Sapporo Ichiban
Sapporo Ichiban Japanese 13 Catford Broadway, SE6 4SP £
Described by customers online as “Catford’s best kept secret”; Sapporo Ichiban is a cheap and authentic answer to Japanese in South East.
Catford isn’t short of Eastern cuisine, with a plethora of Chinese takeaways as well as local cheap eats 'Tan Won Mei' noodle bar and 'Saigon Foods' Vietnamese, you really can have you pick of the bunch. However, it isn’t every day you get sushi for as little as £2.30 a roll at a place as authentic as Sapporo Ichiban.
The restaurant’s set up admittedly doesn’t ooze with atmosphere, but a simplistic diner style, as well as some alternative cross-legged floor seats are together able to seat a large number of people. The open style kitchen is a nice touch, typical of Asia and a concept which many more modern restaurants are adopting. All of the kitchen and waiting staff here are Japanese, and the lady which both made and delivered sushi to our table looked like she’d been making the stuff for years – a true pro.
We went for the tuna and pickle sushi roll (£3.80), after deciding that salmon and avocado was done too often. The rice was cooked to perfection; sticky, not stodgy, however, the helping of tuna could have been more generous… given that the enormous pickle drowned the flavour of the fish slightly. Following the sushi we had some prawn tempura (£5.80) and chicken gyoza (£4.20) which were absolutely sublime. The gyoza is amongst some of the best I’ve tasted; soft on one side and crispy on the other with plenty of flavoursome filling. The prawn tempura is definitely the best I’ve had. Five massive prawns coated in a spiky layer of perfect light and crisp batter; the crunch giving way to a juicy tenderness.
Unfortunately, the Kurmo Ebi Yaki Udon £7.00 did not live up to its counterparts. The noodles were awash with a stale tasting brown sauce, there wasn’t much to them apart from a few beansprouts and dull vegetables, and the prawns were TERRIBLY overcooked. Given that this was the most expensive dish we ordered, it was a surprise and a let-down that it was the least enjoyable.
But don’t let one dish put you off! Give Sapporo Ichiban a visit, for its 10/10 tempura, delicious gyoza and authentic sushi. The trick here is to steer away from the bigger main dishes and share the small plates in the true spirit of Japan. The prices are fabulous, the service decent and majority of the food great – you’d be mad not to.
OVERALL RATING: ****
