It’s been a hard time over the past couple of weeks at work, so I found myself taking a few cheeky short cuts and eating out where I could, which definitely helps plaster a smile back on a tired face when the food is tasty.

On Thursday evening I was walking back towards Liverpool Street station and most of the places that weren’t chain owned were closed (hint, less chains and more individually run restaurants please), but thankfully before getting on the tube home I remembered that there was a little hidden gem tucked away in the station itself.

I’m a fan of hidden gems, and Moshi Moshi is an absolute treat of one and should win an award just for the way they’ve crafted their seating areas to make use of absolutely all the space in their unit. Beautifully crafted curved arches rise up into the arched windows in the roof, creating little areas for small groups, seating for two around the sides, and an accommodating sushi bar with a conveyor whizzing past lots of goodies that the chefs had been preparing.

The week has been a bit of a blur so I can’t recall absolutely everything I ate, but I ended up signing on the dotted line for a Moshi Members card which entitled me to the months special offer, any dish off of the conveyor for £2.10.

I can guiltily admit that mine was the highest stack of little sushi plates around the sushi bar, and I’ll even confess that I also treated myself to some green tea ice cream, which if you haven’t tried, you really should!

So on the plus side, it’s a handy location, interesting interior, and pretty good value, but on the negative side it wasn’t the best sushi I’ve had in London, and though the chefs behind the sushi bar were pretty friendly, the rest of the staff were busy complaining about how long they’d been on their feet for to actually notice new customers or to serve them.

Might go again, but probably under similar circumstances, worn out and craving sushi.

It’s been a really long week, and nothing solves that like a bit of a venture of discovery to find somewhere new and exciting. Can’t say it was particularly forthcoming tonight, we scoured the usual streets in Soho looking for something Japanese or just rather nommy looking, most restaurants seemed packed but all the tables had no food on them so there was nothing to wet the appetite.

We were about to give up and venture into China Town, but thankfully we noticed a pair of Japanese restaurants on Romilly Street. Kyoto was the first to catch our eyes with the huge photos of delicious looking sushi outside and an impressive looking sushi bar with loads of fresh and tasty sushi waiting to be served.

The staff have to be some of the most friendly I’ve seen in a long time, especially after a certain incident of outstanding ignorance at Ping Pong Spitalfields earlier in the week. They let us choose our table, they kept us topped up with genmai cha throughout our meal, always had a smile, and were infinitely apologetic for being short on menus.

Before our food arrived, we had to sit and salivate as giant long plates of sushi were carried past us to a large group sat near us, plus the smells of some of the hot dishes coming from somewhere nearby as well.

We probably could have ordered more, but between us we ordered:

• Soft shell crab maki
• Sashimi platter (salmon, tuna,  sea bass)
• Salmon teriyaki
• Spicy pork bulgogi

I could have eaten the soft crab maki all night long, puts all the other sushi restaurants to shame with generous portions, freshness, crispiness and taste. Wish I’d taken a photo of the crab but frankly it disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived!

The sashimi platter followed on with really generous portions of salmon, tuna and delicious sea bass, they’re definitely dedicated to their sushi at Kyoto.

My spicy pork bulgogi was perfect, matching the quality that I’d gotten used to having eaten bulgogi a fair few times at Corean Chilli recently. Once again every last drop of sauce was mopped up with the rice, who needs to clean the plates when you’re customers are licking them clean for you hey?

Snatched a bit of Gary’s salmon teriyaki off of his plate as well, crispy skin, fell apart, bursting with teriyaki flavour… I can understand why it disappeared off of his plate to quickly!

If you’re searching for sushi in London, you really can’t go wrong with Kyoto.

It’s Friday, none of the usual lunch bunch at work were particularly hungry, but it was that time and we had no clue what we wanted to eat. Aimlessly stumbling through East London we walked towards Peticote Lane and stumbled across Cheeky Pete’s, which had a claim to fame on it’s menu outside of 8,000 different burger topping combinations.

You feel like you’re entering some sort of strip joint as you head down the stairs of the entrance, and it wouldn’t surprise me if maybe it does kick off in there after hours, but it was mostly filled with suits from the city to be honest.

There isn’t a menu as such, you’re given a small clipboard with a form to fill out to pick what you’d like in your burger (chicken, beef, falafel), which 5 toppings (or more for 50p extra per topping) you’d like from the toppings list, and which sauces you’d like. Then you can pick a drink, and if it’s a soft drink you get free refills.

