The Count 2024 Episode 0

This “follows on” from the previous post about the count. But preceding the count was the canvassing. I get asked quite a bit about this and how it is to knock on the doors of strangers. And it is actually alright. People are generally not anywhere near as bad in person as they are behind a screen.Or they are but you don’t notice it as much as it is hidden behind politeness.

I am not a huge ”street” campaigner to be honest, and I prefer to be the “data guy” where I can but within the last year, leading up to the expected 2024 General Election, I did visit a few constituencies for “door knocking” sessions (see this blogpost on telling to see what some of this leads to). These were as follows and, as you can see, all but one were Conservative held seats and so were “battlegrounds” or “marginals”. It is also worth saying that in the one Labour seat, major campaigning was effectively blocked by shutting down the system^[1] that supported it as a prod to activists to go further afield. In fact, when looking for events for my postcode, the system suggested other constituencies in all cases and at all times including when there were events locally. This did definitely mean that we did not have access to the same number of activists as often “stronghold” seats would also have activists that would not want to, or be able to, go further afield.

Why did I go to these places?

I don’t particularly want to make political (policy) commentary here and my intention here is to show the difference in operational approach that may be the result of different strategic approaches.

So let us say, very simplistically, you have 100 activists. You may get 60 of them campaigning locally in a stronghold (S) and 40 of them going to marginals (M). So you get an increase in visibility and an increase in votes in both the stronghold and the marginal.

If you shut down the opportunity to stay local, you may get 0 locally and 60 in the marginal. So you have greater help where you think it is needed but a lower amount of help overall. So maybe you see an increase in the M seat and a decrease in the S seat. That may mean you win two seats.

I think that is more efficient in winning the vote but there is definitely an argument to say it is not considering all the externalities in such a simplistic model. And politics isn’t about winning to win but to win, effect change and stay in power.

The S seat has probably also got more untapped activists that might be able to grow your 100. The actual voters in an S seat may also note the lack of activity and remember that at the election and in the future reducing the strength. The M seat does have more space to grow into and the likelihood is that they don’t have as many activists to begin with so an extra 5 on 5 may be hugely noticed in a way that an extra 5 on 100 is not. In the “first past the post” system, you need to pass a threshold and any more than that is effectively unnecessary headroom. But you might lose the interest of 40 activists in a seat.

This is a little like goal difference in football and as a fan, I have seen big victories followed by narrow defeats so many times and thought “if only we could have spread the goals better”. But (topically) the Greek side in Euro 2004 did similar with efficient 1-0 victories to take you to the trophy. They were not able to effect change and stay in power… It was seen as an aberration and there have been no other (successful) countries wanting to follow that model.

I think this is a difference in the approaches of the two most recent leaders of the Labour Party and I am not making a judgement on which approach is correct or not. The “more activists and deep victory” approach is a people powered movement, Lots of people are involved and can be enthused by it all. The “fewer activists placed carefully” approach is about doing “more with less” and needs people that are enthused already as the whole movement will be less fun. In a nutshell, that is my experience of the approaches.

Locations canvassed

I went to a few constituencies but it is also worth noting that Britain is a very mixed up country and each constituency is made up of vastly different components and so the parts I visited may not be representative at all. I know that from visiting them but that may not be as clear to those reading a pithy little take and a 3 word review. Please note that the boundary changes mean that the maps are not exactly on the same boundaries but give a sense of it. Click the maps to see a better quality image of the deprivation measured in these constituencies to get a sense of the voter base.

[Con] Cities of London and Westminster

This was the first place I went of the actual campaign and we were in an area that might not be called traditionally Labour. The feedback here was not always positive but it was far more friendly than my previous visits to these kinds of areas. I would say it was neutral rather than hostile. To give an indication of the place, I was told that “no parent would vote for Labour” because of the policy around requiring private schools to pay tax like other similar businesses. One notable thing here is that many of the doors were inaccessible but you could ring at the gate and they would let you in or speak to you from the door. It was odd to hear people shouting in the street (effectively) that they were voting Labour in this neighbourhood. I also had a chat with one person that was quite irritated (and made that clear, but also clarified a few times that he was not with me personally) that people were chasing his vote now but had not spoken to him in years. This could be for a number of reasons but he was at least cognisant of the fact that I was from a neighbouring constituency and not in a position to be complained at. Speaking to people face to face is pretty disarming and the conversations are generally quite nice.

3WR: Money, Money, Money

Result: Labour MP - Rachel Blake

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001172

[Con] Finchley and Golders Green

I had not been here for a while but this was supposedly the seat with the most Jewish electorate in the country and so had been quite a target in previous elections for those wanting to make hay. This meant it was an oddly “local” election as in 2019, the Labour leader was consistently branded as anti-semitic and so it was expected to move quite differently to the underlying political movements. I also grew up locally although not in this constituency and so was familiar with the rhythm and bass of the place if not necessarily the melody. The atmosphere was good in the sessions with good humour and effort. The candidate was also known to me as she lives locally to me although she grew up in this constituency. My most notable conversation here was based on asking about whether Sarah was local (or local enough) as she lived about 4 miles away from the household I knocked at. I am hopeful that the person, who was going to complete her postal vote that evening, was able to use that conversation to make her decision - she did note that Sarah had been active in the community for many years. The conversation itself was fairly long and pleasant with the voter also commenting that it was nice to have people (meaning activists in general) showing an interest. Another notable interaction was someone telling me that I should not be campaigning for the Labour Party at all due to Gaza. It was a reminder that a constituency does not have one voice. I did go here a few times and each time, I was reminded that this was a summer election and we don’t have those often.

3WR: This feels nice

Result: Labour MP - Sarah Sackman

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001238

[Con] Hendon

This was a Barnet borough seat that I went to on a larger “action” day and even managed to persuade an acquaintance^[2] that lived locally to come along with her dad. As I did not really speak to many constituents and was running a board and helping some first-timers, I cannot say too much here. I was walking with the candidate though and it was impressive to see how many people he wanted to speak to. The level of effort and determination was pretty impressive and I really wish more of the electorate were aware of how hard some of these candidates work for these roles. And before the roles! The geography of the area around Hendon central seemed familiar although I had not been there before due to the suburbia feel to it. A place where it is simultaneously difficult and easy to lose yourself.

