Mitsukoshi: Soho, Friday 8th July, 2011

Good day and a happy new year! I've had a few posts put up on the website already this year, but this is the first I've actually started writing in 2012 so it will do as a way of wishing a great 2012 to all. Plenty on the cards (including the rest of 2011 still) for this year, plus the usual slew of whatever I'm going to get up to in the coming twelve months.

Back in July last year, the other half had been nagging me for some time to eat 'shabu-shabu'. I had refused for as long as humanly possible (on monetary grounds) before the constant asking, hunger and inquisitiveness got the better of me. Friday came around and we went to Mitsukoshi, a restaurant held in pretty high esteem amongst London's Japanese places.

'Shabu-shabu' is basically a Japanese table-top hot pot in which you cook fresh food. The name comes from the motion of swishing the food around in the hot water to cook it through. It's a name I find typically cute and matter-of-fact in the way that Japanese things tend to be. It's also an exciting prospect as a diner: something a bit different, a bit of adventure in your food.

The shabu-shabu came as a set meal for the table, so the two of us sampled all the contents on offer. We started with sashimi and tempura: two parts of Japanese food I love to the point that they make me want to forgive sushi. Both were rather nice. The sashimi was slimy, fresh and had just enough bite the way most fresh raw fish should (left). The sea bass was a particular highlight. The tempura was great because tempura usually is (below right). Only rubbish tempura is bad. This was nicely crispy with enough taste and texture inside to identify the food. The prawns, pepper and squid were lovely, with only the aubergine leaving me a little cold.

Those were the sideshows, but the main event was definitely the big copper-coloured receptacle of water heating up on the table in front of us. I was a little confused though: water? Just water? Are you sure..? I went along with it for as long as I could, much like I have with this review, but I must disclose the truth: it was awful.

There was little flavour or merit in anything. We ended up dumping a sumptuous-looking tray of meat and vegetables in our hot water just to get the lot cooked and eaten as quickly as we could. The meat was bland, the vegetables also, the whole thing a write-off. This was my first shabu-shabu experience but I am left wondering whether or not I want another one.

The most galling thing about all this was the price. As we walked out, it hit me that we'd just wasted £90 - ninety pounds - on this tosh. It was not worth it in just about every way. I would have happily cut the evening after the tempura, but we live and learn... I doubt I'll eat shabu shabu again unless I'm in Japan.

Mitsukoshi