Sticks n Sushi – Covent Garden, London

 

 

One of my favourite things about heading into London, is the prospect of being able to go to a Japanese restaurant… I love Japanese cuisine soy much and London is littered with great Japanese places. In fact, it’s pretty hard to find somewhere that sake(s) (not that you’d want to!) and Sticks n Sushi is no exception.

It’s not new to me, and it’s probably not new to you either, but the fact I’ve been there 5 times in the past 8 months would suggest it’s something I need to write about.

You’ll find this not so hidden gem in the heart of Covent Garden on Henrietta Street, London.

As you walk in you’re immediately enveloped by the atmosphere. Dim lighting, cosy seating and everyone glowing from what  I would imagine is to be the delicious cocktails.

Now, it’s worth mentioning if you don’t book you’ll probably find yourself a) waiting for ages if you’re in a large group or b) put by the bar on high stalls. We were two of those people but we actually didn’t mind as we’d sat in the exact spot before many times. How sentimental are we!? They’ve put our names on plaques by the table now… I wish.

We ordered some drinks. We ordered this delicious ginger number called SHOJITO GINGER which was a Japanese twist on the classic mojito cocktail, using shochu and a hella lotta fiery ginger, mint and lime. Order this if you want something with a kick!

 

My friend, who wasn’t drinking ordered the YUZU LEMONADE which used citrus and calpico… I wasn’t a fan but I did love the second drink he ordered which was the KAMAHI Danish organic elderflower with mint, cucumber, apple juice and lime.

 

Next, we ordered a hella lotta sushi.

 

The star of the show for me was the crispy ebi roll…. Just look at them drizzled in sweet honey soy sauce. The white fish is battered and then enveloped in soft sticky rice. I love it soy much.

 

The salmon carpaccio was also divine. It was wonderfully tender and was dotted with a lime marinade and some popping fish caviar style thangs…

 

I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of the below: rice paper rolls with duck and goma dressing. A little disappointing, but maybe I just don’t like duck…

 

You can’t however go wrong with a little salmon and avocado situation…

 

The skewers were SOY tasty (how many times can I get away with doing that…) 2 tsukune yakitori chicken balls…

 

My favourite, the salmon in teriyaki sauce.

 

2 lamb chops with miso dip.

 

1 helping of crispy ebi rolls wasn’t enough so we went for a few more.

 

Next up was the formidable roll which consisted of avocado & cucumber, tossed in sesame, topped with salmon tartare & trout roe. I knew if I wasn’t careful with my calorie intake, I’d be roe-ling out of there…

 

Some rainbow rolls, because who can resist that colourful beauty?

 

This may or may not be another type of crispy ebi rolls… without the rice… you know, just to mix things up a bit.

 

We washed it all down with some scallops in teriyaki sauce.

 

This meal wasabi-lieve, the best meal I’ve had in a while. Round 6? I think so….