The Daily Telegraph
Previously a fan of Japanese food, William Sitwell had his high expectations of omakase cuisine shattered by a new restaurant at the Stratford hotel near Olympic Park in east London.
His meal began with oysters “wrecked by a quicksand of cloying sweet jelly and a purée of ‘apple-smoked celeriac’. I’d rather eat the oyster shells than have to suffer that hell again”. Some “remarkably unpleasant, tough” sushi came next, then barbecued wagyu beef that was “more house-on-fire than cheffy grill” and tuna cooked at a low temperature over fire that was “frightful. It stank like the bottom of a boat unsweetened by diesel, tasted as bad, and its hue was worse, reminding me of the loo on a boat I once took from Bombay to Goa.” Dinner came to a “suitable, calamitous conclusion” with “a sickly sweet pud with ‘wood-fired ice cream’. It tasted like someone had stubbed out their fag in my Mr Whippy.”
If a meal here provided any service, William decided, it was to steer the uninitiated well clear of expensive Japanese food – “a bit like persuading your kids that polo is a terrible sport”.
William Sitwell - 2025-08-03
