Sushi in Soho: Kyoto

Kyoto, 26 Romilly Street, W1D 5AL

Dinner for two (with beer): £50 plus service

It is only the twenty-second of December, but already I feel jaded. It's not a wholly bad feeling, coming as it does from a few weeks of deliberate boozing and eating. However, even the best December sometimes wears thin and an occasional pretence at healthy eating can help to assuage the mince pied excesses of the month. Such was my reasoning when Mr F and I found ourselves in search of supper in Soho. For what could be healthier than sushi?

Kyoto is one of London's many extremely small, but nonetheless charming restaurants. The sort of Soho dining experience that is part food, part voyeuristic involvement in your immediate neighbours' conversation. Whilst you wouldn't want to spend a long, romantic evening at Kyoto, it's not completely uncomfortable. Tasteful decorations and pretty tableware show that some effort has gone into their presentation, and it is far from being the most cramped restaurant in town.

We ordered relatively simply: a selection of sashimi, some edamame, a seaweed salad and a softshell crab roll. The last one was probably without the spirit of healthiness, being partly deep fried, but it is also one of the things I always have to order when I try a new Japanese restaurant for the first time. There's something about slightly sticky rice and fried fish that just works, and I need to know that the kitchen can turn out a respectable version of an all-time favourite. Everything was delicious, and probably better than the average relatively cheap Japanese place in London. The ponzu dressing on the salad was zingier than normal and the sashimi was well presented and interesting. The salmon, normally my least favourite fish, was wonderfully fresh and nicely fatty; and their selection featured turbot and yellow tail as well as the safer choices. The crab roll was prettily presented and achieved the all-important contrast between hot, battered filling and cold, slightly dense exterior. Win.

Kyoto is the sort of affordable Japanese that everyone needs to have in their London dining repertoire. There are (and have been) other contenders for my staple hangout: the marvellous Asakusa in Mornington Crescent, the sadly departed Donzoko and the wonderfully cheap Ten Ten Tei. However, Kyoto is definitely in with a good chance of becoming a favourite. It has an almost unbeatable location, it uses good ingredients and turns out distinctly above-average sushi. I will certainly be going back.