Morinoya — Restaurant in London

[UPDATE] - I went to visit this restaurant again on the 2024-06-08 unfortunately I've had to downgrade by rating to a 4/5. The sushi this time tasted great, but the sizes weren't right. The inside out salmon and avacado roll was much smaller in size, there was not enough rice being used and was a very thin layer which ruined the balance. The nigiri rice was also too warm, it should be at body temperature and so wasn't properly cooled down enough. Shame because my prior experience was much better. Some positives however, the layout of the sushi and presentation was better this time around and I like that a dollop of mayanaise is given on each inside out roll so the person can enjoy an even amount on each mouthful.

[ORIGINAL REVIEW BELOW]

There's a lot to say.. Where do I begin... I love the small size of this restaurant, akin to a real deal experience of being in small restaurants in Japan. Don't be fooled by the reasonable prices, the quality of its sushi punches way above its weight! It's been a long time since I've had sushi this good before; texture of the sushi rice was correct, the seaweed had lovely flavour and had some very nice chew to it, and the salmon was very fresh, been left close to room temperature and melted in your mouth. Generous size too within each section. Whoever made the sushi knows what they're doing, and would make any top Japanese sushi chef proud! 🍣😎👏

Sushi Score: 10/10

As for the katsu curry, I didn't expect the flavour profile of the curry, different to what I expected but it was still lovely, the star of the show was the chicken, very very crispy, but not hard, and cooked just right, with the chicken moist and tender in the middle. Unfortunately the quality of the rice in this instance wasn't great compared to the rest

Katsu curry score: 8/10

Doroyaki was a plesent surprise also, with a lovely cold filling of macha that gave a cool and slight bitter profile (as expected from macha flavour) . Pancake was soft and fluffy, nothing to complain about!

Dorayaki dessert score: 9/10

I give my highest recommendation possible. Try it and see for yourself! The sushi alone is a real winner. Lovely hidden gem in London and a complete surprise to a big sushi fan :D.

Wish every success to Morinoya and the team. I will...

Incredible!

We ate here as a four at Saturday Lunch time. We were able to grab a lovely table indoors, and the restaurant quickly become full. Despite the busy-ness, our waiter was delightful and exceptionably knowledgeable of the menu, safe to say his recommendations were second to none.

We shared multiple starters between us, all were absolutely amazing! The Octopus balls were my personal favorite, they were extremely creamy and the octopus was so soft, the absolute opposite of chewy! In addition, the Chicken Gyoza's, Soft shell Crab Tempuras and Soy sauce with breaded chicken were also a knockout!

We had a variety of mains, with none of us opting for sushi on this occasion. I enjoyed the Unagi Rice bowl. The rice was cooked to perfection and the Eels, similar to the octopus, were so soft, fluffy and the sauce was to die for! The others at the table enjoys some Udon Teriyaki, Chicken Katsu Curry and a Salmon Poke bowl. I had some of the Poke bowl and its was the best Salmon I've ever tried! Another knockout dish! Whilst I didn't try the other two dishes i was re-assured they were equally fantastic!

The food all arrived in great time, our waiter was always checking in if we needed drinks before we'd even realised ourselves that we did. Simply no faults with this amazing spot! Considering we had 4 starters, 4 mains, multiple drinks including some beers and a tip for the excellent waiter, the bill came to an outrageously low £120. When we come back to London this spot is defiantly a must go to for us!

I would recommend this restaurant to anyone...

Fantastic food, friendly staff, quick service, and all around great experience.

I've been passing by this place since it opened and have been begging my partner to go. I love sushi but she is not a fan so she didn't want to eat here.

She finally saw that there were other curry and ramen dishes that she might like so we figured we'd drop in and try it. We were sat immediately and the server took the time to make sure the table was balanced. This might seem like a small thing but it's probably the first table I've sat at in a restaurant that didn't wobble every time you touched it.

We ordered the Chicken Gyozas and the Chicken Kara Age both of which were amazing, possibly the best I've had in the Victoria area. I had the Spider Roll and Tuna Maki while my partner had the Prawn Katsu Curry. Everything was perfect and tasty, it didn't last long on the plate.

A small detail to add is the server brought us a jug of water with ice without asking. To me, this is the bit of attention that really makes a difference. At other restaurants it takes ages to get a glass of tap water but this restaurant was on top of that.

The absolute best part of the meal was the dessert. We ordered the Strawberry Cheesecake Mochi and the Chocolate Dorayaki. The mochi was possibly the best I've ever had.

I highly recommend this restaurant and will definitely be...