3WR: Keep it moving

Result: Labour MP - David Pinto-Duschinsky

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001279

[Con] Chipping Barnet

This was a seat I had spent a long time in over the years but not politically. In the miserable 2019 campaign, I remember coming out here in the rain to run a (paper) board out to very rude constituents. This was, again, the rudest constituency I found but there was also some politeness and positivity. I grew up in Chipping Barnet but there is an area between the M25 and the High Street which is almost unknown to me. It is an area to drive through and has many large houses - the kinds of places with names rather than numbers. This was a polling day visit and so traipsing around here where the housing was very low density and very rich felt inefficient to me. There were other areas which were more accessible but other people without access to cars had done those so I went to the very north of the constituency with one person that had a car. I had two notable interactions in this largely “against” area. One man decided to swear at me and told me that I should not be campaigning on polling day as it was not allowed. I was not sure if he had a different interpretation of the laws to every political party in the land but I did not find out which way he was voting. It left me a bit shaken and annoyed, to be honest but this is something that you just have to push yourself not to be too fussed by. I had seen worse. Another man, whom we had expected to be supportive, rushed over to me from across the road where he was doing something to his car to speak to me. This felt risky but when I asked him, he said he had surprisingly put the tick in the same box he had for 40 years. He was very pleasant though, and explained to me that he liked what he saw but found something against Angela Rayner. That he was impressed with her personally but could not imagine her speaking with foreign dignitaries like Macron (“but maybe Trump wasn't a good example!”). I know that there has been a Conservative campaign against her but this was the first I had heard of it. I think even he knew there was not much to it as he said she was actually very impressive. Anyway, he said good luck to me and let me carry on. Afterwards, when we got back in the car, he came over again and told me to have a glass of bubbly for him that evening! Again, the atmosphere was pretty pleasant.

3WR: Is this Barnet?

Result: Labour MP - Dan Tomlinson

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001169

[Con] Uxbridge and South Ruislip

I visited this seat in the previous year’s by-election but that was less than a year ago! That time was when the Conservatives kept banging on (inaccurately) about ULEZ and so, as it was pre-implementation, the scares were working. I knocked on a lot of doors of people that had compliant cars that did not want to vote for Labour because of the charge. And lots of people that did not seem overly concerned about poorer constituents in any other situation except where they would have to pay a charge for polluting the air. This was a long time ago now, and that particular by-election was not successful. That would come later.

3WR: Massive cars everywhere

Result: Labour MP - Danny Beales

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001558

[Lab] Holborn and St Pancras

A relatively “dull” canvass as this is a place I have been many times with little to learn - but a great way of getting into the swing and understanding the new software and approach. I absolutely love this constituency though with the varied feel across it and mini-communities hidden away in the estates. People were positive on the doorsteps but that was fairly early in the campaign. I have always told people that if they want to canvass, they should do so on safer ground first (such as this) so that they are not too stressed by it all. That will make them able to be more effective as it counts. I ended up in a chat with a person that was studying politics at university - their first political memory at all was seeing their parents seeming distraught at the Brexit result. That’s a sobering thought about the march of time.

3WR: Home Sweet Home

Result: Labour MP - Keir Starmer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001290

[Con] Corby and East Northamptonshire

This was an entirely new constituency for me and the type of constituency that I had not always been drawn to. Especially post-Brexit, I have been uncomfortable (see my thoughts on Brexit Day) about going to non-urban spaces (Corby itself has high and low-density areas) and have also suspected that having non-white London accents at the doorstep may be counter-productive. These sessions were different to those I had done before with drives required to get to the streets and lifts needed timed to train journeys.

I generally run boards and so stay less visible but I did have one longish interaction with a Labour/Reform voter that was undecided between the two parties. This started badly from his first response but it did continue into a conversation. This was a man that had been part of the London Transport workforce and even been door knocking for John McDonnell, but was now wondering whether Reform or Labour were right. Reform, I am told, were honest and not afraid of telling the truth and were not racist. He spoke of refugees and how they travelled across the continent and then mentioned Schengen. He asked me about it. I did not expect to be discussing Schengen on the doorstop a full eight years after the country decided not to join Schengen and leave the EU. But campaigns do this, they make people say things. I explained what I understood of Schengen and that we could not have been following the rules of Schengen as we were not part of it. I likened it to the Common Travel Area we have with Ireland. He was surprised. He did not know this. But he did not react badly to it, he did not act as if I was patronising him, he acted as if he did not know it and it was further information. The conversation continued, he was a nice guy that had suffered from a stroke, had suffered from “long covid” and was just happy to still be alive. I noted a “Griffin Park” sign and commented on Brentford FC and he joked about my accent for a Liverpool fan^[3] and we parted. It was a long talk and a reminder of why I usually run the board from an operational perspective but it was something that left me pleased and frustrated. I was hopeful that I had left a positive impression on him. But then I thought about what that meant. Would speaking to a non-white person who was speaking to them normally have had a positive impact on his view of all non-white people in some way? I have spoken of my feeling of “representative” status before (see fn7 of this Vietnam blog post) and how that can change people’s minds. I am always concerned about doing that the wrong way but could I also do it in the right direction? Should I have been doing this earlier?

I’ve had a recent conversation elsewhere about the pain of being a pioneer and “identity politics”. That someone so often has to take the hits so that others don’t have to and a phrase known among many second generation immigrants is that “they walked so that we could run”. But walking is hard.

3WR: Eye opening interaction

Result: Labour MP - Lee Barron

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001179

I hope that these vignettes have been somewhat enlightening for those unaware of the process. I would strongly suggest giving it a go once if you can. Although I am not always one of them, however much I “love a chat”^[4], many people do love these door knocking sessions and many of them had no idea that they would. I am not expecting there to be a General election soon but canvassing goes on around the year and around the country so maybe give it a go.

<sup>1. This closing down of the system, ostensibly to try to ensure that limited resources were applied effectively has been subject to some odd commentary about abandoning places. In the case of the Camden seat that I live in, there has been regular canvassing for years and a recent GLA election to give good data.↩
2. Her father was in the Ghibli Club that I sort of ran during part of the pandemic lockdown.↩
3. These things are somewhat related, and maybe not consciously. Football, for me, was a television thing for a long time. In the eighties, most Asian kids would not even dream of going to football because most Asian parents, correctly, would not even dare to dream it was a safe place. There was a part of me as I walked away thinking, “it is probably due to some other people that are currently voting Reform and were shouting racist abuse that I did not follow a club in London”. I used to be more bothered by the glory-hunter jibes but not so much now. ↩
4. I was told, somewhat recently, that I “love a chat” by a colleague and it has had an odd effect of making me question my self-image. I don’t think I do but other people have backed this up and, you know what? Maybe I do. I am aware that I am much more conversational on holiday than when I am not - and there is no real reason for this. If you know me, why not let me know if I do actually “love a chat” or not.↩</sup>

The Count 2024

Context

I was fortunate enough to be at the count for the elections run by Camden council - these took place in the Camden Council offices in Pancras Square and covered two different constituencies. I was also fortunate to be at the similar count in 2019 which took place at a nearby sports centre but with quite a different atmosphere.

