SOSHARU
Although not a Michelin starred restaurant itself Sosharu is owned by Jason Atherton of Michelin star fame. It is his Japanese izakaya influenced restaurant. Alongside all his “Social” restaurants Jason has now branched into other international cuisines such as his new New York - Italian inspired restaurant Hai Cenato in Victoria which we have heard is very good. Sosharu is a collaboration with executive head chef Alex Craciun.
We booked through Opentable on a great offer for £29.50 each for Taste of Sosharu for two people to share.
The menu was as follows:
Lime and orange cured Salmon, tosazu jelly
Asian Pear and avocado salad
Chicken karaage, lemon, salt
Kyoto style chirashi, tuna, salmon, egg threads, sushi rice
Tonkatsu crumbed pork, sugar snap peas, vegetable oroshi
Japanese rice, coconut, mango dessert
Lime and orange cured Salmon, tosazu jelly - in our opinion was the best dish of the meal, the cured flavours were popping
Asian Pear and avocado salad - It was nice
Chicken karaage, lemon, salt - Again nice fried chicken but nothing that Kentucky cant do !! (I jest!!)
Kyoto style chirashi, tuna, salmon, egg threads, sushi rice - It was nice but nothing memorable
Tonkatsu crumbed pork, sugar snap peas, vegetable oroshi - Very fatty with lots of gristle, infact we had to send it back to the kitchen!
Japanese rice, coconut, mango dessert - Very nice with unusual flavour combinations
All in all we were a little disappointed. Jason Atherton is one of culinary Hero's. We can't speak highly enough of his "Social" restaurants and his lamb is even our second favourite Lamb in the whole of London. Jason has set his own bar really high but Sosharu to us was nothing out of the ordinary. And when it came to the crumbed pork dish there was a lot of gristle in it, which is fair enough sometimes you get a gristtly pig! But there is absolutely no excuse for sending out of the kitchen a really fatty dish, so much so that we left most of it and sent it back to the kitchen. And this was the same for all 3 of the crumbed pork dishes we had. And again in this level of restaurant we weren't expecting it to necessarily be knocked of the bill because of the fixed price, but a small glass of sake at the end of our meal would have been enough to show they care!
If we were writing a school report we would say "We know Jason Could Do Better!!"
We would without doubt go back to all Jason's "Social" restaurants but sadly we would not go back to Sosharu. However saying that the price of the deal was a good offer.
Overall we give this 7 out of 10.
Sosharu
64 Turnmill St, London EC1M 5RR
Phone: 020 3805 2304
Web: sosharulondon.com