utku's Qype profile

In the mood for Japanese, and refusing to eat at one of the chains on Upper Street, we ended up walking literally a mile, through torrential London downpour, on nothing but a vague recollection of a Japanese restaurant on Essex Road and a Google Maps beacon to lead us.

That place turned out to be Akari and altogether a very pleasant experience.

Thoroughly justifying to ourselves that we had deserved it for the trek, we set about ordering vast amounts of food - sushi and hot food - paired with Kirin to guzzle down.

The hamachi nigiri was one of the best I had in London and my companion was just as happy with his eel nigiri. The rest of our nigiri set was just as delicious and so were the pork gyozas we had accompanying them.

For our mains we both went for tonkatsu with boiled rice and were really impressed with how tender and flavoursome the pork was.

I really enjoyed the fact it didn’t feel like a Japanese restaurant, after all, it is a converted pub. But it only adds to the atmosphere of the place.

The bill came to £65 for two of us. A little on the pricy side but as I said that was for starters, sushi, mains and alcohol so your mileage may vary.

A great find I’ll definitely be returning to.

Monday:

The soup was good but I wouldn’t recommend the gray cake.

(Day indicated because someone different cooks every day of the week.)

This was the first time I have been to Chilango and I’ll be honest, I was a bit worried when I saw the decor.

However, the steak burrito I had was one of the best burritos I have ever had. The meat was perfect, just the right amount of spice, the rice was nice and light and the guacamole was very fresh. So tasty! And the nachos on the table? I was struggling to grab chips as there was a mountain of toppings on it. Mm. And this was all before the tequila had hit me, so none of that “any food you have when drunk is awesome” here! ;-)

I’ll be sure to take my friends round next time we’re in Angel. In fact, I might organize a trip of it. :-)

Last night’s tour was the first time I had ever been inside a brewery. I don’t have anything to compare it to but I felt Duncan’s passion for the place and the brewing process made for a fun tour.

My favourite part was grazing on the malt (tasty!) and tasting - against recommendation - the hops. Listen to your elders, don’t do it…

I’m not normally a big fan of ale but I did enjoy Wandle; the ale from Sambrook’s we tried on the night. And the ale lovers were raving about it so if you’re into your ale, you’d probably really like it!

So if you have a chance to attend a tour, I highly recommend you do so - don’t eat the hops - and if you don’t, give Wandle a go next time you’re in a pub which has it.