In 2019, I had been “running a room” set up quite locally which I had done a number of times (and would do so again for future local elections). In 2024, I had gone to two other constituencies in order to assist other candidates and finished up a little early in order to be able to help with the count. In both cases, we needed to be set up for 10pm so that we could see the release of the exit poll and be ready to go for the counting of postal ballots which had been delivered to the building already. It was that exit poll that people were there for though and part of what has been both haunting and motivating for me, personally, is that moment. That particular moment in 2019 was sickening. The guttural roar and braying from the Conservatives in that sports centre in 2019 is a strong memory and one that still pops into my head every so often. In hindsight, we probably knew there was a defeat on the way but that was the point at which you realised the scale and the types of people that wanted it. A majority built on an active lack of scrutiny by the news, as we were sadly to find out quite soon after. But that was just the start of the night, we had work to do and quite quickly, we had to ready ourselves. I did the same “job” both times, which was to be a “counting agent” at the count itself.

Counting Agents

A counting agent is there on behalf of the candidates to help make sure the count is run properly and also to run a sampling exercise. This is the only time when the count is disaggregated enough to see granular ward level information. In actual fact, it is the point before it is all aggregated and, in Camden at least, the only point when you can see how particular areas voted. This is all done before the actual counting stage during what is called “verification”. Here the ballots are counted and they are verified by box - and each box is taken from particular locations. That means you can see how people have voted but you cannot count them at this stage. What we can do, however, is sample and so we take a count of a random selection of ballots as they are being verified. Agents cannot touch or interfere with the counting and so stand there watching and counting on a little tick sheet. This is a random selection and this is done by tens of people across all parties in order to have a) advance information for the result that day and b) have some sense of the geographical spread of the count. That is then all collated and used to generate a view of the spread and also let the candidate know what type of face and speech to prepare! In 2019, I did the collation but this time, I used my excellent eyesight to sample counts.

The logistics of the count

Camden Council set up, in my honest opinion, an excellent count for the unique situation it found itself in. The polls over the last few months had been highly suggestive of an overall Labour victory and pointed to a high likelihood that one of the MPs they were counting for would be the new Prime Minister and thus they needed to have appropriate facilities for that. The location used was the office at 5 Pancras Square (which also has floors for a library and a leisure centre) and multiple floors were used with one floor for speeches, one as an effective “break out area” and then one each for the counting of each constituency. The staff involved were all dressed in quite neat, grey “Camden Elects” T-shirts and placed at many rows of tables to work as teams per ballot box.

From what I could work out, the process was made up of a number of steps (this might not be correct, but is what I saw and surmised):

Ballot box delivery

Ballot boxes from across both constituencies were delivered to tables to be ready for the next steps. Postals were counted first and the other boxes were delivered to tables that had space as they arrived.

Vote verification

Here, the votes were counted to ensure that the correct number that had been registered were in the box. At this stage, the sampling can take place as the boxes are known (and so polling district) and no aggregation has taken place and no counting or separation is taking place. This means that spoiled ballots are also part of the count verification. The sampling here is based on watching the verification and making a note of which box has been ticked on the ballot as this verification takes place. We would take a random selection/run of papers and the sampling is done without any intervention in the counting process at all. The ballots were then bundled into tens and then hundreds and verified again.

Vote separation

Once votes were verified, trays were set up and the verified votes were placed into the trays depending on what the counters saw in the boxes. The team I watched were counting for 12 candidates but they did not have 12 trays - they used major parties and “Others”. In the case of this particular election, “Others” was stacking up quite quickly but these others would then be separated further in another sweep. The other trays of note were a “doubtful” pile and a “spoiled” pile. It is at this point when it might be when the counting agents may note that the votes were being separated incorrectly and there might be a challenge. I did not make any challenges but any made were then placed on the “doubtful” pile.

Vote contention

Once the initial separation was completed, “doubtful” pile would be looked at and the counting agents would then also look at these to ensure that they were able to see anything they felt was contentious. The doubtful ballots would then be added to the relevant candidates’ pile.

Vote count

With the votes separated into “piles”, these would then be counted into bundles as was the case for the verification process and there was also a full reconciliation of the count to split spoiled ballots along with each of the candidates.

Announcement of results

Although I was not fully involved in this part, the result is told to the candidates (and agents) a few moments before the Returning Officer takes to the stage and then the Returning Officer makes the announcement to the assembled crowd. I was in the assembled crowd and the winners made acceptance speeches (In Starmer’s case, along with some heckling) before the end of the night. Or do I mean before noon - it was about 4am.

My count

I got to Pancras Square while there was still light in the night sky at about 9:40 pm. This in itself was quite odd. There was a little bit of a security process and my bags were checked before being given a key card and wristband that allowed, and disallowed, us to go to particular places. Once we were onto the relevant floor, it felt like quite a hive of activity. As mentioned, this was a high-profile count and there were many TV cameras around the area with some news programme segments being presented from the count. Camden did a good job here setting them up on one floor looking back on the counting floors and the central stairwell. A number of us gathered together in front of some televisions to be able to watch the exit poll come in - me near the front so that I could at least see it. The noise came before the vision for me as the cheers from those around me came well before my brain could take the result in. I tried to make sense of it but, in all honesty, the first thing I saw was the double digit number^[1] for predicted Reform seats. On this day of victory, the first thing that entered my brain was defeat^[2]. I did then see the rest of the results and I was a bit more pleased^[3].

After a few moments of letting that sink in, much like I expected would be the case for the new MPs, we were then off to work. Everyone spread out to cover different tables and chatted while waiting. There were counting agents from across the spectrum and we had been warned that some of those other agents may try to provoke us and that we should be fully aware of that and that we may also be approached by the media. Both of these things turned out to be true.

I dutifully completed the sampling but there were a number of gaps and breaks as the stages were completed and I got to a little bit of chatting to the Camden Elects counters. As I “love a chat”^[4], I did take the opportunity to speak to the people in front of me and I was very struck by how ethnically diverse the staffing of the count was. One of the things that I have noticed in my years of local/community involvement has been how it is often not as ethnically diverse as the areas served. I have often thought that there is some work to do on this and making places more inclusive seems a key to greater community cohesion to me. Anyway, a lot of the people were local to the town hall and this pleased me greatly. They were also often fairly young (I would guess the anti-social hours may explain this to some degree). One thing that came up was how late it was but “at least we [as in us] are all getting paid for it”. I explained that “No, we are volunteers” and that seemed to be quite a shock to a lot of the table. I explained how long the volunteers had been on their feet (since the morning in most cases) and that they were not paid for any of that. I just feel a lot more people need to be aware of how many people are involved without some weird form of corruption to keep them there. They are just trying to get a different government and giving up their own time to do that. When knocking up, many people are totally aware of the fact that we are just volunteers and I think it really helps take some of the poison out of the process.

