Shiso

This small little restaurant is just a stones throw away from the Barbican station and the Museum of London! I was impressed with their prices for such a big serving, and I got the vegetarian noodles and enjoyed it. I was disappointed with the lack of seating and had to stand with my friends during the meal as the restaurant only had three tables. The staff was kind and the food was enjoyable but nothing unique or that would make me desire to come back.

I love the chicken teriyaki here, and the daily specials are definitely worth checking out too. Lunch is £4.50−6.50 depending on what you order, and always fresh and tasty. The duck teriyaki noodles are the nuts. Tip: 12 – 13:00 is always crazy busy so shoot to get there on the dot or a touch later to avoid the queue.

2.5 stars.
This is right opposite my college so I do come here once every couple of weeks. Sushi, soup, katsu and small selection of Japanese groceries– sake and snacks.
Everything is– perfectly edible but not amazing. The sushi is not as good as itsu (which really is NOT saying very much), I’ve found a piece of rock hard raw potato in my curry sauce and the curry sauce is, well, all the other Japanese Curry sauce I’ve ever eaten is like 4 times as thick as this one. Please, none of this mamby, pamby Thai style watery stuff– not that thai curries are bad but if I wanted a thai curry I would get one. Japanese curries should be thick, unctuous and thick!
The worst thing is the queue. They have 1 person to serve, assemble the food (which is done fresh, nice but…) and check you out all at the same time. The other day, the queue was so long there was no more space in the little shop.
Yeah, so 2.5 stars, I generally don’t return to 2 stars establishments by choice so I guess it is more a 3. (as in if there was an itsu within 2 minutes of me I’d go there instead, but this is dead close, so I go here.)

Arrhh! I love sushi and so does my sushi baby, but this place lets the side down just a tad. It’s rather expensive and the prawn gyoza really didn’t have any prawn in it at all. Also it was a bit rubbery.
Saying that, I do go back because the sushi is good, but I just wish is was a little bit better finely tuned.
However the sushi baby was satisfied after spending £11.50 on lunch!

Dear American ex-​pat colleagues who love Shiso,
While I appreciate your every effort to make my stay in Clerkenwell the wonderful experience that it always is, I must beg your forgiveness if I don’t take to Shiso with the same vim and vigor that you do. Yes, it’s clean, cute, and inviting. But it’s a bit McJapanesey — bland, overcooked, white meat with sugary teriyaki sauce. Isn’t your beloved katsu the same thing but fried? (Word to the wise: chicken thighs don’t dry out and taste so much better than your, err… dry, tasteless breasts).
Yours truly,
Laurence W.

Sweet little place and as I type this I can feel the craving for katsu curry growing inside me. In fact, sod it, I have just made my lunch choice for the day!
I have had the sushi from here before which was also ace, but the best bits for me are the hot dishes (probably because I’ve only been there when the weather has been cold). So as not to make the hole dish too sloppy, the sauces are served in separate little cups, meaning you can sparingly spread it over the meal when you get back to the office or dip in it sparingly.
One downfall though, as this little place is quite little, verging on the edge of small or even petite, there is only one person serving at any one time. This does mean that if you go in as a group of 4 looking for take away, likelihood is the first person’s food will be cold by the time the last person is served. As a quick tip, be a gentleman and let all your colleagues get served first — it is in your best interest ;)

A very solid 4 stars for arguably the nicest Japanese take-​out in Smithfield (if not in all of London). Excellent selection of higher-​end sushi (seared ahi, seared tuna, a selection of very fresh sashimi) and a ridiculously good chicken katsu. This katsu is so good that Shiso routinely runs out of it by 1pm, so get there early. Although you can get the katsu with curry, I suggest breaking with tradition and get it with teriyaki sauce — yum…so good. Shiso also has a nice selection of sakes and random Japanese treats (Pocky). Most definitely worth a lunch-​time visit!

Not a lot of things make me happier than a good chicken katsu curry. Except maybe a good and spicy chicken katsu curry with lots of potatoes. Shiso provided me with just such a curry today at lunch and as such earned itself a place in my lunch rotation.
This tiny Japanese-​run takeaway on Long Lane has a lot going for it: a wide selection of proper green teas, sake, wine, sushi and hot foods like seafood noodles and teriyaki chicken and salmon.
If you work in Clerkenwell near Farringdon station and frequent Mugen, Shiso is a cleaner, higher quality bet and definitely worth a nosy at midday.