Samurai, Holborn

I’ve always wanted to do a little post about the stuff I eat everyday; you know, the things which you eat just because of convenience, or because it’s affordable to be had on a daily basis. I’ve not really mentioned this before, but usually for lunch, I either have what I bought for breakfast (porridge or something), or some fruit from the fruit basket.

It’s partly because I’m reluctant to pay £5 or so for lunch – something which I eat at my desk, while not really putting much thought into anyway. I also don’t fancy much of the stuff on offer around, mainly Pret, Eat, McDonald’s and stuff from the canteen. Sometimes, when I fancy a treat, I get a few bits of sushi from Wasabi, but I usually end up spending quite a good few quid without getting full.

So, since I can’t eat something nice, and can’t get full anyway, I usually decide to just either not eat, or nibble on other stuff throughout the day.

Also, since I can’t bring my dSLR around on a daily basis (already have enough stuff to carry around while trying to avoid taking up any space on the Tube), it would make a food post rather … boring.

So, last weekend, the fiance and I were in town, and deciding that we’d like to have something easy to eat, but yet satisfying, we decided to go to Samurai. Now, I don’t know about you, but I have my list of which are the best Japanese ‘takeaway’ style places to go to in London.

1. Yoshino (which used to be part of the Japan Centre, wonder if it still is?) on Shaftesbury Avenue. Sometimes, they do 50% off offers if you go at the right time.

2. Samurai (which does the freshest sashimi and sushi considering this is after all, a takeaway). Pity they don’t have squid there much, if at all.

3. Wasabi (from where I buy lots and lots of squid sushi, and sometimes the crab roll).

Back to Samurai. The one we went to was the one at Holborn, just kinda by where the Tube station is.

It was really crowded in there, and we (almost) had to share tables. Lots of trendy, chic-looking singletons eating sushi on a Saturday lunchtime while reading a book.

I’ve not tried the hot food from here before, but I reckon it’d be OK.

We bought 2 sushi sets; one was for the man (sashimi) and one was for the lady (maki and crab salad mmm mmm mmm).

The sashimi was really thick, and fresh to the bite. Really fab for a sushi takeaway place. Best of all, it came with this lovely tangy, sesame oil, nutty, sweet and sour sauce in which we dipped the sashimi.

I’m not sure why they serve sashimi with a dip here, and I know you’re probably not meant to dip fresh fish into anything which then hides the freshness of it, but this sauce works!

Their makis also manage to retain a lovely, soft bite to them, without a single hard rice in it. Lovely stuff. The crab salad was also remarkably fresh, with the slightest hint of mayo to it.

I really like Samurai, and wish they’d have more outlets around town. Oh, and do try out the miso soup too, one of the best in town (yes, it seems most other places can’t master the art of putting hot water to miso paste so these guys somehow manage to grab first place).