Shackfuyu – buns buns and more buns, but darn lovely they are!

Shackfuyu

14A Old Compton St, London W1D 4TJ, United Kingdom near Leicester Square Station

Shackfuyu – Not exactly too keen to give this Asian fusion bistro a go initially, I actually left this as the last stop but am glad I still had it for my last meal in London with the buddy from Manchester. Two different menus available, we chose the lunch and that is when you could get those fusion Chinese bun burgers which I was highly skeptical of initially, due to the less tasty experience I had with Little Bao in Hong Kong that had essentially the same concept. Nice chic bistro with a pretty large interior, I love the energy of this bistro too.

The first bun served and I know these Chinese buns could actually be made to work into a burger concept. With such thicker and denser buns, your ‘patties’ have to be even tenderer and moister which is what Little Bao failed to understand. This Flat Iron beef slathered with a thick chipotle miso hit the spot as that slightly spicy miso, together with that heavier tasting beef was just full of umami (Never use a beef patty as it will taste really dry with that dense bao there). £5.50.

Grilled salmon with orange miso and yuzu mayo. That yuzu mayo was a little faint but that mayonnaise worked really well together with the heavier tasting miso, which definitely have given an extra body to the delightfully oily salmon. You could actually feel the effort placed in perfecting and pairing the sauces right. £6.

Crispy Duck leg with plum soy and enoki mushroom. I was worried this might disappoint as the duck leg could risk being fried dry if the timing wasn’t taken care of. Luckily, it still tasted juicy, adequately moist and fragrant to make this another hit. And though the enoki mushroom here did not help fortify the taste, it actually added an exciting crunchiness to it! £6.

Salmon box bento with kale cucumber in the nutty wafu dressing, tako (octopus) taco and vegetable fried rice. Simple yet adequately flavoured, this £9 bento though is evidently more westernised, could still definitely satisfy the picky Asian palates.

Kinako French Toast with Matcha Ice cream. This Kinako or soy bean flour, usually used on your mochi, actually worked on this thick sinful french toast as it gives it a light salted slant. And that Matcha ice cream gratified us tremendously with its intense flavour. We were impressed. £6.

Pretty impressed with this Asian fusion bistro, we say this bistro deserves to be checked out!

Verdict: A good – excellent bistro. 3.8/5

Chisou

Chisou

Near Oxford Circus station

Sushi was pretty much like what you would expect from a good but not extremely excellent Japanese restaurant. Round and fat pearl rice that is well marinated with mirin together with fresh sashimi will give you quite a good sushi and that’s what chisou serves.

Tempura batter was light, crispy and not too oily which is what a good tempura is. Prawns are fresh and there’s salmon tempura too.

Tsukiji Sushi

Tsukiji restaurant

Westbury Hotel

Near Oxford Circus station

Waka sushi

Waka Sushi

Near Camden Town station

Really fragrant green tea with a little charred fragrance. Tea cup is very beautiful too but I thought it was quite stingy of them to only provide it once, esp when we had to pay for it. Thought green tea is usually either free or you can top up as many times as you want if it has to be paid for.

Sushi is of course better than what you get at the chains in London but that is kinda expected. Not exceptional and not as good as atariya but still not bad. There is one with a huge piece of fish on it and thought that was quite humongous. The chef also puts some wasabi in the rice already and thats what pro Japanese chef does in Japan. Sashimi is fresh at least.

Teriyaki chicken felt so home cooked actually. For the price of about 7 pounds, this is really quite a good deal. Chicken is tender with some oily bits. The only thing that I didn’t like too much is that there seems to be teriyaki overdose and therefore making it a little too sweet than usual. Nasu dengaku was again a little too sweet. i thought it should be salty due to the miso taste but it was sweet at the same time. Still palatable but i think the sweetness was a little artificial I thought. Maybe sugar was added.

After having read relatively good reviews about Waka Sushi, I decided to try it and could only come to the conclusion that this Japanese restaurant loves its food sweet. If everything could be a little less sweet, I may have enjoyed it better. The chicken could be a little more well grilled. Also had the toriyaki and thought it felt a little microwaved with loads of sweet sauce once again. Even though chicken texture was good and tender, it does not give people the impression that it has been well grilled or grilled at all. A relatively inexpensive place to have Japanese meal, but if given a choice I would prefer going to Asakusa which is just one staion before Camden Town at Mornington Crescent.

Yaki

Yaki 

Near Goodge Street station

Takoyaki that had too much dough and too little octopus meat. Didn’t expect it to be impressive as they made it downstairs and don’t see them with the special machine to make these balls. 2.30 pounds.

Very good tai yaki. Batter wasn’t too sweet at all and was nicely made with some parts a little more crispy. The starchy texture makes it quite chewy too. Ordered one with green tea and red bean in it and one with green tea and white chocolate. Perfect combinations and they really make very good desserts. 1.90 pounds each.

Yaki cafe is a Japanese cafe that serves southern Japanese food like okonomiyaki, takoyaki and tai yaki. There aren’t many restaurants that serve this kinda Japanese cuisine in London and actually are not that good (even in Singapore). Judging from the takoyaki served in this restaurant, I don’t think that the okonomiyaki would be good as the way of cooking is quite similar for both. However, the tai yaki was really delectable I felt and is worth repeated visits. Like how reasonable their prices are even though they may be the only few who make this here.