LONDON: Top 5 Personal Favourite Restaurants

I graduate on the 22nd of July. With the onslaught of parents drawing ever nearer, I've been asked by friends for recommendations on where to take them. So, I decided to compile, in no particular order, a list of my personal favourites. As you can see, I have a predilection for japanese food, but for a Chinese fine dining experience, you can't go wrong with Hakkasan. I'm sure there are plenty more restaurants that belong on this list, but these are the ones that I've actually tried (though not all were reviewed on Cafe Creatures) and come away inexplicably happy from. 

1. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal 

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park

66 Knightsbridge

London SW1X 7LA 

You can see my review here! 

2. Yashin Sushi

1A Argyll Road

High Street Kensington

W8 7DB

See my blog review here!

3. Roka 

37 Charlotte Street

London W1T 1RR

See my blog review here! 

4. Tetsu 

Fatty tuna handroll [taken from my instagram]

It took 3 months of waiting to get a reservation here, but it was entirely worth it. With only about 10 seats in the whole restaurant, each person is personally served by the chef. I don't usually like tuna sashimi, but the one prepared for me at Tetsu slid down my throat like a luxurious clotted cream. 

12 Jerusalem Passage 

London

EC1V 4JP

5. La Petite Maison

I haven't reviewed this restaurant even though I've been brought here thrice, but La Petite Maison has never failed to deliver an immensely satisfying meal. It's unpretentious, yet the food is exquisitely prepared; passion flows through the food and onto your tastebuds as smooth as a hot knife slicing through butter. 

I even bought an autographed copy of Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook (Notes from my Kitchen Table) after one lunch here. 

54 Brook's Mews

London W1K 4EG

LONDON: Yashin Sushi

Best. Sushi platter. Ever. 

If you think about it, sushi is actually an incredibly lazy way of eating. Instead of taking a tiny portion of meat, vegetables and rice, arranging it onto your spoon, and then delivering it to your mouth, the entire mouthful has already been carefully and delicately composed into a bite sized nugget of perfection. It is such sheer Japenese-infused ingenuity that I simply cannot fathom how I ever balked at the thought of eating raw fish. Ironically, my change of heart only came about in London. Then again, with personal growth comes a maturing taste palate and a new found open mindedness to different textures and flavours. 

With it's tastefully done interiors and impeccably dressed wait staff, Yashin fits like a hand into a glove into High Street Kensington. I was spoiled for choice with their sashimi platter: trout, sea bass, yellowtail, parrot fish were laid out in 2 tempting rows of four amongst other sashimi, the names of which I can no longer recall. Luckily I didn't have to choose - everybody had a plate of their own. 


Thanking my dinner hosts with a box of my favourite Pierre Herme macaroons, I went home happy; with a full stomach and reunited with the dslr I'd painfully sacrificed in the packing process. 

The miso soup comes in a tea cup!

Test tube sake in ice: each test tube is a different type of sake.

Yashin

1A Argyll Road

High Street Kensington

W8 7DB