Eat Tokyo, soho
Eat Tokyo, soho (££)
Some restaurants really give you that wanderlust feeling; to travel without leaving your city is an exciting prospect. To really get that wanderlust feeling, you need the perfect combination of two things: authentic food and an authentic atmosphere. Some places have great food but not quite an authentic atmosphere (Dishoom, you’re not fooling anyone). On the flip side, Red Dog Saloon has nailed the American vibe, but I’ll pass on their burgers.
Despite a few Japanese restaurants down Old Compton Street, you can very easily identify Eat Tokyo—not from any specific advertising, but from the consistent queue, spiralling into the road . Luckily, we made a booking, and so on arrival we were quickly taken through the labyrinth of tables to our seat, the only empty one in sight. I’ll talk first about the second criteria for authenticity: atmosphere. Eat Tokyo satisfies the chaos and hustle you’d expect from a Japanese restaurant of this style; the decor inside is a little tired, but it makes no claims to be anything special. In the same vein, the staff here were friendly, but you did always feel a little rushed—but again, no massive surprise.
On our table on our arrival was the tome of a menu—a laminated book of every food and drink item, helpfully with a photo of each dish. In authentic Japanese fashion, you were easily able to understand what you were ordering, which was especially helpful to gauge portion sizes when you wanted to order everything but knew deep inside you couldn’t eat everything! Swayed by a desire to try a little of everything, we ordered two bentos between us, plus a couple of sides and drinks. For our drinks, we went with a can of aloe and a nama grapefruit sour (sochu, soda water, and half a grapefruit!). The Nama grapefruit sour was great fun and tasted fresh and light; under the ‘Japanese Healthy Highball and Sour’ section, I had no regrets here.
For our food, first to come were the edamame, wakame su salad, and miso soups (that came with the bentos). The wakame su salad was more acidic than I’m used to, with a strong yuzu undertone, however it could have been balanced better against some of the vinegar base notes of the dressing. The miso soup, whilst could have been warmer, had a deep umami flavour - not the best miso I’ve had, but at no extra cost it was a nice addition.
After came our bento boxes; we chose the tempura bento box and the Tokujou bento. Both bentos looked markedly impressive; large amounts of food were displayed really well. Each individual element was garnished, and it was clear, especially when looking at the sushi and sashimi, that thought went into the placement of each item. Between the two bentos, there were a few of the same items: rice, cabbage salad, and tempura. The rice was exactly as you’d expect: fluffy and seasoned, sticky but by no means overly starchy. The cabbage salad was dressed with roe and had a strong garlic flavour which was unusual but complemented the fish and tempura across the bentos well. For the tempura, the items fried across the bentos varied, but on average consisted of prawns, pepper, asparagus, and sweet potato. Wonderfully light and so crisp, each fried item had a generous amount of batter on it and, when served to us, was still warm from the fryer.
The tempura bento contained a more varied tempura selection than the other bento but also included four cubes of fried aged tofu. The tofu was crisp on the outside but soft inside, and it had a bold flavour while being well seasoned and not overpowering like some aged tofu can be. The Tokujou bento contained a wide range of sushi and sashimi, including salmon, tuna, eel, octopus, crab sticks, and roe.
The sushi and sashimi were all fresh, and the nigiri and maki were well made. The chirashi bowl contained well-seasoned rice (again, no surprise) and generous and well-cut pieces of fish. Bar the octopus, which was a little tougher than I expected, the fish was delicate and soft. Served with For twenty-five pounds, this bento felt like outrageously good value.
With up-market Japanese food becoming more and more prominent and lower, more westernised restaurants popping up on more and more street corners, finding a gem like Eat Tokyo is a welcome relief. The range of quality food felt far greater than other common chains, and whilst not as refined as some of the more upmarket Japanese haunts, it doesn’t claim anything over and above what it serves. With such a large and varied menu, you could come back many times and experience something different on every trip; what will be the same, though, is the great atmosphere and great value.