Tosa

The longer I live in London, the more I like it, and a lot of it has to do with finding little gems like this place. I have spent a fair amount of time in Japan, and I really found that I liked a lot of the cooked food that the Japanese tend to eat more of traditionally than the sushi that we associate them with. I admittedly like the really weird stuff too, and it’s always found in the out of the way very traditional places like this restaurant that takes months to come across. But when you do, you sort of guard it like your little foodie secret. I am really glad I was let in on this one!

It is small and neat and tucked into a busy high street in Chiswick. One would barely raise an eye as you walk past it. All very unassuming and sweet. In the front of the restaurant is a little street stall style grill for their yakitori skewers and little bar seats for customers to chat with the skewer chef. When I went there, there were two extreme foodies chatting him up, who were obviously repeat customers as they had brought a gift of some sort of food for him! i thought that was kind of cool somehow.

My friend was incredibly hungry in fact, so I did manage to taste quite a few things. Normally I have to go back a few times to really make an opinion. But I was pretty sold after I tasted several dishes and I am not so easily convinced. For the small plates they have a general selection of the usuals but its more extensive and many more rare and hard to find dishes. They had hijiki of course, which is the very delicious cooked black green seaweed, but I went for the seaweed salad which was not the usual green slime mess (which I will eat anyway, but I always dream of this one while I eat it). It was a perfect array of red, green, and white naked seaweed served with the traditional buttery sesame seed dressing. Very good. They also had a very beautiful dish which I tried and had never seen that is called “ikura oroshi”. It is pinkish orange salmon roe piled high on top of a small white mountain of extremely delicate grated white radish. Stunning to look at, not to mention the taste. It is a heavenly combination, so delicate and simple. My friend also ordered a dish called “ingen gomaae” which were French beans served in a sticky black bean sauce. Simple and tasty for the most part, but not quite the wow factor of the ikura.

This place is obviously known for its skewers and that is kind of their trademark. It has a wide variety, from fish to veg to meat and they are quite creative in how they put them together. It really reminded me of Asian street food in general, which I totally liked. They had chicken with the traditional yakitori sauce, but also things liked grilled duck breast, grilled shiso leaf and pork loin, and even grilled skewers of quail eggs. The grilled salmon cheeks with salt, grated radish, and lemon looked amazing. I will definitely be trying the latter two the next time I go. My favorite that I did try was the Shisamo, which I haven’t had since leaving New York City four years ago. Shisamo is baby pregnant smelt fish with their eggs still inside them. They are about as long as from your wrist to your middle finger and you eat them whole, head and tail included. They are extremely delicious and really lovely here as well. They are a rare treat and I am excited to know I can actually find them somewhere.

The sushi and sashimi menu is small but good. It is not that sort of place, but they do offer some, so there was no real disappointment in that department. I had salmon sashimi, which was very lovely and fresh and in fact not cut into huge not swallowable chunks like a lot of English Japanese Restaurants do, but in thick perfect bites. My friend ordered various sushi pieces which all looked fine. You can’t get things like sea urchin and chu-toro in this place, just common fresh pieces of raw fish. They do serve temaki as well, or hand rolls, and so there is still some variety to pick from in any case.

Lastly we tried the mixed tempura, which featured prawn and vegetables. The batter was extremely light and crispy and I was very impressed by the texture and flavor. I was amazed at the fluffiness of both the batter and the shrimp. But we were so full by that point we could barely finish. I guess I will just have to go back…and very soon. I will mention to avoid the weird aloe vera juice. Just trust me.

Price point wise this place is totally reasonable for the value of food you are getting. It is also nice to eat something so delicious in such a non-pretentious neighborhood and environment. This is quite a special place for real Japanese foodies and for people looking for something amazing on a budget.