Kulu Kulu Sushi

t is a small location, but cosy, and it's great sitting round the belt with the chef in the middle preparing fresh sushi in front of you! But like any good sushi, it is pricy, but worth it.

I have been a regular at Kulu Kulu for a few years now and used to find it ideal for that quick fix of good quality Sushi at reasonable prices. Hey, they even throw in green tea here, which you help yourself to from a large tea urn at the back of the restaurant. It takes many years to train and become a sushi chef and then only those who are capable and skilled enough will be allowed near any fish. So on my last visit here, I am somewhat disappointed to notice large rice mounds travelling past on the conveyer belt with rather odd shaped pieces of fish precariously balancing on top. It should not be a question of just any Tom, Dick or Harry having a go, otherwise we shall lose that whole appeal of Japanese food we love so much. The skill that only comes with many years practice, the simplicity of Japanese food is why we are seeing new restaurant opening weekly. On the whole the ingredients used seem fresh enough, but I question of the quality of the salmon used during my busy lunch time visit. I am not keen either to see the chefs receiving take-out orders only for them to promptly remove dishes from the belt to box up for that takeaway, leaving us diners with even less to choose from. The service here is always good, but they seem short staffed with the waitress doubling as that and working the till. I will return soon, just once to see if there have been changes, otherwise there are plenty of other fish in the sea.

Forget any preconceived notions that you may have of conveyor belt sushi: this is nothing like Yo Sushi or Moshi Moshi. In fact, the only thing that these all have in common is the conveyor belt. Unlike most other like sushi places, at Kulu Kulu the sushi is freshly prepared. Not here pre-made sushi and rolls kept in the fridge for the rice to solidify. No, the rice is kept in a tub at room temperature as it should be and used as and when needed. The classics are all here (tuna, salmon, eel, squid, softshell crab etc.), as well as tempura, hand rolls and various other dishes; this is what is so great about Japanese food. Whilst so much of it is now familiar (thanks, it has to be said, in no small part to Yo and Moshi etc.), there are always wonderful looking dishes, that I have no idea what they are. The fish is beautifully fresh, in big, thick chunks. The tempura is light and again, comes out freshly cooked. Another distinction between here and other conveyor belt places in London, is that there are a fair number of Japanese here too. Being in soho, there is also a fair collection of tourists. Etiquette in conveyor belt places is pretty simple: don't put a dish back once you've taken it off the belt and don't lean over somebody to get to the food. Perhaps they should have a note to this effect up. In French would be helpful here. I've said before that Kurumaya is one of the better conveyor belt sushi restaurants, and I still think it is (although I think standards there have slipped recently); Kulu Kulu is, in my view, even better.

If you want a quick sushi lunch/dinner and then this place is great, you would be hard pushed to get better value. The sashimi/nigiri on my visits has always been fresh and generously portioned and they offer some more authentic dishes vege dishes such as seaweed salads. It has become a staple go-to place in London to eat