See Sushi                   Paddington

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4d Praed Street, Paddington, London, W2 1J
0207 724 7358/www.seesushi.com

Hidden from the urban bustle of the Edgware Rd is a newly developed area of office blocks standing in serried ranks like steel and glass sentinels alongside the Grand Union Canal.

Lovers of contemporary urban design will know it as the site of Thomas Heatherwick’s extraordinary rolling bridge, but we have come to eat and not to gawp having been invited to sample the food at See Sushi, Paddington’s waterside Japanese fusion restaurant. It is part of the See Woo business which alongside a huge Cantonese restaurant in Glasgow has a handful of oriental supermarkets and a large food produce and distribution business. The menu offers a selection of Japanese favourites like sashimi, maki, tempura, donburi, miso black cod and bento boxes, as well as some Thai and Malaysian influenced dishes, but we are going to focus on the Japanese.

We start with an excellent bowl of Miso Soup (£1.95). It was really clean tasting, warming and not over-salted.

Stomach suitably lined we ordered a large carafe of hot Gekkeikan Sake (£8.50). This was light and fragrant, perfect for the upcoming meal.

Maguro Carpaccio   (£6.95) was a decently sized plate of raw tuna with a Ponzu (citrus and soy) dressing. The fish was lean and tender with great flavour and was well complemented by the sauce and the crunch of sesame seeds. Delicious.

Soft shell crab (£4.95). The crab came deep-fried in breadcrumbs and with a mild wasabi sauce. The coating was crisp and grease free and the crab had plenty of taste.

The Kyoto selection of Sushi (£10.50) has six pieces of Alaskan maki (seaweed wrapped sushi roll) and five of nigiri (raw fish on an oblong of rice). The nigiri in particular  was excellent with good quality fish and fluffy rice.

Black Cod marinated with miso (£15.50) came wonderfully caramelised and was a good size portion for a dish that you can pay more than double the price for in London.

Tori katsu chicken (£8) is a Japanese take on a chicken escalope in breadcrumbs. It was a little dry but helped by its accompanying Japanese curry sauce.

Pan-fried Aubergine with sesame oil (£6) was as soft and yielding as Nigella’s breasts…I love aubergine done this way.

Chef’s Deluxe Ebi-deep-fried prawn wrapped in a kataifi pastry and served with a chilli mayonnaise. (£7.95). This was a beautifully presented dish with a good kick from the mayo.

Having eaten so much it would have been foolish not to have dessert and a large glass of marzipan flavoured Plum wine (£6.50) Mango and lychee sorbets were perfect-not too sweet.

Banana fritters (£4.95) were slightly over-battered for me and needed to be really hot-they came with a scoop of coconut sorbet.
Mango and lychee sorbets were perfect. Not too sweet.

See Sushi is not pretending to be at the cutting edge of oriental fusion food but is offering good quality versions of menu favourites at a really competitive price point. It’s a great place to go with lots of friends or family.

Disclosure: The Hedonist was a guest of  See Sushi