Alternative Name: The Japan Center
Rating: 4/5
Address
212 Piccadilly,
London,
W1J 9HX
Phone
0871 0752972Type of Place:
This is somewhere to duck into for a quick lunch or dinner while pounding the streets of the West End. It's a convenient place to eat Japanese, rather than a night-out destination. For special occasions, you'd probably head into Soho
to the North.
Food:
Food is good, which I find rather surprising given the location (exact center of tourist land). All your standard teishokus are there, often with a very slight Western twist. For instance, 'Ginger Pork Set' (i.e. shouga-yaki teishoku) comes with a sort of leafy assembly and a ton of crunchy ginger root, giving it a healthy, salady field. In fact, you probably get more actual ginger this way than you would if you just went out and bought ginger.
To clarify: that's a good thing!
In addition to the purely Japanese, there are some interesting Korean/Japanese fusion dishes. Kara-age don, for example, is rice, kimchi, kara-age (crispy chicken bits), seaweed, and, crucially, bibimbap chili sauce in a bowl. See, it's a Japanese donburi -- that's also a Korean bibimbap! Won't please purists, I guess, but pretty cool.
To clarify: that's a good thing!
In addition to the purely Japanese, there are some interesting Korean/Japanese fusion dishes. Kara-age don, for example, is rice, kimchi, kara-age (crispy chicken bits), seaweed, and, crucially, bibimbap chili sauce in a bowl. See, it's a Japanese donburi -- that's also a Korean bibimbap! Won't please purists, I guess, but pretty cool.
Atmosphere:
Busy and crowded. The Japan Center does a lot of things other than restaurant food, and inevitably there's a lot of cross-traffic. However, after the latest remodelling it's a lot better than it used to be.
Service:
Well, the Japancen is in the middle of Piccadilly, and it's a restaurant, community center, travel agent, bookstore and supermarket all in one. You're not going to get that 'family restaurant' touch. But it's pretty good service as things go.
Unique Point:
The main selling point of Toku is that it's in the Japan Center and if you're buying Japanese books or ingredients you'll come here anyway at some point. Of course, you can buy Japanese books or ingredients elsewhere in London too -- but the Center's message board is probably unmatched.
Not that I was able to sell my dictionary on it, mind you.
jj