Zaibatsu, Greenwich

During the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, Z and I ventured to Greenwich in search for good Japanese food. I've read about a local restaurant on Trip Advisor, which received rave reviews and was ranked 12 in the whole of London! (yes indeed!). Given that it was not Michelin starred, I was a bit surprised at this. (I'm not a snob, but 12 out of the thousands of restaurant in London is really high!). Intrigued, we finally got the chance to visit it ourselves recently.

We took the DLR to Cutty Sark, and from there we took the 188 bus to the restaurant. It was about 5 minutes or so from Cutty Sark to the restaurant, so it wasn't too far of a distance. We did not have a booking, and when we arrived, it was packed! It was indeed our fault, what more, the restaurant was tiny. It looked like it could only fit max 25 people or so.

So we waited for a table for about 15 minutes- the waiter took my phone number and name down, and gave us a ring when they had a table available.

Our table turned out to be a small one next to the kitchen (but separated with a partition). Our table was against a shelf full with bottled mineral water and soft drinks, and was at the back of the restaurant. In short, it felt like we were dining in a store room.

This wasn't an issue at all to us, for a start, it actually gave us a bit of privacy from the rest of the customers in the restaurant! (the tables were packed very close to each other). I didn't mind it one bit, but it's probably worth flagging this as I suspect not everyone would be comfortable sitting there.

We ordered 4 items: a chicken noodle soup (yes, I know it's not exactly Japanese but I was craving for it. Plus the restaurant markets itself as a Japanese fusion restaurant), a tuna 'Sunkiss Selection', a 'Dragon roll' and a 'Black Cod' tempura.

Chicken noodle soup, with vegetables and shiitake mushrooms

The noodles (£5.90) came first. I opted for udon noodles. The grilled chicken breast was sliced into strips and was delicious - so was the broth. Portions were reasonable (in fact, rather cheap), and there were lots of vegetables as well,which were cooked al dente. Very lovely indeed, and really hit the spot.

The tuna Sunkiss Selection (£7.90) was next. Unfortunately, at first sight it was a bit disappointing. The portion was tiny! There were about 8 very thin slices of tuna, seared, and it came already dressed in a tangy soya sauce-based dressing. There was also a garnish of very finely sliced purple carrot (I think) which looked lovely and tasted very refreshing. No pictures; both of us dived in straightaway! It was delicious, but I felt the portion was too small. 

The awesome dragon roll

The Dragon roll ( £9.50, a prawn tempura roll, topped with avocado and salmon fish roe) was the highlight of the meal! What I loved about it is the fact that the tempura stayed crunchy and light when it was served. I've had it before when the tempura was all soggy, but this was just delicious. The avocado was creamy and went so well against the crispy prawns and rice. Well seasoned rice too. Absolutely spot on for me!

Black cod tempura

 We initially only ordered the 3 dishes above but as the seared tuna was too small, we ordered a portion of black cod tempura (£6.30). We have had black cod before, pan fried and we have absolutely enjoyed that (if done well, it just melts in the mouth). This came with some tartare sauce. Unfortunately this dish was a bit of a disappointment to us. The batter was rather heavy and too thick; it didn't have the lightness a tempura batter should have. Flavour wise, it was also rather bland. The portion was generous though.

All in all, we thought it was rather hit and miss. The Dragon roll was worth coming back for, and the noodles were delicious. Service was good, and the waiter was lovely. The prices were in general very reasonable as well.

Zaibatsu
96 Trafalgar Road, Greenwich
SE10 9UW

Disclaimer: This entry is not a sponsored post, and is entirely based on my personal tastebuds. I have not received any monetary or non-monetary payment to write this post.