pan-asian

Inamo Camden

265 Hampstead Road, Camden NW1 7QX

reservations@inamo-restaurant.com

I’ve been aware of the Inamo restaurant group for a while now-there’s one in Covent Garden and the original in Soho. Somehow the self-styled ‘Space-age oriental fusion restaurant didn’t appeal conjuring up images of spacewalking waiters serving up little tubes of mashed sushi goo-extra wasabi anyone?

So when asked along to review the new Inamo in Camden (handily over the road from Mornington Crescent tube) I was forced to confront my prejudices. It turns out that you utilise a tablet to order your meal and can use your interactive table surface to choose your virtual tablecloth, view the chefs at work on ‘chef cam’, play games, & much more. Fiona and I went for lunch and in the daylight the interactive table was a bit pale to be much use but in the evening it could be a lot of fun. As we were sitting next to the kitchen the chef cam was a bit superfluous but the tablet ordering was easy and worked well.

Because I wanted to test my theory that lunchtime drinking is a very good thing we kicked off with cocktails. Mulled sake (£7.95) was seasonally spicy and warming whilst a Lychee Martini (£8.95) elegantly balanced the tropical sweetness with the alcohol.

Seaweed salad (£4.45) was a savoury and refreshing blast of nutrients to counteract the alcohol.

But after the seaweed it seemed important to have something deep-fried… Crispy vegetable tempura (£9.95) was hot from the fryer with a properly light and dry batter covering a interesting selection of vegetables. Perfect.

Honjozo sake (£11.50) was deliciously warming and a great match for our dishes.

Sushi donut (£12.45) was much bigger than it looks on my photo. The sesame seed covered tuna, salmon, prawn and avocado lay on a bed of rice to create a good looking and tasting dish.

The eye-catching Dragon Roll (£11.95) was a construction of crunchy tempura shrimp, topped with creamy avocado and a touch of mayo. This would make a great sharing plate.

I first tried Black Cod in spicy miso (£24.95) at Nobu and then at Hakkasan. It has since become a staple on pan-Asian menus. This version was beautifully cooked allowing the sweetness of the fish to come through and a generous serving for the price.

Fiona loved her Hot stone fillet (£19.95). The tender English fillet tail came with three dipping sauces, Nam Jim, Teriyaki & Korean BBQ. You cook your own meat on the provided hot stone to your taste. Our waiter thoughtfully replaced the stone on a regular basis so it was always at a cooking temperature.

We had planned to have a light lunch but sometimes the best laid plans…and there was no room for dessert which meant that the exciting sounding Baked Alasparkla went untried. Inamo would be a great place for a fun date or an outing with family, friends or work colleagues. The food isn’t over-complicated and delivers really well at the price point. It’s well worth a space walk over to Mornington Crescent.

Yum Yum Ninja Brighton

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15-18 Meeting House Ln Brighton BN1 1HB

www.yumyumninja.com/01273 326330

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Yum Yum Ninja

I spent my student years in Brighton. It was the late 70s/early 80s and I was social secretary at Sussex University. My life revolved around playing and promoting music, drinking cocktails with salacious names, and eating out as often as my student budget would allow. Brighton’s Lanes were a regular haunt for the latter two elements of my out-of-college education and somehow the sound of seagulls became intertwined with my bacchanalian baccalaureate.

Yum Yum Ninja

I was a bit nervous on being invited to sample the menu at Yum Yum Ninja and it wasn’t from a Tippi Hedrenesque fear of the local flying rodents. It was the restaurant’s name which was the cause for concern- it seemed a bit gimmicky. However on finding out that the people behind the venue had good form in Brighton, with the prize-winning Due South and seafood specialists Riddle and Finns already in their stable, my interest was certainly piqued. Finding the place was not easy as it is tucked away in a hidden courtyard, but once located it was clearly an attractive space with seating inside and out.

The menu majors in classics of Asian cuisine with tapas style and larger dishes. There is an emphasis on fresh locally sourced seafood and specific Bincho (barbecued skewers over charcoal) and Dim Sum menus.

Dassai Otter Festival sake

To celebrate our arrival Fiona from London Unattached and I started on a carafe of chilled Dassai Otter Festival sake (£6.50). It was delicious, well-balanced with a slight citrus note and was the perfect foil for our pre-lunch nibbles from the Ninja Snack Basket (£3).

Pickled cucumber and
Freshly made Tapioca and squid ink crackers

Pickled cucumber was cool and refreshing with only a mildly pickled taste.

Freshly made Tapioca and squid ink crackers were a revelation, crunchy and unctuous and given body by the umami richness of squid ink.

Kimchi

The Korean staple Kimchi was a chilli fest of spicy crunchy pickled cabbage.

Monkfish cheek skewers (3 FOR £3.75) from the Bincho menu were charcoal hot with the skin suitably charred.

Har Kouw

It would have been bad manners not to try some Dim Sum and the Har Kouw (3 FOR £3.95), which came with a mirin (sweet sake), soy sauce and rice vinegar dipping sauce were stuffed with plump prawns and had a suitably glutinous casing. It might be more authentic for the prawns to be minced but these had a good taste.

Tori Kara-age Chicken

Tori Kara-age Chicken (£7.95) was deep fried and battered and came with a lovely hot scotch bonnet mayonnaise.

Kyoto style aubergine

Kyoto style aubergine (£6) came in two ways, deep fried and roasted and really lived up to the cliche of being melt in the mouth.

Tempura of soft shell crab

Tempura of soft shell crab (£11) with a yuzu dressing had a terrific batter that allowed the crab flavour through and was complemented by the sour citrus dressing of the yuzu.

Oysters

Oysters (£2 each) with a Wafu (Japanese style dressing with oil and soy sauce) and Ponzu (Japanese dressing with citrus and soy sauce) dressing were fresh rock oysters with good flavour and given an oriental twist by the dressing.

Salt and pepper squid

(£8.95) had a breadcrumb panko batter and came with a great Octo vinaigrette, spiced up with garlic, ginger, chile and soy sauce, courtesy of David Chang’s New York hipster noodle hangout Momofuku.

Taster plate of desserts

To finish we had a taster plate of their desserts (£9.95 to share). Highlights were the Plum pie which was like a sexed-up pop tart and the lethal Toffee Wontons which probably should be banned for anyone over the age of 40.

When I was invited to review Yum Yum Ninja I wasn’t too excited about going-I had thought it would another identikit pan-Asian joint cashing in on the seaside trade. However the rather serious young men in the kitchen have clearly done their homework-the quality of produce, cooking and the variety in the menu create a pretty compelling offer at the price point that wouldn’t be out of place in Soho let alone Soho-upon-Sea.

The Hedonist was a guest of Yum Yum Ninja’s

Inamo – Review

Inamo Camden

Yum Yum Ninja – Review

Yum Yum Ninja Brighton