Cafe Japan

Cafe Japan is a Golders Green institution. It's universally thought of as one of the best Japanese restaurants in London, and was the best in the late 1990s when the Japanese restaurant scene wasn't as varied as it is now. It serves a limited menu, with only certain warm dishes, and with the selection of sushi determined by the availability of produce, but what it serves, it does very well.

And they know it too. Cafe Japan has very short opening hours. They close on Monday and Tuesday, open only for dinner from 6.30pm to 9.45pm on Wednesday to Friday, and open for lunch (12.00pm to 2.00pm) as well as dinner on Saturday and Sunday. Covers are at a premium, and without a booking, the best time to go is lunch on weekends at 12.00 sharp.

Cafe Japan
626 Finchley Road
London NW11 7RR
020 8455 6854

The decor is spartan - as one enters, one is greeted by a chorus of "iraisemase" from behind the wooden sushi bar (image from trustedplaces.com). There is a table for 3 by the window, with seating for another 22 people in the back of the restaurant. Total seating capacity = 33 people including the seating at the sushi bar.

Lunch is cheaper than dinner, although with fewer things available. For lunch, there's a choice of various sushi rolls (makizushi) or the usual pressed sushi (nigirizushi). I like the inside-out rolls. There's a choice of fried salmon, fried tuna or yellow-tail (sometimes I have all three). Also recommended are the eel and cucumber rolls and the salmon roe with oba leaf roll. There's also some chirashizushi (sashimi over a bowl of rice) for those with a serious rice and fish craving.

I also usually order a uni nigiri. There aren't many Japanese restaurants who have reliable supplies of sufficient fresh sea urchin roe to be able to offer this nigiri on a regular basis, but Cafe Japan seems to be one of them. The uni has always been fresh and delicious, reminding me of the sea and scuba diving. There are other nigirizushi available of course - tamago (egg) has about 20 layers, far more than the usual Japanese restaurant in London, as well as the usual salmon, tuna and mackerel.

I also order a set meal occasionally. Choices range from roast unagi, salmon teriyaki and chicken karaage. The set comes with salad, rice, and an appetiser, which is either stewed salmon neck or fried age tofu.

Sashimi selections are available both at lunch and dinner. The types of sashimi vary with the availability of produce, but there's usually o-toro or chu-toro (prized cuts of tuna) and salmon. For dinner, there are also usually more elaborate dishes. There's grilled black cod with miso, a snip at 12 pounds. It's a fraction of the price that one pays at Nobu, and more tasty in my opinion. There's occasionally something special, like grilled spider crab. Grab these whenever possible - they aren't often repeated.

Cafe Japan accepts cards for dinner, but lunch is cash only! Normally I would complain about this, but the place is my local Japanese diner, and they are always so friendly that they've long since made up for the inconvenience. The staff are lovely, the service is great (even if they are sometimes a little rushed), and the food is delicious.

Scores:

1 April 2008: TFQ = 25, CS = 25, S = 15, AD = 6, VfM = 8. Total = 79 points.

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