On the flipside, I did “overhear” some provocative comments from other candidate teams as predicted but I do not think anyone rose to the provocation. The team for this particular independent candidate (Andrew Feinstein) had been doing things that may not have necessarily been within Electoral Law through the campaign and so it was a known risk. I did also see one person that had recently started supporting an independent candidate that I knew. That was quite gladdening and although he was no longer a member, I am sure he could be pleased for much of what was offered or at least the change from where we were.

Once the verification was over, and all the data was collated (by someone else this year), I did have a walk around to watch the TVs and see the media operation. And get a hot drink! A BBC reporter also took this opportunity to sidle up to me and ask if I was prepared to talk about the count and the expectations for the candidate counts. I did not give much away and said that I did not really know how people were feeling - we were too busy working.

After the verification (and connected sampling), the next task was to watch the vote separation and ensure that it was being done properly. In this stage, we could see that the “Others” trays were being filled fairly quickly and that the sampling showing a strong performance by Andrew Feinstein was correct. This was also the point where we could see the doubtful and spoiled piles and I found the complaints often scrawled on the spoiled ballots quite interesting. One that I was quite impressed with was where they had put a letter in each “tick” box to state their complaint. Another was where they explained that no candidates could explain what a woman was. The “doubtful” ones were less interesting and were usually not that doubtful with ticks outside the box etc. These would be added into the right pile later without much difficulty.

It was within this stage where I noticed a woman with a parasol and a fake moustache. As I still "love a chat"^[4], I mentioned the parasol and got chatting. She was accompanying the Monster Raving Loony Party candidate and had done so for decades since she was fifteen! She went to the Leader of the Opposition’s seat and so had been to Doncaster, Islington North and now Holborn & St Pancras. I was pretty intrigued by the whole process of joining the party and what they did between elections. She said she was not involved but there was a policy unit of sorts. She was also seemingly genuinely excited at seeing real votes so I did point some out to her later. The candidate was, effectively, a joke candidate which I have some issues with overall, conceptually. They were quite fun though and did not take many votes.

Once the counting was complete, we were told that the candidates were on their way and we created a little celebratory welcome for the likely next Prime Minister and got ready for the acceptance speech. Within the crowd, Camden Elects had placed a few people to ask the crowd to not put their phones/cameras too high due to the broadcast cameras behind. This felt like a truly thankless task although it was a bit easier for the second announcements for the Highgate and Kilburn constituency.

After the announcements were over, people went their own ways with some off to the Tate Modern and Downing Street for PM celebration events with others off to a Camden based “watch party" for the results. Me? I was off on the walk home. This was actually the thing I had been most looking forward to. I have done that northbound walk too many times with disappointment and I have desperately been wanting to remove that memory. Walking north after the recent Mayorals was good but this was the real deal. Walking up Royal College Street, specifically, was what I had wanted to do. In the end, that was all I wanted for the last five years. That feeling. There must be a better way, but until I find it, I guess the struggle continues.

[Episode zero to explain what canvassing meant before the election] 

<sup>1. The eventual result put Reform on a significantly lower number of seats but that is still the gut feel.↩
2. This reminded me later of collecting my exam results at school and the first thing that jumped out at me was my worst result. The other things just merge into the background and I wonder how much this really defines me as a person.↩
3. Apparently, this particular moment was broadcast on the news which I knew from messages I received later asking if that was me. I guess I was more visible wearing red.↩
4. I was told, somewhat recently, that I “love a chat” by a colleague and it has had an odd effect of making me question my self-image. I don’t think I do but other people have backed this up and, you know what? Maybe I do. I am aware that I am much more conversational on holiday than when I am not - and there is no real reason for this. If you know me, why not let me know if I do actually “love a chat” or not.↩</sup>

ロン丼牛ドン / London Gyudon 12: Kineya Mugimaru

For reasons that felt somewhat outside of our control, there has been a bit of a gap since our last gyudon so we have been stuck on 11^[1]. As we are not aiming to be Spinal Tap, I did not want this to be the case.

The last eighteen months or so has seen a fairly large hit to the restaurant sector in London and we have not always been allowed to go to restaurants in that time. Even so, the project was still something that I thought of “finishing” with the one that would take us to twelve. I would finish something that I had started.

As it happens, on my walks around the area, I do, of course, still keep an eye out for interesting eateries and was recently made aware of Kineya Udon - though due to the udon part rather than the gyudon part - opening relatively nearby in St Pancras Station. I used to work around here and knew that there were a few things around here but I was very much drawn to the station based noodles concept. I may have mentioned my romanticised view of “tachisoba” and this was pretty damn close. I went there for the udon^[2] and was a) very happy with the nostalgic taste and b) made aware of GYUDON. Actual gyudon^[3]. I messaged Paul and told him that it was back on^[4] and we organised a time.

St Pancras Station is beautiful from outside the front-facing on to Euston Road (or whatever it is called at that point) is wonderfully ornate with the interior being refurbished to a lovely standard. The back end of the station is modern, and designed to be a juxtaposition from the front and I think it works very well. As Eurostar comes into St Pancras, there are quite a few decent amenities and fairly good quick food options in a light and breezy environment. Kineya Udon is at the rear of the station near the domestic platforms but also fairly near the exit to Kings Cross station so it is fairly easy to get to.

The ordering method befits both an udon place and a train station as you do order and pay before sitting. There are two touchscreen menus from which you can order part of your meal - you select and are given a receipt to hand to the cashier. Rather oddly, in my opinion, you can order the bulk of your meal but you pick up options after ordering from the screen, so for example, if you want a korokke, you cannot order at the menu, you have to pick up later from the freshly fried section in the style of a canteen. As would be entirely appropriate, we ordered a gyudon each, a zaru udon to share and some tempura bits and bobs. As an exercise in nostalgia, we also got some fried chicken pieces.

As ever, we started on some of the sides and I knew what to expect with the udon. Zaru udon is pretty simple/basic and so you do have to get that right - you cannot rescue it with sauce. And they do get it right here, with a simple sauce and nice noodles. As expected, this was good and being able to add sesame is always a winner. The tempura was fine although nothing special but entirely in keeping with the concept. The chicken was very “convenience store” style which I was not a fan of but Paul was very happy with. Again, probably more as an exercise in nostalgia than taste! The pieces were fairly oily and tasted kind of unhealthy - again that would definitely hit the spot for a lot of people.

Although it had not been the whole pandemic time that I had not had gyudon, this was still pretty highly anticipated by me although there was something that made me think that it might be that good. It looked quite good with an egg included in the bowl and quite a liberal sprinkling of spring onion. The taste, however, was quite plain. I struggle to even remember the taste in all honesty and it did not taste particularly of gyudon. The beef was a little thicker than ideal and was not marinated sufficiently for my taste. The biggest indicator was how the rice stayed very white with little flavouring coming from the topping - it stayed unseeped. The portions were a decent enough size so we were quite satisfied in terms of the volume but the taste had let me down.

