Nizuni opened its doors at the back end of last year. Owned by the same people as nearby Korean restaurant Koba, it faces stiff competition with its location on Charlotte Street. Not only is this part of Fitzrovia one of the eating hotspots of London, Nizuni also has to contend with Roka and Tsunami, two other well-known Japanese restaurants within walking distance.

The restaurant is pretty funky and has ample seating space. Covering three floors, the basement also houses an intimate bar. The food came thick and fast, almost all at once, which was surprising considering our discussion with the waitress about what were going to be our starters and what were going to be our mains. Trying to eat four dishes at once was difficult, especially as our table was small. It also meant that the cooked food went cold quite quickly.

Still we enjoyed what we had. A nasu dengaku (£4.50), aubergine with a miso sauce, was lovely. The aubergine was soft and gooey, and the miso sauce was sweet and nicely caramelised.

Nasu dengaku

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Japanese Restaurant Roka on Charlotte Street (there is a new branch in Canary Wharf) is one of those places where it can be really difficult to get a reservation, especially on those ‘going out’ nights like Friday. I’ve tried booking on a number of times, and on each occasion I was told it was full. But I managed to achieve the seemingly impossible task of getting a table when I discovered that there is a bar seating area called the sushi and robatayaki counter which is open to customers on a first-come-first-served-no-booking basis. It’s located right in front of the chefs who cook on the open grill, and the best time to go to ensure a counter seat seems to be before 7.30pm. So for those who want to eat at Roka and can’t get a reservation, this is the route to try.

In fact, when I turned up just after 7pm looking for a counter table, I managed to secure a table for 8pm.. This allowed time for a detour to the affiliated Shochu Lounge Bar in the basement area downstairs (shochu is a type of Japanese spirit, typically containing about 25% alcohol). They have an abundance of fabulous cocktails, a number of which contain shochu.

Black cod marinated in yuzu miso & hajikami

The food menu is full of choices, but it’s always hard to pass up on a black cod marinated in yuzu (a citrus fruit) miso and homemade hajikami (ginger pickled in vinegar) (£22.60). This was a lovely rendition of the classic ‘Nobu’ dish, with the cod being succulent and flaky. It oozed with lots of sweet, slightly sticky yuzu miso sauce.

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Shane Osbourne

If you are a fish lover such as myself, you probably can’t help but be alarmed by the ‘S’ word – sustainability. A doubling of global fish consumption since 1973 has led to overfishing, leading to some fish species becoming endangered. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations estimates that more than half of all fisheries around the world are being overfished. The issue of fish sustainability was further highlighted in the recent release of the film “The End of the Line”. Based on the book of the same name by Charles Clover, a former Daily Telegraph journalist, the documentary argues that unless the fishing industry is regulated, the world will run out of seafood around 2048, which would lead to starvation for 1.2 billion people. Furthermore, it shows that 50% of the cod fished from the North Sea is caught illegally, and that the waters of Newfoundland, once fat with fish, have also almost run out of cod.

But whatever the facts, the subject matter is poignant. Current rates of fishing is unsustainable. It was therefore positive to hear that as a consequence of this film, Pret A Manger and Marks & Spencer have announced that from now on they will only source sustainable tuna. There have also been calls for Nobu to drop the use of the endangered bluefin tuna.

This week I was invited to a lunch prepared by Shane Osbourne of Pied à Terre where an Australian farmed kingfish imported by the Australian company Clean Seas was being featured on the menu. I missed cookery school to go, so there will be no blog post on school this week, but it really wasn’t difficult trying to choose between slaving away in a kitchen and eating a meal prepared by a two star Michelin chef. But more importantly, I was curious to find out more about this product which Clean Seas claim is sustainable.

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A note from A Girl:

As you might have guessed from the name of my blog, ‘A Girl Has to Eat’, I am a firm believer that a girl has to eat. And it’s not because I’m trying to be exclusionary when it comes to boys, for I rather like boys. I like boys a lot. Past about the age of 13 (oh alright then, 12) when I kinda started getting use to them pulling my ponytail and yanking at my skirt, I sorta came to realise they weren’t ALWAYS so annoying after all.

No, it’s just that I love to eat. For me, food is more than just nourishment for the body, but pleasure for the soul, the backbone of every important family gathering and every great celebration with friends. But I suppose, eating isn’t something I can claim as being a prerogative belonging solely to me. And so, to reciprocate the gesture extended to me by a fellow food blogger, a boy, where I featured on his blog Londoneater with my ‘Storming into Tsunami’ write-up, I too have invited him to write here, on ‘A Girl Has to Eat’, for I suppose, a boy has to eat too…

Lantana, not just eggs, bacon and chips.

Coffee at Lantana

So the story goes about a girl from Melbourne who traversed the continents to show Londoners there is breakfast beyond the bacon sandwich, and then she blogged about it. Seriously, it’s called scrambling eggs, and she has affectionately named the café after an Australian ‘weed of national significance’. In the six months it’s been around, Lantana has bloomed into a significant café and now boasts a loyal following.

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A girl has to eat, and this time it’s Japanese food! So check out my latest review on Tsunami Japanese Restaurant as I storm my way through a multitude of dishes. I’ve posted it as part of a blog exchange with fellow food blogger, Londoneater.

So to read all, and savour the yummy dishes, click here ‘Tsunami Restaurant Review’.

And be sure to come back here on Wednesday to check out Londoneater’s post.

Happy eating!