Formerly known as Love Sushi, Sushi London is a small takeaway and restaurant in Hampstead, serving a wide ranging Japanese menu in simple but rather uncharismatic surroundings.

The Venue
Sushi London is a short distance downhill from Belsize Park tube station. It’s a very small restaurant that mainly does takeaway. The dining area is closely arranged and the bar-style tables at the back have a much lower bench on one side and very high chairs on the other, so you may well end up peering down at your dining companion. It’s simply decorated with wood furniture and white and red accents.

The Atmosphere
Perhaps it’s because most other people in the restaurant are waiting for their takeaways on the sofa rather than actually eating here, there isn’t much ambience to Sushi London – it’s very quiet. The clientele is mainly twenty or thirty something locals. A pulley system winches food up from the kitchen when it’s ready to go, but because the staff are busy getting the takeout side of things sorted – which definitely seems to be the main trade – the service for diners is a little patchy.

The Food
Sushi London offers a large variety of dishes. You can take your pick from sushi, sashimi, salads, skewers and noodles. For starters, the set of six crispy duck gyoza (4.95) are rather dry and hard, with a gritty duck filling. Edamame beans (£2.95) arrive warm and well-salted, with a nutty and sweet flavour, but the calamari crunch (£4.95) is a bit tough in texture and coated in a very thick, biscuit-like batter.

A selection of sushi and other dishes arrive on a round tray, with no plates, which is a bit awkward. Pickles and a generous dollop of wasabi are served alongside the sushi and sashimi pieces. Grilled eel and avocado futomaki roll (£6.95) is cut into four, but rather than being wide but thin (as shown in the photograph on the menu), the pieces are very chunky and unwieldy. The eel and avocado is a nice rich combination, but for such a small piece of eel there are a lot of bones in it.

Most of the fish pieces in the sashimi mix (£8.95) are served icy cold and the tuna pieces are watery. The rice on the salmon and tuna nigiri (£2.95 for two pieces of salmon, £3.95 for two pieces of tuna) is rather glutinous and again, the fish pieces on top are very cold, so they lack any depth of flavour. King prawn tempura (£7.95) fares much better – the batter is light and crisp, and the prawns juicy and tender.

The Drink
Sushi London is not licensed but you can bring your own booze for no corkage fee. Soft drinks such as Fanta and Coca-Cola are £1.45, orange juice, super malt and Red Bull and £1.75. A pot of hot, strong green tea 245 is served at the beginning of the meal.

The Last Word
Although a brisk takeaway trade means it’s popular with the local crowd, it’s a shame that many of the dishes on Sushi London’s menu turn out to be disappointing.

venue information venue map view london review user reviews (5)