Liv and I visited London recently and one of the restaurants we wanted to visit was so good I had to do this Sticks n Sushi Restaurant Review. We’re huge food people with Liv being a former professional chef and now food illustrator and I’ve always been surrounded by great food. Liv herself is from Taipei which has had huge influences in their food culture from China, Japan, and to a tiny extent Portugal. I’ve been to Taipei twice and the food can be absolutely mind blowing.
Perhaps my favourite kind of food and one of Liv’s is Japanese food. I absolutely LOVE it! I could quite happily live on sushi and I haven’t quite made it to Japan yet (Liv has) but I’ve eaten at top Japanese restaurants in Taipei. My favourite restaurant in Taipei is Mitsui where for approximatey £50 each you can have a menu that includes foie gras, lobster, king crab, scallops, langoustines, a kobe beef hot pot and other bits and bobs. It’s awesome.
So this December we decided to escape Edinburgh for a few days and go to London to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I’ve been to London a few times but Liv only had a few hours in London one day so with a little research we chose Sticks n Sushi for our anniversary meal. Sticks n Sushi I believe originates from Denmark and at the time of writing this review has two restaurants (with another to be opened in Canary Wharf). One branch is in Wimbledon and we went to the Covent Garden location.
So below is my review of Sticks n Sushi Covent Garden.
The Decor / Interior.
We dined on the ground floor which has a lovely mixture of natural bricks and looks really stylish. Downstairs is a yakitori (Japanese skewered food) bar and the adult toilets are also downstairs. Thankfully for us there was a disabled toilet on the ground floor which made things a lot easier with Amelia. One thing that I felt a little strange about was sitting right next to the bar on the ground floor. The staff were quite noisy but hey, we dined with a 3 year old so we’re not going to complain about noise while she’s with us.
Service and Child Friendly?
Very child friendly! The waiter who served us made a fuss over Amelia and she loved the whole experience. They gave her kiddie chopsticks and at the end of the meal gave her a goodie bag which had some chocolate and other bits in it. This was a really nice touch. The restaurant was quite busy later on but the staff were always friendly and the service was as quick as we would expect.
The Food.
Wow, really good, really damn good. I absolutely love sushi, it’s one of my favourite things to eat, and here in Edinburgh sushi options are limited. We have one good restaurant called Kampai but other offerings are really shit so while Kampai is good, due to lack of competition it’s not amazing. I’ve eaten sushi in Taiwan which was really excellent and Liv has eaten in Japan and she said the food at Sticks N Sushi was right up there.
I’ll leave comments under each picture but we ordered.
Drinks:
I had a Sticks N Biiru Black. Pilsner style lager made with rice from a Japanese recipe. This was lovely. Fresh, great taste. I love Pilsner’s and this was a good one. Liv had a Asahi (she liked her beer more, I liked mine more). Amelia had fruit juice and the staff gave her a free cup of milk (thanks!)
Starters:
Edi Bites. Tempura shrimp, chill, coriander, pepper, miso-aioli & fresh lime. 6 bites. £7.50
Salmon Tartare. Salmon, miso, ginger, red onion, chives, trout roe & miso dressing. £7
Shake Daikon. Thinly sliced daikon with soy cured salmon, avocado, cream cheese, cucumber & ponzu. £7.50
Yakitori Sticks:
Emmentalier bacon, Chizu maki, 3 pieces (2 are £6.80)
Scallop wrapped in smoked bacon with miso herb butter / Hotate bacon, 2 pieces £9
Free range pork and basil / Shishomaki, 2 pieces £7.20
Miso marinated salmon with teriyaki sauce / Shake no miso teriyaki, 2 pieces £9
Beef tataki. Beef, smoked cheese, chives, yes cosh dressing, soy roasted almonds & spicy goma dressing, £10.50
Sushi Rolls:
Hell’s Kitchen Roll. Tempura shrimp, avocado, spicy sauce, topped with tuna & bbq sauce, £13.50
Ebi Panko Roll. Tempura shrimp, spicy sauce, topped with avocado, sesame & tsume soy, £11.50
Dessert:
9 Sweets. Black sesame ice cream, Marcel chocolate cake, bergamot orange crème brûlée, white chocolate and liquorish mousse, crumble with yuzu curd & meringue, white chocolate bite with popped rice, dark chocolate bite with toasted sesame, yuzu sorbet, dark fondant with chocolate caramel & peppermint heart and coconut cake. £23
How much and verdict?
With tip, about £150. Expensive but definitely worth it. We’ll go back one day.
Edi bites. Absolutely delicious. The batter was light and the seasoning perfect. Love this.
Yakitori sticks. I tried Yakitori sticks once in a restaurant in Edinburgh which unsurprisingly has now closed down but these were awesome. I especially loved the bacon wrapped cheese sticks and the scallops wrapped with bacon are incredible.
Salmon tartar on the left. Delicious. I can eat roe by the tablespoon load and this was delicious. Two types of rolls on the right. All of the fish was super fresh (you can tell how fresh fish is by how much it shines and the fish was really shiny). The hells kitchen rolls were unbelievably delicious.
Shake Daikon. Sorry, I didn’t like this at all. I absolutely cannot stand daikon but Liv likes it and she wanted to try this.
9 Sweets. Nine completely different sweets. Liv isn’t a sweet person but I am and Amelia is nearly three so of course she loves sweet food. I was absolutely full by the time this came but really liked all but the really dark chocolate desserts (not a dark chocolate person). Amelia loved them though but at £23 not sure I would order this again.
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