Soho restaurants cover practically every cuisine you care to mention including Japanese and Korean. One place that offers both on the same menu is Nara, a little place tucked away in a corner of Soho not far from Oxford Street.

The Venue
Unimposing from the outside but very welcoming inside, Nara is just one of many Soho restaurants offering good quality food at a reasonable price, which is all one can ask for in these troubled times. The decor is plain and simple, but quite attractive, with tables and bench seating down one side of the room and further tables and chairs at the rear: nothing flashy but cosy and very comfortable.

The Atmosphere
Lunchtimes see Nara get quite busy with diners enjoying the special and very reasonably priced lunch menu. It is probably quite a good place for small party bookings as there are some dishes that you can cook yourself at the table, including chicken and vegetables and squid and pork. The a la carte menu has Korean dishes from £7.50 and complete set menus at £30 cover several courses. The same goes for the Japanese menu and there are full menus for a minimum of two diners at from £20 to £30 a head.

The Food
The set lunch is an amazing £6.50 and, whichever main course you choose, it is always accompanied by a bowl of Japanese miso soup, a side order of salad and a dessert. What is so good about the lunch menu(s) is that there is so much from which to choose. The Korean menu offers kimchee soup with pork, marinated beef, pan-fried pork, beef and onions with mushrooms and vegetables, shrimps, squid, beef, mushrooms and vegetables, and squid with hot chilli sauce. There are other dishes using noodles or rice as a base ingredient. From the Japanese side of the menu there’s chicken or salmon teriyaki, deep fried prawns and vegetables, spring chicken, and pork and prawns with noodles. There are also menus that include sushi.

From the Korean list, the squid with hot and sweet chilli sauce is highly recommended. It is served on a large plate with a big portion of plain boiled rice. The seafood is really hot, very appetising, not at all chewy but packed with flavour and very piquant. The Japanese choice, salmon teriyaki, is a nice and juicy piece of the fish, cooked with a delectably crispy topping and served with bean sprouts on an iron hot plate that sizzles with the aromatic teriyaki sauce. The miso soup is always welcome with its vegetable stock flavour, thickened with fresh leaves, while the crispy salad with its flavoursome dressing provides a nicely cool crunch to offset the heat of the main course. More refreshment comes in the dessert course of fresh fruit which could be anything such as fresh orange slices or a wedge of ice-cool watermelon. This is a very good lunch and just enough to satisfy those midday hunger pangs as well as seeming very healthy too.

The Drink
There are Korean plum and herbal wines and Korean beers on the list plus Japanese beer, plum and sake (rice) wine. The house wine is French at under £11 a bottle. Other bottles are from £15 to £30 with some half bottles also available. The Korean beer is a good and refreshing accompaniment to all the food. Other drinks available include cinnamon or rice punch, various fruit juices and green, jasmine and ginseng teas.

The Last Word
It is good to discover a place that you would feel like going back to again as soon as possible. With its combination of tasty and unusual food at desirably reasonable prices, pleasant service from the good-natured staff and a very welcoming ambience, Nara really has a very good thing going for it.

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