As it comes to the end of the second bank holiday weekend in the UK in a row, it seemed ideal to finish off with a treat – a perfect (if windy) evening for it too as the streets seemed to be extraordinarily quiet, possibly the second long weekend in a row taking it’s toll on shoppers and tourists.

Decided to try out another highly recommended Japanese restaurant on my search for some new favourites, and sat proudly in the middle of Charlotte Street is a simple but elegant and charming restaurant. Nizuni are on a mission to become the best Japanese restaurant in London and seem to care immensely about service and quality.

We were greeted and seated by some cheerful and friendly staff who made some good suggestions on what might go better with our other choices from the menu and it wasn’t long before we were happily sipping hot sencha and eating edamame beans. You know when even the simple dishes taste like edamame taste better than you’ve had before that you know you’re going to be in for a good meal.

After much deliberation on the menu, we finally ordered:

• Edamame
• Ika Karaage (deep fried squid, served with a wasabi mayo)
• Tori Tori (crispy deep fried chicken with a sweet chilli sauce)
• Salmon skin maki
• Seafood yaki soba
• Nabe udon (udon noodles with prawn tempura & vegetables in a broth)

The deep fried squid with the slightly powerful wasabi mayo was tasty and crispy, the salmon skin maki was good and packed a lot of flavour, but out of the appetizers the winner had to be the crispy deep fried chicken which was in small bite size portions in a delicious sweet and sour sauce with a small punch of chilli.

I passed on trying the seafood yaki soba, that’s one dish that I’ve had several bad (and somewhat vomit inducing) experiences with elsewhere of recent. I was confidentially reassured that it tasted good though!

My udon noodles were fresh and perfectly cooked in a lovely broth. Most Japanese restaurants will serve your tempura in the broth, by the time you get to eating it they are normally soggy and disappointing, I was pleasantly surprised that at Nizuni they leave the tempura on a side plate for you to dunk in the broth at your leisure to get warm and still slightly crispy tempura.

Overall Nizuni really hits the mark, and at only £20 each for a fairly hefty meal.

They clearly invest in the quality of their food and the service which is honest, friendly and attentive. I think I’ve successfully found a new favourite.