Review of 'tosa'
It was my birthday so we decided to visit this local Japanese restaurant. It bills itself as an “Authentic Japanese Restaurant” which always was a bit of an attraction to me…
It is a small interior with a few tables at the front beside the indoor grill then a few steps up to a number of tables all around a bar-like area with wood flooring throughout. Quite cosy with friendly, if understated, staff.
The menu is full of a wide assortment of smaller dishes, including various grilled skewers, sushi, onigiri (large rice-based sushi-type dishes), noodles and smaller fried dishes including tempura. There is a set-menu for £30 each that we gave a miss but there was also a smaller single-sheet menu (not on their web site) that contained various special dishes including a few we ordered: Soft Shell Crab which was lightly battered and deep-fried with a fantastically light vinegar dipping sauce (amazing). From the same menu we ordered Pork Katsu that was wonderfully tender and moist with, oddly, a mustard dipping sauce. The “takoyaki” (deep-fried dough balls with octopus inside and bonito, fish flake, on top with a strong, dark, slightly molassesy dipping sauce) was also not that bad though a bit soggy for my liking (I like them a bit more crunchy on the outside).
A good test of any Japanese restaurant is the miso soup (£2.80) and here it was wonderfully tasty and full-flavoured though my wife found it a bit too strong for her liking. An order of California roll sushi was some of the best we have ever had - Not a large portion but very tasty with (thankfully) real crab instead of the dreaded crab stick…Our vegetable (yasai) tempura (£7.90) was not greasy and very flavourful as well.
Being a more “formal” Japanese restaurant it is not what you might call cheap and we certainly did not walk away full despite having tried a number of dishes…But we were happy. Fairly quite and pleasant place to visit. Will definitely try to get back.
Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”
Review Date: 2011-10-26
Cuisine: Japanese
Address: 332 King Street, London ENGLAND W6 0RR
Public Transport: 
Stamford Brook
Location: London (England) - Chiswick
Map:
Show in Google Maps Get Directions
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8748 0002