Tajima-Tei, EC1N 7ST

Service and Ambience

A very nice Japanese restaurant just at the end of Leather Lane. Highly recommended, though not cheap. The times I've been there, all of the customers except us seemed to be Japanese, which is generally considered to be a good sign. The service was very friendly and helpful, and the waitstaff seemed quite happy to explain what the fish we didn't recognise were.

Be aware that smoking is permitted throughout and it's not unusual for customers to smoke before dinner, between courses, and after dinner. I didn't find it smoky though; I assume good air conditioning.

There are tables plus about 6 or 7 seats at the sushi bar.

Food

Two of us ordered the Omakase Sashimi (chef's selection) at £23 and it was well worth it. Among the fish used were scallops, squid, tuna, salmon, yellowtail and plenty more. It was very good quality and a very well-sized portion. We had an order each and were very happy, but this might be a good one to share if you want to have another dish as well as sashimi. [Prices as of March 2003]

There is a separate vegetarian menu, which you may have to ask for. Mike had the vegetarian set dinner at £25 and I stole bits of almost every course — it was very good, with a vinegared seaweed salad to start, then spinach with sesame seeds and miso, then half an aubergine baked with bean paste, then rice and veggie tempura, and finally a choice of vanilla icecream or coffee. Mike is vegetarian and comes here a lot, so this would seem to be a good place for veggies.[Price as of July 2003]

Make sure you try the green tea icecream (£3.60, or £3.90 with sweet red bean paste, which is also very good). The coffee isn't bad, but for some reason comes with a little pot of fake creamer instead of real milk or cream.

Other Reviews

OS X co-ord: 531265     OS Y co-ord: 181770     (Latitude: 51.519096 Longitude: -0.107871)
Last edited 2003-12-10 09:31:15 (version 7; diff). List all versions.