I am not one to exaggerate.

[pause]

Ok ok fiiiiiiiiine, I exaggerate a little. But if you’re gonna believe anything I say, believe this: Sushi of Shiori? The best sushi I’ve had in London. Period.

Sushi of Shiori is not new, it’s been around for a couple of years I believe, tucked up on Drummond Street around the corner from Euston Station. It’s actually been on my “to eat” list for the better part of six months but I hadn’t managed to get there. Well shame on me, look what I’ve been missing out on all this time!

Their website declares that they specialise in “high quality made to order sushi and sashimi”. All I can say to that is…. yes. Yes, they most certainly do.

Above and beyond the deliciously fresh food, Sushi of Shiori create fantastical pieces of art with their sushi, like the special pre-order-able canapé set of temari sushi, rolled into the most adorable bite sized little balls:

Mmmm.. little temari scallop with truffle and chu-toro sushi… come to mama.

We started with the canapé sets (at £23 a set, it’s not cheap but has to be done at least maybe on your first visit), and it gave us a taste of the wonders to come.

Even the greens were good ~ the seaweed salad as strikingly beautiful as it was deliciously tasty, even if they did sneak some watercress *eewwww* into the mix, and the yaki-nasu (aubergine) oozed a tender and surprising smokeyness.

But really, we’re not here for salads.

The sashimi platter came next (£25 for 18 pieces), delivering the freshest of fresh tuna, salmon, yellow tail, sea bass, octopus and scallops. I don’t really need to elaborate on this. It was just brilliant.

Following the platter, we ordered some nigiri off the a la carte menu. One would normally assume sashimi to be a more exciting culinary experience than nigiri, but I think for the first time in my life (again, totally not exaggerating), I actually enjoyed the nigiri more than the sashimi. For realz.

From the selection of chu-toro (fatty tuna), sweet prawn, prawn, hotate (scallops) with truffle and spicy tuna hosomaki, I thought that hands down the chu-toro would be my winner…

… but the hotate (scallops) stole the show and then some. Sweet, silky and laced with the tiniest of tiny drop of truffle, it Blew My Mind and goddamn we only ordered one serve. I can’t even explain why the hotate nigiri was so inexplicably good, but for some reason it was better than the temari hotate sushi and even better than the sashimi. Weird, but so very very non-exaggeratingly true.

Moving onto the cooked dishes, I’d been crazy looking forward to the wagyu beef sushi with yuzu ponzu because lord only knows how much I love the one at Dinings. And after all this anticipation, I have to say that the Dinings version is still my favourite, probably because the beef is rarer there, or that they top it off with truffle salsa or maybe because the Dinings ponzu is presented as little cubes of jelly, and you’ve got to be mad not to like cubes… of JELLY.

Having said all that, Sushi of Shiori’s wagyu beef sushi is pretty darn good, it’s just that it’s kind of hard being compared to Utter Culinary Perfection.

We also ordered the karaage futomaki, which was probably the most “ordinary” thing we had all night, but even then the chicken was crispy and the futomaki rolls were giant.

Rounding off a meal which we really didn’t think could be any more perfect, Sushi of Shiori’s simple home made desserts trumped again. We ordered a selection of ice creams ~ matcha, black sesame and sweet potato ~ and a plum wine sorbet. The sorbet was a little on the strong side but the ice creams were smooth, rich and full flavoured and to trump the trump, that sesame/almond biscuit thing on top was divine.

If you’re wondering how much all this cost, it topped off at £40 per person, with no alcohol but a steady stream of cold mugicha (roasted brown rice tea). For £40 I think it’s a steal considering the sheer quality and very decent quantity of food you get… and remember, best sushi I’ve had in London. No exaggeration.

Oh one more thing ~ make sure you make a reservation! Sushi of Shiori is teeny tiny with only nine seats (three along the bar, six along the window) so make sure one of them seats has your name on it! 😉

ps. other recent reviews of Sushi of Shiori from Kang of London Eater and Lizzie of Hollow Legs.

