Tokyo Retro

Japanese 57 Abbeville Rd, London SW4 9JW ££

If you're looking for a decent restaurant south of the river, head to Abbeville road. OK, so this is my neighbourhood, where I grew up and have lived for 21 years so I may be a teeny bit biased, but honestly, for one small stretch of road (only 1/3 are restaurants - the rest is residential housing), it has the highest volume of decent restaurants I have seen.

Mostly independent, excluding the Starbucks and Pizza Express, Abbeville Road has variation - from Fish and Chips to Mexican, French to Japanese. Tokyo Retro is the only Japanese restaurant on the strip, and in quite a gentrified area, someone craving some good old Sushi can never be far off.

A small place with few staff, Tokyo Retro is welcoming and modest. Simple black furniture fill the clean white interior of the restaurant, lighting isn't dark but not too bright either and the few members of staff on the floor (around 3) are friendly and pleasant. Although Tokyo Retro's minimal atmosphere is a reason to applaud it, it may have gone a step too far... the lack of any music playing in the background only heightened what a quiet restaurant it already was.

Going on a Friday night this was inevitably going to be the busiest I had seen the place, however, there were still only around 5 tables occupied, including mine. This is not to speak against the food at all - usually a half full restaurant at peak time would put me off, but just because Pizza Express is fuller than Tokyo Retro at this time, please PLEASE do not be alarmed.

The wine list was small but very decently priced, we got a bottle of Pinot Grigio for £17, a small price to pay for a decent bottle of white in a nice restaurant. The Sushi is also decently priced - £8.50 for a roll of 8 - we went for the Salmon and Crab roll with the Spicy Tuna roll. Both tasted fresh, great and were presented beautifully. I want to say authentic but I've never been to Japan so I would be bullshitting, however, this did taste a lot better than other sushi joints I've tried (itsu, wasabi). We also had some Shrimpy Tempura to start £8.50, the prawns cooked perfectly and the tempura light and crispy.

Tokyo Retro is a relaxed and calm atmosphere in which to enjoy some good sushi at good prices. There are much snazzier and more exciting Sushi restaurants, such as Tsunami in Clapham North, however, this is inevitably much more expensive. I guess it all depends what you're after.

*Photos included have been updated since a more recent lunch visit. Would highly recommend: Matcha Iced Latte, Mixed Sashimi, Edamame Beans, Spicy Tuna Sushi Roll and Mixed Tempura.

OVERALL RATING: ****

http://www.tokyoretro.co.uk/

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