Episode 1 was to take place near Piccadilly Circus where there seems to be quite a few Japanese establishments and a bit of a media set around Golden Square. I would guess that this first time will not be the last time to this area.
Lingo is a fairly well established restaurant and I had been there before a few years ago and had different food. I'd also had gyudon there but as a take away on a (well priced) lunch deal. 01, however, was not my choice so that past experience was irrelevant.
A Wednesday evening may not be the best time to judge how busy a restaurant gets but we were seated promptly at the ground floor as we went in without a reservation. The floor was almost full but there is space downstairs that I didn't see. The atmosphere was fine with enough of a background noise to make it comfortable. As it happens, most diners seemed to be in pairs or small groups and the upstairs does lend itself to that ambience. It also had a sort of honesty and enthusiasm that feels common at these kinds of Japanese restaurants, which I think was highlighted with a wonderful sign about wasted food.
Paul and I decided[1] to have gyudon accompanied by a few sides/starters. We discussed the rules - we do both have to order gyudon but extras can be whatever is decided and so we got some kimchi pancake and gyōza. The orders did not all come together to my disappointment and we were served miso soup followed by pancake, gyōza and then gyudon as separate courses.
The Korean influenced pancake was nice with a good bit of crispness that set off the strange mellow and pickled flavour of kimchi. Handily, it was cut up for sharing. The gyōza were sort of a mixture between the fried and steamed variants with the jacket being rather softer than the gyōza that I am used to. They also did not have the flat, crispy bottom that I like but the taste of the dumplings was definitely acceptable.
The gyudon came out together and it was clear from first sight that this would not be scratching the relevant gyudon itch. Oh, it was definitely a beef bowl but it was also a restaurant and so it looked quite a different beast. To assess the meal is quite difficult in some ways as the gyōza were probably a good indication of the restaurant as a whole - nice for what it was but not quite what I was after. As you'd expect, the beef was placed on a bowl of white rice with a sweet sauce but there were some other elements. A spot of yellow was placed in the form of some pickles but, and this is sort of key to the experience, there was nothing else at the table. Red pickled ginger is usually available at gyudon bars and it is up to the diner to add it and I would usually add quite a bit for both the taste and the texture. The other major difference was the look of the beef itself which was rich looking and fairly chunky. It looked really good and covered the rice as you'd expect so the portion was also fairly decent, if not exactly overflowing. The meal as a whole was the right size. We didn't have dessert because, well, you don't have to have Asian dessert - not always the best way of finishing a meal. We left as seemingly the last people in the restaurant and it was only about 9pm[2] which was a surprise.
As I have said, gyudon, as I know it, is a cheap meal and so this made the serving just not quite feel right which might be a tad unfair. We both enjoyed the beef bowl as the meat was tender, tasty and had been marinated with onion in a good sweet sauce. It reminded me of what you would do if you didn't have the right ingredients - in this case the restaurant does not have the type of stringier meat available. In many ways, I would recommend the meal as a meal (so do go) but not for the gyudon. Paul mentioned that it was not a restaurant that he would order gyudon at - the menu is extensive and it makes more sense to get a few items (like the pancake) to share rather than a bowl to yourself.
I wonder whether this will be a common comment.
We shall but see.
We shall but see.
Cost of gyudon: £11.50
1 Lower John Street, London W1F 9DT
2. We went on to discuss and converse to another place. We have, for mundane, convenience reasons, ended up at Caffè Nero in Soho a few times of late. It is opposite the relatively well known Bar Italia but is not as pressured. I'm sure the coffee is not as cool either but I rarely have coffee “out” and had tea anyway. This particular one is open very late - until 2am on a school night. This is pretty handy to know when there is a need for a place to sit of a night sans alcohol. When we got there, there was quite a commotion with the staff swearing at some customers. And the customers, unsurprisingly responding in kind. On the face of it, the shop staff seemed overly aggressive and the customers sat down and continued flinging abuse. I thought it quite odd that they stayed in the cafe for quite some time and offered insults and conversations to the staff. Eventually, the police were called to eject them. A few moments later, another group came in and a similar thing happened - it was all pretty exciting. It then made conversation flourish across the tables and we got chatting to a guy on his own on the table next to us. He was drinking nothing. His tip, as a “poor artist” was to pick up a take away cup and sit at a table. He said the coffee was terrible there anyway. He actually ran a project to make art more accessible and he asked what we did. I answered “I'm an accountant for…” and I could sense his disappointment. It is a fairly common thing after starting a conversation. Luckily Paul had a more interesting answer so the conversation as a whole continued.↩
