Yashin Sushi

Tucked down a side street just off High St Kensington lies the best little sushi place you’ve probably never heard of. The place in question? Yashin Sushi. Sleek and sophisticated, it’s a great spot for a date.Grab yourself a seat at the counter so you can see all the action and dive into the menu.Order yourself some saké (if for no other reason than it means you get to have it in this gorgeous decanter) and watch the chefs at work.Don’t worry, before you have time to get too jealous your food will start to arrive.A little crispy salmon amuse bouche, the richness of the salmon perfectly cut through by little slivers of pickled veg. This was one of my favourite parts of the whole meal, which, for someone who’s not a huge salmon fan, is really saying something.Miso cappuccino. Deeply savoury and satisfying and served in your granny’s finest china.Spicy edamame, I can’t say we were wowed by these, I’d skip them next time.Yellowtail with Orange Soy, light, fresh and almost too pretty to eat. Almost.Tuna with truffle infused ponzu jelly. This is an unusual one but a winner if you like truffle. One between two is plenty though, it packs a punch.Concentration faceChargrilled Chilean sea bass with sour miso. An absolute showstopper, I could eat this every day, make sure you nab yourself one of these.Chargrilled octopus with padron peppers and yuzu kosho, so well balanced, the sourness of the yuzu perfectly cutting through the smokiness of the octopus.Omasake eight, if there are 2 of you, you can opt to have 2 each of four different fish. We had salmon, grouper, fatty tuna and eel, each paired with a different ingredient to show it off best.

Yashin has a no soy policy meaning no little bowls for you to dunk into. The chef brushes on the ideal amount in the kitchen to really enhance the flavour of the fish.

Now, you may be thinking that sounds a bit pretentious and I’ll admit to thinking the same the first time I went but trust me, he knows what he’s doing and you won’t miss the extra. Also, the ginger is DIVINE, I’d be happy as a clam if they sold it in little take away pots.The Omasake comes with the roll of the day, which, happily for me, was spicy tuna. A roll I’d normally always order anyway owing to my spice obsession, this one didn’t disappoint.Now normally this is around the time i’d be extolling the virtues of the Sukiyaki roll. A beef roll served with a soy and egg yolk dipping sauce and my firm favourite dish. I nearly cried when our lovely waiter told me they’d had a massive rush on them at lunch and had run out. As a result, we went rogue from my normal ordering and went for the soft shell crab roll. Sweet, crispy crab, rich fatty avocado and a sweet soy dipping sauce. Really really wonderful and ideal if you’re feeling the urge to dip!To round things off we went full yuzu. Yuzu cheesecake with yuzu sorbet, with a yuzu saké on the side. Luscious cheesecake offset by the crunch of biscuit crumbs, we essentially fought over this.And the poor boy didn’t really get a look in with the yuzu saké, ooops.I’d recommend booking a table if you’re going later in the week, but earlier on you’ll probably get away with a walk in. I may well see you there, after all, I still haven’t gotten my Sukiyaki fix.