Kineya Mugimaru is yet another place where the food is generally good but the gyudon is not up to the standard that I want. I have been back to Kineya and will go again for the noodles but the gyudon search continues [Gyud]on and on.

It is also worth mentioning that there appears to be a branch in Cambridge so this one has spread outside London!

Cost of gyudon: £9.60

Kineya Mugimaru
Unit 27B, The Circle, St Pancras Station, London N1C 4QP

<sup>1. And when we started, I thought 12 would be the last gyudon -being a monthly idea for a year but I am not the best at this regularity stuff.↩
2. It is worth pointing out that I came across Marugame Udon not long after this which opened in 2021 near Liverpool Street Station. It takes this udon concept and pushes it further into a large restaurant. It is very good and a hearty recommend from me.↩
3. As it happens, I then found a couple more places within the next few days that had gyudon in the Holloway area - there seems to have been some gyudon growth in the last year or so.↩
4. “Like Fat Pat’s thong” ©The Thick Of It↩</sup>

ロン丼牛ドン / London Gyudon 11: Shinobi Sushi

There has been a bit of a gap since the last LondonGyudon (10) post but in that gap, I have eaten some gyudon. Firstly, I have taken the opportunity to return to Shitamachi Ramen and enjoyed a little more of their gyudon. Secondly, I had a short break in Japan with visits to both Matsuya and Yoshinoya in Tokyo^[1] which have been labelled as a LondonGyudon (0) post. I'm not sure if these have recalibrated or reset my tongue to the tastes to expect but it does mean I've had some tasty food in the interim.

I noticed Shinobi Sushi as I was walking home from Archway fairly recently and told Paul about it. Actually, I have noticed a few more places offering gyudon over the last year or so but often they are not shown properly online. Anyway, this was space I had walked past many time and has changed hands (and cuisine types) many times over the last decade or so and seemed better utilised as a fast-food space than a restaurant. There were seats but it had the ambience of a delivery kitchen with some seats. As the name suggests, the menu was largely based around the sushi offering and it feels like it is well placed to be a sushi delivery service in the North London area.
Walking in on a Tuesday evening, the pale wooden flooring was utilitarian and there was a distinct lack of custom. I had eaten here before on my own and it was not particularly busy then but there were quite a few deliveries taken by scooter riders so I knew it was fairly popular. That continued to be the case on this evening too. We sat and took the menus^[2] to see what was on offer. We ordered the gyudon but also added vegetable gyoza and some uramaki (inside out rolls - rice on the outside) and waited.

We did not have to wait long for the food to arrive and it all came together too. We started with the “sides”. The gyoza was not as expected with the dumplings themselves being softer than expected. I like gyoza that are asymmetrically fried to have a soft side and a crispy side but this was soft all the way around. The sauce provided was also atypical in the sense that it was sweet chilli - something that is not really considered “Japanese”. The taste of them was alright but it wasn’t gyoza as I would think of them. The uramaki was salmon and avocado with a healthy amount of ginger and wasabi to garnish. The uramaki was pretty good as it was well constructed and stayed as a single piece. The fish was nice and went well with the avocado. As expected, the sushi was fairly decent and I can see that this was probably the focus. So, onto the gyudon. As a result of the previous food and the decor, I was not expecting a particularly Japanese gyudon and in this sense, I was not disappointed. I was, however, disappointed with the gyudon and the taste of it. The bowl already had some bright red ginger added and this did give a spike to the taste but it was a heavy bowl of beef. The oily beef glistened and was fairly chunky giving the look of beef on rice but not gyudon. As it was an atypical gyudon, it felt like it had something added to give the meal more heft (it was a more expensive dish than most on the menu) but nothing more elaborate than salt, maybe. We both finished the bowls off and although it wasn’t a lot of food, it was still just about sufficient.

Overall, the food was a little disappointing and, like a lot of the meals had in the project, felt a little like a Japanese theme restaurant and I can imagine it doing fairly well in smaller towns. I am not sure I saw any Japanese people there, in fact, so it is likely to be an element of tourism to the meal design. I guess the sushi was fairly good and does explain the name and the continuing business they do to the local area but I think I can find places that I prefer to deliver to me.

Cost of gyudon: £11.50


Shinobi Sushi
85 Junction Road, London, N19 5QU

<sup>1. A visit to the Koshigaya Matsuya was my original plan but that wasn't quite possible due to my planning. ↩
2. The menus were fairly shoddy black and white photocopies really strengthening the feeling that this was not designed as a place to visit.↩</sup>

ロン丼牛ドン / London Gyudon 0: Tokyo Edition

A little bit of a cheat in that this is about Gyudon that is not in London but the zero tag feels appropriate - this being more like a prequel but made afterwards. This may involve a little retconning but I will try not to. I visited Japan at the tail end of 2019 (after a particularly disappointing set of electoral results) for a fairly short time. It was a simple trip for me and allowed me to wallow in a bit of nostalgia by visiting Shinjuku, Akihabara and other places in Tokyo while also having a trip to less familiar places using the exceptionally good JR EAST and South Hokkaido rail pass. It was a great opportunity to eat some very nice food around the country^[1] of which gyudon was definitely one to go for.
The important thing about gyudon in these conditions is that it is pretty much everywhere and so I did not actively search them out - I happened to come across these visits. In fact, these were not the only times to Yoshinoya (also had breakfast one) or Matsuya (Hamburg steak, kalbi beef etc) but they were the only times I had gyudon.
In my time, there were two apparent behemoths of the gyudon scene: Yoshinoya and Matsuya so those were the ones I wanted to go to. Actually, Sukiya is a huge chain but I am not sure that I ever went there.


Yoshinoya
I was staying in a hotel nearby and decided to pop out to the Yoshinoya that was nearby as a quick and convenient meal. As I entered, I looked around and was asked to sit down - which I did at the bar. I was struck by the fact that the person asking me to do this from behind the counter was not (ethnically) Japanese although she did interact with me fully in Japanese. I was given a menu to peruse and I decided on a Gyudon set which had many options. Yoshinoya seems to have loads of variations - a little like how Burger King advertise the “your way” burgers. I went for a set that was a standard size bowl along with a lettuce salad, clam soup and a raw egg.

