The Swiss Cottage branch of Me Love Sushi serves freshly-prepared Japanese dishes in a cheerful, cute, modern setting, with a more sophisticated cocktail bar upstairs.

The Venue
Me Love Sushi is a bit of everything; a restaurant, a bar, and a delivery service. It’s right next to Swiss Cottage tube station, on the side of an office building, but the space inside is welcoming and warmly lit. The restaurant has a quirky canteen look, with a tree-print wall, big windows, chunky wood tables and retro caff-style red plastic chairs; when you place an order, you’re given a big red heart to keep on your table.

The Atmosphere
The restaurant attracts a younger crowd of mainly twenty and thirtysomethings, and the atmosphere is relaxed and quite lively. After ordering food at the counter, dishes arrive in batches as and when they are prepared, served by attentive, friendly staff.

The Food
The menu is laid out with illustrated sections for different types of sushi, sashimi, tempura, skewers, hot dishes and noodles. Prices range from £3 to £6 for individual dishes, and mains are around £9 to £12.

Edamame beans, nutty and firm, are served steaming hot with rock salt on top. Enormous prawn tempura are juicy and tender with a gorgeous crispy, light batter. The mixed platter of sashimi includes two slices each of salmon, sea bass, tuna and yellowtail, all very fresh, with a smooth, firm texture. Bite-size prawn nigiri are good too but a little dry. Prawn tempura temaki, a large sliced roll stuffed with avocado and a deep-fried prawn, is densely packed with a crunchy, popping texture from the tobiko, and has a strong grassy seaweed flavour.

While the sushi here is good, the hot dishes are disappointing. Black cod marinated in miso is one of the restaurant’s specialities, and although the fish is well cooked and meaty, it’s far too salty. The barbecued eel is soft, flaky and tender, but the teriyaki sauce on top is slightly too sweet. It comes a bowl of wafu salad: crunchy leaves, red cabbage and grated carrot, topped off with a light sesame dressing. Desserts include ice cream and sorbet.

The Drink
The drinks menu is pretty basic in the restaurant: house white or red wine (£3.50 a glass), a selection of sake (£4 - £50), and bottled beers (£2.50 - £3). Soft drinks and bottled cold green teas in a variety of flavours are also available (£2.50 - £3.50). However, the bar upstairs offers a wide range of sake, Japanese spirits and fresh fruit cocktails, including Saketinis. Cocktails are a bit pricey for the area at around £8 each, but the ingredients are good quality and authentic. The Lychee Saketini is lovely: fragrant, refreshing and not too sweet, with a hint of lemongrass. Tokyo Sky is good too, layered with tart, tangy crushed berries and Champagne.

The Last Word
Me Love Sushi has a bright, easy atmosphere. The sushi is fresh, fast and there are lots of different varieties on the menu. For the price, though, you’d expect restaurant orders to be taken at the table. The bar upstairs is decidedly swankier, and well worth visiting for unusual, Japanese-inspired cocktails or to sample some sake.

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