!

Overall then, not bad, but more a case of “me quite like”, than “me love”. If anything, the meal reminded me it’s time for me to revisit somewhere else on West End Lane that really does work wonders for hangovers… Banana Tree. Now that is a place to go for an exciting bowl of noodles – before or after a night on the wine. Actually, before and after, thinking about it.