Every Japanese restaurant serves the typical dishes – sushi, Sashimi, Nigiri sushi, Yakisoba, Gyoza, Grilled Soba with Teriyaki sauce, and Miso soup. However, finding just the right Japanese restaurant for your pleasant dinner with friends and family can be a challenge. In Japan, the hunt for a great sushi or Kaiseki course (traditional multi-course Japanese food) would be as easy as walking into a convenient store and grab a pack of ramen. However, living outside of Japan is definitely another story – authentic, traditional Japanese dining courses and flavor-rich sashimi might be a little tricky to find. Although there are a plenty of Japanese food served in different places throughout the continents, true authentic Japanese cuisine can only be found in places with Japanese chefs and professionals who are truly passionate about the food they make, the culinary arts they craft.
If you are currently living in Great Britain, you might find Japanese restaurants in most places – well, if they’re good enough to be called ‘authentic’ restaurants then that’s acceptably fine. Today, though, we’ll take a look at a Japanese restaurant, often reviewed by its diners as being one of the most ‘old school’ Japanese restaurants in Mayfair, London, just close by the Japanese embassy in the Victorian building on Piccadilly right across the Green Park. If you’re a huge fan of the not-so-fancy sushi décor but extraordinary tastes of savory raw Snapper, seafood blasts, and specifically prawn tempuras, you will definitely love this place. Located in just the finest sites in London, you would simply spot the restaurant even from afar with its bland, yet Muji-styled cozy décor.
Ikeda is an old-school Japanese restaurant with its interior quite cozy for visits that are not overly ‘formal’.
Diners are often groups that feature friends and foes, colleagues after working hours, and family member gatherings. The restaurant has been originally found in the early 1970s – which absolutely explains why every corner of the restaurant, including its service offerings and styles are pretty much old school.
The highlight that marks such great experiences dining at Ikeda would probably be its unique ringside dining bar-ish-like table that allows diners to sit right next to a tiny kitchen – so diners would see all the operations and the processes of how the dishes are made. You could sit there and stare for a couple of minutes and see how the dazzling lights reflect on the droplets of evaporated water tops the clear-cut sashimi pieces. The hot, deep-fried Tempura would be lifted off the stove, baring its light and crispy textures to make your mouth water. Here at Ikeda, the authentic classics are served by older generation Japanese chefs to still keep the originality and the traditional tastes of Japanese cuisine.
Served traditionally on wooden trays (or so-called blocks), Ikeda’s nigiri dishes are divine.
Slimmed and neatly sliced pork belly dabbed with Japanese style mustard and wasabi is further served along with rolled, cooked spinach and is also called ‘Buta Kakuni’ – which is one of the best dishes they serve here. If you’re a Tempura lover, Ikeda proudly presents you the most unusual, yet divine prawn tempura served along with soba noodles rolled, cooked shellfish with a finishing of nori sprinkles, further dumped deep-fried.
The prices of the meals they serve here might slim down that thick, banknotes-full purse of yours, but just know that everything here is ‘divine’. The finest selection of ingredients, the excellent five-star service, and the authentic, traditional Japanese dining etiquette marks Ikeda one of the best places to visit for a warm, cozy meal with your loved ones. It is definitely a must-try Japanese restaurant that still inherits the authentic, Kaiseki dining courses for Japanese food lovers.