Not being that hungry in the first place, we were pretty astonished when what arrived actually looked less like a burger and more like a man-made mountain, with a side of fries.

I ordered a 6oz beef burger, with bacon, cheese, tomato, gherkin, salad and red onion with horseradish mayo and tomato ketchup. I was utterly defeated by it; I seriously don’t even think that I can move from my desk at work now, and I’m really quite appreciative that the lift was working for once.

The burger itself was a bit over-seasoned (too much salt), but in general it was pretty decent, the fries were good, and despite being very cramped, the atmosphere is pretty good and the staff are friendly.

You’re not a number at Cheeky Pete’s, you actually give your name to be called by when your order is ready, kind of nice to be treated like a human being rather than another table to serve.

Definately intend to have a return visit, but maybe like, in a month or so when I’ve recovered.

I’ve been an avid follower of Londonelicious for probably a good year now for picking up tips for hidden food gems in and around London, especially as the author, Kristain, seems to spend most of her time in the same areas that I do and yet still finds places that I’ve never noticed.

Pham Sushi isn’t quite in an area I’d usually be, as it’s located fairly off the beaten path not far from Old Street, and barely anything else along the street is open in the evening. Don’t let that put you off though, as we found out the first time (and the second time tonight) that almost all of the tables are reserved all night long, and you’ll need to put on your best puppy dog face if you want them to squeeze you in.

Thankfully, despite failing to phone ahead and reserve a table, they found us a place, and we ordered as much of the menu as we thought we could fit in our stomachs without any of it going to waste:

• Sashimi and Sushi Special (6 chef’s special sushi, 4 nigiri, 3 sashimi)
• Agedashi Tofu
• Chicken Yakitori (Gary’s side)
• Tori Katsu (Gary’s main)
• Beef Wasu Steak

The sushi is probably some of the freshest tasting that I’ve had in London, which is pretty much exactly what Kristain’s review said. They’re not stingey with the wasabi or ginger either, they’re serious about giving you what you pay for, and it’s all really tasty.

I tried some of Gary’s yakitori, and his katsu (chop sticks are so great for stealing food without much effort), and they were both really flavoursome, with a nice thick sticky sauce for the katsu, and juicy meat for the yakitori.

As for my food, the agedashi tofu was amazing, I’ve become hooked on that constrast in textures between fried on the outside and squishy on the inside that you get with decent tofu, if you can find somewhere that actually serves it properly.

The beef wafu steak didn’t come until we’d eaten everything else, and I had no idea what wafu meant, but it arrived in sauce sizzling away so I just shut up and devoured it. Not only did I devour it, but I mopped up all of the sauce with whatever rice I had left. Turns out wafu just means “Japanese style”, it’s a sauce made with all the usual suspects, but it was bloody delicious, and for once the steak actually arrived rare, which hardly ever seems to happen in restaurants, even when you ask!

If you can find time to nip down to Old Street, it’s well worth trying out Pham Sushi, or if you’re lazy, they do take out too

This afternoon one of the clients that I’ve been technical lead for over the past year and a half took us out to celebrate the success of the project, and sharing is caring, so our project manager booked us in at The Real Greek in Spitalfields Market.

I’ve been tempted by The Real Greek in the past, but to be honest the pricing always scared me and my colleagues away from going in, that and I was worried that the portions wouldn’t exactly be on the generous side.

The atmosphere inside it pretty nice, it’s all very modern and swanky, doesn’t feel too crowded (though maybe that’s because there was hardly anybody in there), and the waiters are pretty quick at serving you.

The mezé menu is great with lots of choices, the mains menu however is severely lacking in variety. We opted to just order a load of mezé and share it between us, my memory is a bit vague of exactly what we ordered, but this is what I can remember:

• Flatbread (with Koliosalata, Spiced Hummus, Htipiti and Santorinian?)
• Skewers of lamb (lots of them)
• Grilled octopus
• Bifteki with Yoghurt
• Chicken Souvlaki
• Greek Salad

Overall the food was pretty tasty, not exactly amazing, but still nice. Between six of us, what we ordered wasn’t really enough, but that’s probably our own fault for not ordering enough. Portions were pretty small for the mezé dishes, especially for the prices charged, ordering more could lead to severe wallet suffering.

I probably won’t be going back to The Real Greek until the next client decides to take us to lunch there