I waited and the food arrived not long after and the first thing that I noticed was that the salad dressing came in a packet rather than given bottles to add. I wonder if this is to make the delivery and take away portions of their business even simpler but I do not remember this from before. It was a little disappointing in all honesty and did result in the salad being very plain. “Plain” is an apt word and I found the beef to be a little flat tasting. This was clearly a cheap beef, I do not question that (or mind) but it did not have much flavour. I probably had not had a “Yoshigyu” for a decade or more but it was a fairly quick reminder of why I did not like it so much. I added the whisked raw egg on top and sprinkled quite a bit of ginger on top in order to give it a little spikiness but it was not a meal that could be properly rescued. The pickled ginger was tasty and added some verve to it but I was left unsatisfied. The soup, which was not a standard side was fairly good - I did enjoy it and the mussels were of a decent enough level - though nothing special of course.
You will have noticed that I did not pay before the meal and the point when I chose the meal from a menu, that did involve interaction so it isn’t quite the anonymous experience that you get from Matsuya (and I sort of prefer). The bill came quickly upon request and the food was quick and suitable to fill you up but I was not left sated when I left. I hoped Matsuya was not a false memory. This ended up being a reminder of why I did not have Yoshinoya^[2] much at all.


Yoshinoya Otsukaeki
2 Chome-46-3 Minamiotsuka, Toshima City, Tokyo 170-0005, Japan
〒170-0005 東京都豊島区南大塚２丁目４６−3

Cost of gyudon: 352円(＋税) (approx 140 yen was £1 at the time)



Matsuya
This was my personal favourite chain of fast food places in Japan but I did actually have other food more often than the gyudon and I liked the basic salad as an accompaniment (to the dressing!). I went to Nakano and it was raining hard but the visit seemed a good use of my time.

Entering, I was not asked to sit down or given a menu - instead, I went over to the vending machine and made my choices. There are quite a lot of places in Japan where you pay by vending machine first and I think that this means that the staff do not have to handle cash (and food) which is a wise thing to do from a hygiene perspective. It also means that you have paid before you get any food^[3] which is a fast-food convenience. In the past, these machines were tall multi-button machines that had all the different menu items written (in Japanese) and would spit out tickets for each of the items that you would then give to the staff. The process is the same now but the machines are now touch-screen and available in different languages to assist visitors. They still print out tickets (rather than sending the order to the kitchen) so it is basically the same. I ordered a classic combination of gyudon, salad, soup and a raw egg.

Matsuya is usually a mixture of bar seating and a few tables and I usually went for the bar seating as a solo diner. My food arrived quickly and I went to the condiment selection available on the counter. I added some sesame dressing to the salad, schimi spice to the soup and some pickled ginger to the gyudon along with the raw egg.
As always, I started with the salad and soup - both items that I would normally describe as unremarkable but hitting all the right notes. The salad is very basic with a sprinkling of sweetcorn^[4] but with a selection of dressings, it could be varied easily and I added sesame. And the dressing is moreish enough to make the salad something to add to all meals. The soup is always included with the gyudon and would, therefore, be fairly basic but it was warm and had the umami that I wanted. The gyudon itself was exactly what I wanted - a Greatest Hits of all of the gyudons I had had in London. Salty and sweet at the same time with the onion and beef. There was a tanginess to the ginger and smooth taste with the raw egg poured on top. This was not the disappointment I was fearing after Yoshinoya at all. This was worth waiting for...

I would definitely recommend a visit to Matsuya whenever you can!


Matsuya Nakano
2 Chome-29-8 Nakano, Nakano City, Tokyo 164-0001, Japan
〒164-0001 東京都中野区中野２丁目２９−8

Cost of gyudon: 320/380(premium)円(＋税) (approx 140 yen was £1 at the time)

<sup>1. The point about the food I had in Japan is that you could get some pretty decent food at fast-food prices such as Tempura bowls with rice or udon, Japanese curry and then more “local” delicacies such as Beef tongue, seafood bowls etc. The food was wonderful throughout.↩
2. I did quite like the breakfast options available.↩
3. It is worth noting that this seems to be how McDonald’s operates stores in the UK now.↩
4. Paul remembers a phrase I used when he came to visit in 2003 and I said that the Japanese had “elevated sweetcorn to its rightful place” by adding it to salad. This may have been at the very first Matsuya [link to original blog post] we shared, in fact, and so, in essence, where the project started from. ↩</sup>

ロン丼牛ドン / London Gyudon 10: Shitamachi Ramen

Although it has been a while, the “Gyudon in London” project has not been entirely derailed. There are not that many places that advertise gyudon, as I have said before but I have noticed a few more places serving it on menus (usually posted outside). And number ten was spotted in such a way.

Returning from the lovely East Anglian city of Norwich^[1]

in the evening, I was hungry and fancied some dinner. I used to work around Liverpool Street and was sort of familiar with it and, although it changes, knew there were a few lunch places that might be open. In the arcade, a place was open amongst the shuttered stores - Shitamachi Ramen. I used to have lunch in the arcade fairly often and was always struck by the incredibly long queues outside the foreign exchange place that would stretch for a few shops - I guess that counts as good footfall for the other shops there too.

Only after ordering my chicken ramen did I notice that this Ramen bar was not just a ramen bar. Next door was another place called the Japanese-sounding “donburi” and next door to that was another Japanese-sounding place called "Kano Udon". Most intriguing. They were all connected behind the counter and so shared kitchen space meaning that even though they were shut, you could order from those other menus within Shitamachi Ramen .

Checking the menu, I saw that there was gyudon and then that meant, most of all, there was hope.

Externally at least, this felt right and ticked boxes for a gyudon shop:

Cheap

Quick, bar seating or *standing*

Inside a railway station

What it didn't have was that many people; plastic food to illustrate nor a ticket vending machine. But it was pretty close and it had hope. I texted Paul the menu and we were on our way^[2] - but only after I had actually had dinner which was that chicken ramen. I had to text it as there did not appear to be a website - just an instagram account @donburiuk.

A few weeks later (which you must appreciate, after almost a year, is actually pretty quick) we found ourselves walking over London Bridge towards Liverpool Street Station in something of a reunion after eleven months. Were we still friends? This walk would be a test - and that it was not even 6pm meant we had to kill some time too so the test was more than just a walk, it incorporated a drink too. But, not for too long as Shitamachi Ramen closed at 7 pm so we needed to have a fairly early dinner.

Walking in, I was rather tickled that the owner seemed to recognise me from my previous visit ^[3] so we had a quick chat and introduction. After a little discussion, Paul and I had a look at the menu to decide the side to go with the two gyudons - some gyoza, karaage and takoyaki. Classic

The order came all at the same time and we separated the three sides evenly amongst us. The rice bowl was surprisingly big but the topping of beef was not over all of that rice and was accompanied by a fairly large handful of lettuce to fill that space. I could tell that it was a good portion size but it did feel that they had skimped on the beef. Initially, at least. The sides all looked pretty standard - there isn’t much you can do with them visually but the proof would be in the eating.

