I’ve travelled quite a bit and I’m lucky to have been able to do
so. I think the best part of any travel to another country along with the places to see and people you meet is the food and tastes.
I’m a massive food junkie. Can’t get enough. For me though, British food, as great as it is, can be bland, same old and repetitive. Don’t misunderstand, I couldn’t possibly live without a fish and chips, sausage and mash and of course the traditional roast dinner. However, and I’m going to cause a backlash here… I do think roasts are way overrated.
There’s certainly nothing wrong with a roast. I wouldn’t turn one down if it was offered, but if someone asked me what my last dinner would be? Roast would be way, way down the list. Not to mention, really how much effort and faffing about it takes. Several different types of veg either steamed, boiled or roasted, meat that takes hours and while delicious, my Yorkshire’s always end up over or under done or maybe ‘a bit ropey.’ Once all is done, there’s the dreaded mountain of pots, pans dishes, plates, cutlery etc. with a bloated and ‘too full to move’ feeling, inadvertently ends up being done the next day!
I don’t mean to moan about British food, it’s great but there’s this whole world out there begging for attention and it starts with tastes from all over!
For those who are trapped in their Anglo comfort zone unable to or experiment, it’s a great shame that they could potentially miss out on what could be their next favourite meal from a completely different country. I have always found that while I love my Chinese and Indian cuisine it is tailored so much toward our preference as a nation that the authenticity isn’t quite there in taste.
Travelling around in a job which was quite time oriented, I never had the chance to specifically go out and visit tourist spots. What I did manage though was to sample the recommended restaurants and local food haunts. When you’re keeping to deadlines, you often have to go with the flow and get fed as and when it’s available.
With this philosophy, it really opened my mind to trying new things as it pretty difficult to find something similar to the traditional roasts when you can’t speak the language or the pictures in the menus don’t resemble anything like it.
I follow the same philosophy when looking for restaurants, especially when times are tight and you need to get fed. A recent trip to London was no exception and I found myself needing sustenance at a late time of night where there were no other venues available who weren’t already fully booked.
I stumbled across a Japanese restaurant when heading back to the hotel after watching England play Japan (ironically), in the Autumn rugby union internationals. Time was tight and there were several of us needing to refuel after many pints of beer. Tired feet meant we could not longer continue the seemingly never ending refusals of booked restaurants.
We arrived at the restaurant in two taxis with our taxi being the later and with the location of both the hotel and the restaurant in the same area under the M4 flyover, those who arrived first were disappointed in the appearance. Of the 11 of us only 4 of us ventured to the restaurant with the others citing “they didn’t like the look of it” as the restaurant was completely empty would it not have been for us.
The others opted for what they envisaged as the safe option and returned to the Premier Inn for dinner. The four of us left went in and sat at the now rather sparse table for 11.
The staff were very friendly and welcomed us in, disappointed that we weren’t as many in number but no matter. We soon found out that the restaurant had only been open for a few weeks and were just getting themselves established, mainly as a take away service but doubling as a restaurant also.
The menu was well varied with many traditional Japanese dishes; Ramen, Katsu curry and more. The full menu and details can be found on their website which at the time of writing can be found:
For starter we chose duck gyoza, a crispy dumpling with a teriyaki dip with mains of Beef, Chicken Teriyaki served of steamed rice with bean shoots and stir fried veg, Prawn Yakisoba served with stir fried noodles and vegetables and a Chicken Katsu, breaded chicken served with steamed rice and a Katsu sauce. The Service was prompt and the staff were very attentive and couldn’t be friendlier.
The portions were generous to say the least and to the point whereby we were left feeling very full and not being able to manage to finish completely. For less than £50 for the four of us including soft drinks I thought this was great value for money.
What was interesting too, while we were unaware, the chef was Korean and there was also a Korean menu available, a pity as there were again many various specialities I remembered from travelling there years back. It turned out that the chef was from Incheon and we both shared fond stories of this amazing city, me when I visited and from when he lived there.
All in all it was a great little find and certainly worth taking a chance on.
So there is something to be said about that restaurant you may not consider. Perhaps it isn’t the most popular location or you might think that the food is way out your comfort zone. What you need to remember is that the majority of restaurants are well kept, clean establishments whereby bad rep will soon either force you to close or, business will by such that you’d have no choice but to. Why not be more adventurous? You might find the place turns into your new favourite restaurant and give you a taste for something extraordinary you otherwise may never have considered.
Do let me know if you find such restaurants I’d be keen to try. Tell me where they were, what the food was like and of course let me know if the money was worth it. I be happy to take a recommendation! Even if it looks like below…
