11 Wardour St
London W1D 6PG
020 7734 0808
Passing Misato on a near daily basis, I notice that this place is constantly busy and sometimes the queue stretches outside and round the corner. If people are willing to wait 30 minutes for a table surely it’s gotta be good right?
Salmon Bento Box
Well that’s my motivation for visiting Misato; A Japanese cafeteria place just off Leicester Square.
The wife and I managed to get a table immediately but it was pretty much a full house. The place seats around 50 people and in doing so doesn’t provide their customers with much to look at. It’s a bit err beige? Grey? Certainly a nondescript shade of something. I guess this isn’t helped much by the attending waiting staff either who could’ve been a bit happier to see me. Or at least pretended to be. Or at least show me some emotion to indicate that they hate me. They were quietly efficient so I’m a pest to nit pick really.
Anyway, the menu was given to us and I was impressed by the wide array of Japanese food that was on offer. There were combinations of Sushi, rice dishes, udons (thick white noodles, sobas (brown buckwheat noodles), with teriyaki this and that, tonkatsu, curry, tempuras, bentos and all that good stuff.
chilled soba noodles
My hunger was raging so I skipped the sushi (in my opinion, eating raw fish to satisfy hunger is like eating fruit to satisfy a sweet tooth) and went straight for the Ten Zara Udon (pictured) which is a bed of buckwheat noodles topped with seaweed and served with a couple (miserly) of prawn tempuras.
I remember seeing a programme on the Japanese and their obsession with noodles, how every grain of wheat and drop of spring water that makes said noodles should be sourced from mystical fields and magic waterfalls. That once made, said noodles should be served with a light sauce and nothing else. Best noodles in Japan could be found in a little place in the White Mountains – incidently next to a magic waterfall.
Well I really don’t know how my deliberately cold noodles would compare in the taste test, but for me, they were damn tasty. They were served chilled, firm, and went down sweetly when I dipped them into the light soy based sauce. The accompanied prawn tempura were a bit heavy on the batter and overcooked to the point of rubbery. Shame.
Prawn Tempura
The Wife ordered a salmon bento box and when it arrived I realised why this place is so popular with students: It was frickin’ massive! The box contained a generous portion of rice, a large piece of grilled salmon, a chicken batter ball, a couple of dim sum sized prawn dumplings, seaweed, salad, and a couple of california roles. The oily salmon was perfectly cooked; salty, fishy; moist. The rest of it didn’t keep up to the standard but they all combined to make a fine meal.
My noodles and prawn tempura set me back £6.50 and and the salmon bento was £9 offering great value for money.
Don’t expect Jap fine dining but do expect to enter with hungry eyes and leave with full stomachs. That’s my definition for cheap eats in London.
Highly recommended!
Possibly Related Posts:
- Masala Zone, Indian Restaurant in Soho
- Rasa Sayang – Malaysian Restaurant in Chinatown
- Savannah Jerk – Another Caribbean eatery on Wardour Street
- Jerk City in Wardour St. Great Caribbean Food
- Little Bay Restaurant – Cheap and Unique Bistro Dining in London