I started with the takoyaki which I already knew. I really love takoyaki and these were passable - they set off the memory of takoyaki and that is good enough for me at this price (less than £3). I’m not sure I have ever had good takoyaki in the UK as it feels a little cold but even poor takoyaki tastes great!

Next, was to start on the gyudon and that could be different visually. The gyudon was at the basic end without egg or pickled ginger. That would add some different flavours but also adds some colour - in this case, the green lettuce seemed an odd look. I am not sure I have seen lettuce with a gyudon before. As I mentioned, I was a bit concerned because of the size issue. This was a misplaced concern as, once I dug in, I could see that it was also deeper than I had thought and was pretty good value. That wasn’t the only concern allayed and, as ever, I started with the rice and this was well cooked with just a hint of beef on it - that lovely clean white taste was still there. And the beef itself? Well, it was a bit stringy and really tasty. This was a winner from the first mouthful - and the few after that. Paul was in agreement too, this was a good gyudon and after a little mixing with the lettuce to try it out, it could also be judged to be well balanced with the greens. Delving deeper and deeper into it, the beef flavour started to mix with the rice in that pleasant way and this I found particularly satisfying. I then tried the other sides we’d ordered with the gyoza being pretty tasty but the karaage being quite exceptional. The sides at Shitmachi Ramen are pretty cheap and the karaage was just £2.10. The same chicken is also used in the ramen (which I had had earlier) but in this form is truly brilliant. I have to be honest, I am not quite sure why, but the coating is really nice without being at all overpowering. It tasted so nice, it even reminded me of the quality of the sweet potato at Machiya although maybe not quite there. But, taking the price into account, it was really quite excellent. Finishing off the gyudon after having more sides meant I was left with the flavoured rice that is always a joy to mop up.

Shitmachi Ramen was a surprisingly good find and the gyudon was fantastic - especially after so long and after a few disappointing meals in the last few. The gyudon was great and grew on me over the course of the meal. It is absolutely the kind of thing that I was searching for: quick, cheap and unpretentious. I think it is probably the second-best gyudon that I have had over the project behind only Koya (link) but it is far cheaper and is much closer in style to what I was actually after. It is a bit of a shame that I don’t commute via Liverpool Street station any longer! It is a shame that there is no egg or pickled ginger which would make it have the perfect feel for me. But it is very, very close to what I wanted from a gyudon. And all of that is without taking into account the karaage chicken which is just excellent. It was wonderfully soft and the coating was moreish.

I would really strongly recommend Shitamachi Ramen. I want to try out the other shops under the banner too but first, I want to have the gyudon and chicken again.

Cost of gyudon: £7.90

Shitamachi Ramen

The Arcade, 5, London EC2M 7PN

<sup>1. Norwich really is quite delightful and I have only become aware of its charms recently. It has also recently been described as one of the most irresistible cities in the world [link] so you should check it out if you have not been before.↩
2. The way to planning, not actually eating, yet.↩
3. When I had come before, I got chatting to the owner in a way that is not really normal for me and would seem quite out of character for most that know me. I asked a few questions about the gyudon (whether they had pickled ginger) and I got asked a few questions back about why I knew the food and so on. It was nice, we spoke a little and I explained that I had lived in Saitama many years ago [see my reblog for more details] and that I was doing a gyudon project. He seemed intrigued by this but I explained that I could not have gyudon as I needed to have my gyudon buddy with me.↩</sup>

Carried Away (2019)

One of the incredibly fortunate things about the way that I have grown up is that I have ended up being acquaintances with some very interesting and capable people. One of my friends from school (who I used to sit next to in Maths and Physics over twenty years ago! This feels like a less than standard path to being “in Theatre”) entered a playwriting competition for the first time:

We are looking to choose 12 pieces around the theme “Carried Away”, that are no longer than 4 sides of A4 paper, and need no more than 3 actors. They say restriction breeds creativity…

Although this was originally meant to be at The Lion & Unicorn in Kentish Town, and so rather convenient for me, I found myself, instead, at The Drayton Arms in SW5 - not NW5.
I asked whether this was a collection of retellings of the Miyazaki classic Spirited Away but it was not, it was a number of short plays based on the theme of “Carried Away” but with different titles.
I was, ostensibly, going to see “Jessica” by James Taverner^[1] but would obviously watch the others.

I got to the pub and then entered the theatre, but without the information sheet explaining a little more about the evening’s performances. As I found out later, there were two parts to the performances and fifteen plays altogether. Now, the thing about that information sheet was that it also had the names of the plays and the order they were in - so I was going in blind^[2] which was quite an enlightening experience. Unencumbered with the knowledge of which one I was supposed to like, I was able to watch the plays with a bit more freedom to like or dislike. The first part had a number of decent plays of differing types and with quite different ideas on what “Carried Away” could mean. It is worth saying that the competition entrants also had no idea what other pieces were entered so there was also not that sense of self editing by the entrants. There were a rotating cast of actors that switched roles and plays to go through them all. It was quite impressive to see them (and all very close - the benefits of an “intimate” venue) running through these varied roles that were nominally connected by the Carried Away thread. I liked about 60-70% of the first half which isn’t a bad hit rate for the cocktail of ideas presented. Importantly, I did not know if James’ play was in that 60-70% or not. I found out within the interval that it was not…

I enjoyed, most, a play about a woman on her wedding day being told by her brother that her husband-to-be was a knob. A short play like this can only ever be a little conversation but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

The second half did include the aforementioned Jessica and I can say that this tale, told through the rather neat conceit of a speed date, was probably most to my taste of all of the plays. I guess that this may partially be due to my tastes overlapping with those of my friend’s but I think it was also just a very good monologue. It told a tale of the use of technology and asked questions of the audience around the nature of ourselves, our memories and that which we leave behind which I think I have referenced multiple times throughout my blog. It was sort of lucky that I did not have to do any socially acceptable lying^[3] when James asked how it was. The second set of plays was probably a little more enjoyable overall and I had a good evening although the venue was very warm. I might search out more of these kinds of things (or, of course, I might not, as is more likely with my motivation) as the short plays have a structure that I can get with and even if I do not like an individual play, I am probably already quite a way through it by the time I realise! Also, the smaller plays will often have the cast and writers hanging out for a drink afterwards which is sort of fun.

In the unlikely event that you will be able to attend, Carried Away is by KDC Theatre and is running 9 - 13 July 2019.