Sushi of Shiori
144 Drummond Street
Euston, NW1 2PA
0207  388 9962
website

Sushi of Shiori on Urbanspoon

25 Thoughts on “Sushi of Shiori: where have thou been all my life?

  1. Not been yet, but this is next to my husband’s office *dancedancedancedance*

  2. Charmaine on July 22, 2010 at 11:27 am said:

    Don’t worry, Sushi of Shiori’s only been around since last autumn 😉 So you haven’t been living without it for years! PHEW!

  3. oh man now i wanna go there!
    and i was treated Dinings last week and Atariya the week before!

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  5. Everything sounds fantastic esp the little cute balls of sushi!

  6. Yikes – nine seats only. I hope they do rigorous ID checks for reservations!!

  7. I told you I was drooling when you tweeted these photos. Now I am licking the screen.

  8. meemalee: OoOoooo *dancedancedance* indeed! You HAVE TO go, no excuses! 🙂

    Charmaine: Hehehe, oh good, I’ve only been missing out for 9 months.. which is better than a couple of years!

    vix: But wait, aren’t you pregnant? Can you eat sushi while pregnant?

    pigpigscorner: You guys will love this place!

    Mr Noodles: LOL well. If they stuffed up a booking then we can unleash the fury of an Angry Mr Noodles on them!

    Ken: Hehehe, how’s it taste? 😉

  9. Looks brilliant, I would love to go.

  10. How come everybody is suddenly going to Shiori Sushi? Three posts that I know of in a little more than week (and I definitely don’t keep track of all the London food bloggers).

    I definitely wanna go though. Just need to find the time now!

    • It has been on my list for so so very long, but I never got the push to go until Kang (@LondonEater) went last week and raved on and on about it. I made a reservation straight away and did not regret it one bit! You and the Pig Pig should definitely go!

  11. It’s SO cute that they’re in little balls! The pictures turned out really well too, musta been pretty light (must focus on anything that takes my mind of the gnawing envy that you get to eat sushi and I don’t)…;P

  12. Ah, such a good place. Glad to see the a la carte is just as good as the omakase.

  13. Oh dear everything looks amazing! This reminds me I want to make yuzu ponzu… And chu-toro would be so good… it’s always the fattiest part of tuna that is the tastiest (and the most expensive!) 🙂

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  15. Dam this is one of those places you keep to yourself 🙂

    Great review

    D

  16. That has got to be the prettiest sushi ever! 😮 I just want to pop one of those morsels into my mouth! 😀

  17. Sasa: I know the temari sushi are SO cute, right? *nom nom*

    Lizzie: Yes, definitely ~ try the a la carte next time! And definitely order the scallop!

    Maria: You can make yuzu ponzu? You’re a talented girl! 😉

    Gastro1: Very true.. we do NOT want them to get busy, nice ain’t many seats! And thank you 😀

    Lorraine: I know, the temari are gorgeous!

  18. oooo… i’m gonna be living nearby starting next year! yayyyy!!!!! nice photos btw.

  19. Only nine seats, i know a group that would fill that up for a whole evening, with people to spare. Now all we need to do is make a reservation in the name of Mr Noodles…

    Looks like some serious sushi action goes down behind Euston station, and just think, once you have dined on Japanese perfection, you can pop in nearby and snaffle some Gulab Jamun for second dessert…

    The sashimi looks like a plate of edible art. I wanted to go before seeing/reading this, now I can’t wait.

  20. hk: oh that is SO awesome, you’re gonna be at Sushi of Shiori ALL the time!

    The Grubworm: Ah but as Mr Noodles said, if they give our booking away, What Are We Gonna Do?! And yes, you should definitely go! 🙂

  21. Oh god, it’s like sushi porn!

  22. That has got to be the prettiest sushi ever! 😮 I just want to pop one of those morsels into my mouth! 😀

  23. Bas on May 3, 2012 at 6:12 pm said:

    These sushi look so good and yum! And I really like your pictures, would you be able to send me these pics without “thecattylife” writing on them (I just wanna keep them, won’t post them anywhere)? Thank you so much!

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