Sushi to go that really makes an effort and a dinner menu that wows.

The Venue
In Southwark right behind the Tate Modern, Tsuru is the perfect beginning or end to a cultural excursion. It is centrally located, meaning it can also function as a great place to eat fast but healthy on your lunch break if you work in the area, or have a quiet and pleasant dinner at the end of a long day.

The Atmosphere
If you weren't wearing your spectacles during your lunch, you may be fooled into thinking this is just one in a series of chain restaurants that provide mediocre takeaway. Look closely, and the clean lines and practical decor may resemble an upscale Yo Sushi or Pret a Manger, but more ethical and with heart. Tsuru uses all biodegradable plastics, so if you love sushi, but hate its packaging, look no further. For those with time to spare while picking up lunch, there are sleekly designed Japanese benches and tables at the back, so you can ponder over your green tea. At dinner, Tsuru is transformed by candlelight, the takeaway counter is taken away making for a romantic atmosphere to wine and dine someone.

The Food
The true test of good sushi is freshness, and this appears to be the restaurant’s specialty. They don't carry certain dishes unless the fish is of the best possible quality, which means a guarantee of a certain level of sushi excellence. At lunch the Tsuru Taster Box for £6.95 includes all the classics, California Roll, salmon, tuna and prawn maki, and the fish tastes clean and light. The Premium Vegetarian Box is more innovative than most, including a tasty marinated tofu roll that is very moreish. From the hot section, salmon and chicken Teriyaki Bento Boxes are reasonably priced, with chicken that is succulent in a full bodied curry sauce the restaurant makes beforehand from scratch over an arduous six hours. The salmon is well cooked, but small grain, moist without being mushy - it could nearly carry the dish by itself.

For sides, the miso soup at £1.50 won't break the bank, and includes fried tofu strips, making it more interesting than your typical simple Japanese starter. Sides are also cheap considering their quality - try the Spinach Ohitashi for something completely different - fresh spinach packed into a sushi sized cube, served with a tangy sesame sauce, or the cucumber and wakame salad, lightly flavoured, fresh, crunchy cucumbers cut by the flavour of wakame, both for £1.95. If you are still hungry, Tsuru occasionally serves the best chocolate brownie you've ever tasted for pudding, which may or may not be Japanese, but who really cares when chocolate is involved?

At dinner the restaurant serves a tapas style menu that is exceptionally good – offering the best Japanese delicacies you will find in London. Some of the lunchtime treats find their way onto this menu, like the cucumber and wakame salad, but the dinner only dishes manage to outshine the already good lunchtime selection. Edamame is a great finger food to start the meal, and with the unexpected kick of chili offers a new twist on the familiar Japanese snack. The crunchy asparagus dressed with a sauce of Cornish crab and light mayonnaise is tangy and fresh, and the free range chicken yakitori is tender with a welcome taste of ginger. Capaccio of seabass dressed with lime ponzu is not to everyone’s tastes, but will be a favourite if you like sashimi and carpaccio – the fish’s freshness is nicely brought out by the lime juice offering a new twist to a dish that is usually beef.

The real winners for this menu are the Nasu Dengaku, the prawn and salmon chili skewers and the soft shell crab and wasabi mayonnaise maki roll. Nasu Dengaku is a traditional dish of half a grilled aubergine topped with a miso and sesame sauce that has a warm savoury yet nutty flavor that sears itself into your memory – don’t be fooled, you can eat the crispy skin as well as the soft insides – and you will be craving this dish for days afterwards. The prawn and salmon chili skewers uphold the theme of fresh high quality fish, but have a sweet and spicy taste and a crispy but chewy texture. The soft shell crab roll (the only sushi offered on the evening menu) is the best sushi roll in the city. The crab can be eaten complete with its battered and fried shell and its rich taste is complimented by a spicy and tangy wasabi mayonnaise. For dessert try the cheesecake, which is light and fluffy with a flaky pastry bottom.

One warning – although the dinner menu seems criminally cheap (the price of dishes ranging between £2.25 and £4.50) this is because all dishes are tapas style and about the size of a starter, so if you want to leave full and satisfied order more than you think you can eat.

The Drink
At lunch the restaurant serves a variety of Japanese bottled drinks to go, including refreshing flavours that taste like drinking a bouquet of flowers and lemons (which, curiously, is quite nice.) Green Tea is also on order as well as organic juice and Coca-Cola if you are desperately in need of a caffeine kick before braving work or continuing your Tate Experience.

At dinner there is an extensive wine list and staff are happy to suggest wines to go with your dish. The best to try is the Sybille Kynz Riesling Wine, a white wine with a dry and fruity flavor that brings out subtle flavour hints in light seafood dishes like the sea bass carpaccio.

The Last Word
At lunch Tsuru may look like your average takeaway restaurant, but with more effort, better food, reasonable prices, and friendly staff, it manages much more. Come back in the evening; over a candlelit dinner there is no better place to fall in love with Japanese food and atmosphere. Slowly but surely, Tsuru is bringing the best of Tokyo to London. Thank goodness.

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