london foodie’s japanese supper club
when i was researching and planning our april trip to japan (yes, i know i haven’t finished writing it up, sorry) i came across luiz’s website, the london foodie. luiz is, in his own words, “born in brazil to japanese and italian parents, educated in the uk, a true londoner. former investment banker turned cordon bleu trained chef, food, wine and travel writer, japanophile and supper club host in islington” and his blog post about living and working in tokyo made me particularly excited about our trip. i also decided i needed to attend luiz’s japanese supper club.
i didn’t manage to get a booking before we went away but we did visit in june and again this weekend. if you are interested in japanese food or want to experience a really excellent supper club, i thoroughly recommend you book yourself in. and prepare carefully – don’t eat too much during the day and wear accommodating clothes - luiz will feed you vast amounts of very delicious food, which you won’t be able to resist!
the evening kicks off with a complementary cocktail – g&t for me – and nibbles; chicken and leek gyoza in june and chicken and pepper yakitori on saturday. shichimi popcorn too (japanese seven spices). then you descend into the wonderful kitchen/dining space. each time there was a full house – 22 guests – and each time it ran like clockwork.
in june we had three starters – sushi grade tuna tataki with yuzu-ponzu dressing; sous vide duck egg with soy, mirin and ginger dressing on silken tofu with katsuboshi flakes; deconstructed sushi – grilled sushi of scallops with nori seaweed, wasabi-flavoured tobiko eggs and a creamy spicy sauce on rice.
the contrast in flavours was just fabulous – the tuna was fresh and zingy, the eggs comforting and simple while the scallop “sushi” was rich and decadent.
this weekend we were indulged even more, with 4 starters. tuna tataki salad (a tuna, avocado and rice dish, topped with a rich creamy dressing), spaghetti all giapponese (an amazing spicy pork “ragu” served atop squid spaghetti), vegetable tempura and, the piéce de la résistance, a cod and seafood nabe with soy milk and white miso broth.
the “spag bol” was fab but the nabe is what really deserves praise; this is a homestyle dish which you don’t tend to get in restaurants and was what made me book a second visit to the supper club as i’d read about nabe and shabu shabu but not really had chance to experience either when we were in japan. this was also the killer dish in my failure to not overeat. i. just. couldn’t. stop. eating. it.
our main course in june was teppanyaki of rib-eye steak marinated for 48hrs in miso, sake and mirin served with green beans and broccoli with a black sesame dressing, with 3-mushroom rice (shiitake, shimeji and oyster; so good!), fried aubergine and spring onion soup plus a sheet chives tamagoyaki (multi-layered japanese omelette).
last night we had buta kakuni (caramelised pork belly in sugar, soy and ginger, cooked for 10 hours), green beans with sesame sauce and the most wonderfully autumnal chestnut rice (kuri gohan).
in each case i felt so full before the main course dishes arrived and yet i managed to eat the lot. and then there was pudding - a fallen chocolate soufflé cake with whisky prunes and green tea ice cream.
all that deliciousness for £38. how can you resist? find out more, book yourself in and let luiz indulge you.