<sup>1. I have actually mentioned James before, somewhat obliquely, when I revived my old Japanese blog [http://walletsandswords.blogspot.com/2013/07/revival.html] as he was living in China at the time and had started his own blog.↩
2. More blind than normal - don’t mock the afflicted.↩
3. I am a terrible liar anyway.↩</sup>

ロン丼牛ドン / London Gyudon 09: Dozo Sushi

In all honesty, the well is running somewhat dry for this project and each new entry is requiring more and more effort to do. Paul found a place in Willesden (Sushi Masa, visited in a previous form: Sushi Say) but I didn't particularly feel like the journey so persuaded him to visit Dozo Sushi instead. We were going on a Monday and I'd never heard of it before the Sunday (the day before) when I walked past it. I often walk past Japanese restaurants and now I try to check the menu to see if I can add some water to the somewhat dry well.
Situated in Soho, on the outskirts of Chinatown, it had a good location and competition nearby in the form of Eat Tokyo (Holborn branch visited) and plenty of others further afield. This suggested it had to be good in order to keep competitive and there would be plenty of potential customers^[1].

We met at quarter to seven on a Monday evening so I was surprised to see a fairly lengthy queue out of the door. This seemed a positive point to recommend it and the majority of those people had oriental^[2] skin - this had to be good, surely. I checked inside about the queue and was told to wait outside which seemed obvious but is always worth checking in case people with bookings are queueing. This queue was constantly outside the door, even once we went in, so it was consistently popular throughout the evening. As Paul and I do understand, to varying degrees, Japanese, it took moments to confirm that the voices we heard in the queue were not Japanese and so, the chances were, that the people were not Japanese either. As I have mentioned quite a few times, this is not a factor that particularly bothers me but it is worth thinking about what you would think of a French restaurant that had groups of German people in the queue. Or an Indian restaurant with mainly Bengali^[3] patrons.

Once shown to our seats (which were sunk into the floor in a pleasing Japanese touch), we were told that we had a 90-minute time limit for our seats which made the popularity of the restaurant even clearer. Ninety minutes isn't too bad but the fact that they have to say at the beginning, almost a caveat emptor, it really drove home how popular it was.
Of course, we ordered two gyudon and the sides were some yakitori and some nasu dengaku (a sweetened aubergine dish) that seemed to be a decent size. We didn't wait too long to have cutlery and soup delivered to the table. I'm not sure "delivered" is the right verb here, it was placed on our table without eye contact or words spoken. There is a school of service where you are invisible to the customer, placing things there as they need them without bothering them. This requires an understanding of how you may be inserting yourself into the customers' evening which is fine - this was not like that. Here the items were delivered to us, placed in approximately the right place but not with a comment, just put there. Not particularly carefully, and not subtlely either - it was the worst of both schools of service. I am not usually bothered by this, it is a kind of service I often like - quick and direct. The soup was, however, not particularly hot and although I wasn't bothered enough to mention it, Paul did actually ask for it to be replaced. The yakitori, which was pleasant enough, was next but was just a skewer each, as we knew, and so was more of an appetiser than a side/starter.

Next was the gyudon itself, quite a bit later and served in large, stone(ish) bowls that gave the impression of a bibimbap and looked like neither a gyudon nor a bibimbap but was definitely beef with rice underneath it. Other than the beef, there was quite a lot more to go with it with veg and egg to go with the beef and the dish is described as "sliced fillet of beef with shitake mushrooms, carrot, onion & seasoned egg on rice". These extras are not things that I have seen before in Japan or outside Japan so it was an interesting idea. In the end, it reminded me of a chicken katsudon (which has a chicken cutlet and soft egg fried and sort of scrambled with it to give a sweet combination) but with beef and some other veg too. The other food was off-putting and the chunky meat was absolutely not what was expected. It felt like all of the different ingredients were working against each other and the bowl as a whole seemed to lack flavour while, at the same time, being full of flavours drowning each other out. I remember describing Peruvian food as full of flavours being piled on – as if they were bored and just said: "oh put this in too" but that is done with some aim to get to an end goal. Here, it felt careless and lazy and like a concoction of leftovers without something that binds them together. Some of the best food around is made of leftovers but it needs something to make them work. After having almost finished, the nasu dengaku was brought out and this ended up being more appropriate than we had imagined when ordering as the sauce was so sweet! I rather liked it in the small doses but Paul scraped the sauce off after the first mouthful. I am a bit of an aubergine fan so I did enjoy it subjectively but it wasn't a particularly good nasu dengaku objectively. It had the sweetness of a dessert^[4] and I am not usually a fan of Asian desserts. We did get given the dessert menu afterwards too, which was a nicely presented set of wooden boards, that I felt was quietly impressive.

Dozo Sushi is a strange restaurant and although I was not expecting much, I was not expecting that. It is so popular and that is something that I did not really understand from what I saw. The menu was reasonable but not cheap like a number of other restaurants – and so not cheap enough to be a proper USP. In essence, this felt like Chinese food dressed up to have a Japanese look which was not what we were after. The decor was appropriate enough but it did, after eating the food, feel less like a Japanese restaurant and more like a Japanese chain restaurant in China. That does not mean it would not appeal to lots of people and I guess that explains the queues and general popularity of Dozo Sushi - I can only assume that it has been to the taste of a guidebook writer that has added it to their list.
After finishing up, we had been there for an hour but less than the 90 minutes we had been allotted and we wondered whether we should stay longer to use the time^[5] we had been given even though we had nothing left to order. We didn't. Also, rather tellingly I did not utter the words "gochisousama" (see link for explanation ) upon leaving for two reasons – a) the food was merely OK; b) I just don't think anyone would have understood…

I am not sure that I would go back to Dozo Sushi at all. The gyudon we have had has been fairly mixed in quality but this was definitively the worst and furthest away from expectation. Unlike at other restaurants where the gyudon has not been great, there has been a certain je ne sais quoi that makes me think that the gyudon is not a fair way to judge the overall restaurant (most notably at Machiya) but here, the gyudon really feels like it pointed to the approach here and it felt like Japanese food cosplay to some degree. Not what I am particularly after and I would not recommend to anyone else, really.

Cost of gyudon: £9.80


Dozo Sushi
32 Old Compton St, Soho, W1D 4TP

^{1. In spite of this location, there was actually something about it that made me think it might not be that good, and had altered my expectations accordingly. It was probably the fact that I had not heard of it.↩}

^{2. "Asian" for those schooled in the American ways.↩}

^{3. This isn't a simplistic position, most of London's Indian restaurants seem to actually be Bengali - and they were the same country for much of the past.↩}

^{4. This did not stop us from getting some actual dessert, in the form of ice cream, afterwards from Amorino. ↩}

^{5. This discussion reminded me of a piece of research that I had read about in Freakonomics (http://freakonomics.com/2013/10/23/what-makes-people-do-what-they-do/) where parents at a kindergarten would come later than they used to once fines were introduced to (ostensibly) discourage lateness. It was then seen as a price for lateness rather than unacceptable behaviour and treated, as large companies around the world do when they don't like laws, as an operating cost rather than a deterrent.↩}