dinings, marylebone

[dipardoo]

i love this place. feel it deserves a thread.

had a terrific lunch today.

sashimi set lunch plus mixed tempura, yellowtail collar, pork shoulder teriyaki, and a side of sugar snaps peperonchino all washed down with four bottles of kirin (i had help by the way)

£60 or thereabouts.

i couldn't have been happier.

[alm]

I am thinking of taking my girlfriend here for her birthday treat in december - do you recommend sitting at the bar as compared to sitting in the restaurant?

[david goodfellow]

This place is a fairly recent addition to my London "list".

I did try for a weekend table six to eight weeks ago, but failed, but hope to dine there before the end of November.

In my opinion, from what I have heard it really does deserve its own thread, so thanks for starting one,

Hope it gets some good response.

By the way Claude Bosi (Hibiscus) thinks its "terrific"

High praise indeed, from a superstar chef.

[Prawncrackers]

After all the unanimous rave reviews in the national press earlier in the year, I took my wife to Dinings back in June. Surely all those big-name London critics can't be wrong. So I took a little camera in anticipation of a great meal and posting some pics here but felt afterwards that it wasn't really worth mentioning. It was alright, but we won't be rushing back. We had a fairly broad range of dishes, shame to waste a good set of photos, so here they are:

Little scallop "tacos" (actually potato crisps) - tasty and tiny

Braised Pork Belly - a bit bland

Unagi & Foie Gras Nigiri - by far the best thing we ate

A selection of salmon sushi, mean London sized pieces, underwhelming

Chu-toro nigiri, if you can believe it, again mean and poorly sliced on top. Decidedly Yo Sushi! standard

Grilled Rib-eye, not bad but they didn't have the Wagyu we'd originally wanted

Zaru Soba and Udon, both very nice but difficult to mess these two up

We had the tea (i think Earl Grey) panacotta, tasted good but looked a mess and the matcha creme brulee which was much better

So all in all i've still yet to have outstanding Japanese in London. I don't come down all that often but i have managed to eat at half a dozen Japanese places in London. I would rate this above Tokyo Diner in Soho and Saki near Smithfield but below the Centrepoint near Tottenham Court and Cafe Japan in Golders Green. I like Cafe Japan a lot but even that is not a patch on my regular, Ebi Sushi in Derby. Yes Derby.