Mori Japanese
'Things took a turn for the worse' at Mori

Mori

Open Mon–Sat 11.30am–10pm; Sun Midday–10pm

As I walked into the latest branch of this Japanese café, I was greeted by one of the girls behind the counter who assured me that there weren’t any toilets if that’s what I was looking for. A beast of a fridge filled with plastic sushi trays dominates and there are small chrome tables scattered about. The décor is minimalist, with large black and white photographs of Tokyo covering one wall and a nu-rave neon palette on the remainder plus a gentle bubbling of Japanese pop in the background. After about 10 minutes of sitting in what I can only describe as a metal bucket I realised that the door had been left wide open for the take-away guys to jog in and out with the sushi delivery orders: we were freezing.

My friend Kim ordered a double espresso to wake her up. Unfortunately it had only been briefly introduced to a coffee bean and wasn’t the velvety intense punch she was quite expecting. I had an organic guava, apple and grape juice (£2.50) while Kim grabbed a peach and mango vita-coco drink (£1.80) endorsed by the likes Madonna.

We kicked things off with some sushi which was served on little dishes that looked like geisha sandals with a dainty salad garnish and vibrant pickles. The salmon, avocado and wasabi mayo hand roll (£3.50) had a crunchy seaweed skin and meaty salmon enveloped with lashings of creamy avocado and mayo; the tuna sashimi (£5.95) was translucent. It was obviously fresh from the kitchen. However a fellow diner chose a selection of the plastic boxes from the fridge and disliked them so greatly he sent them back and left.

Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse as we ventured on to the hot menu. I had been eyeing up the miso-marinated salmon with sticky rice (£7.25). Sadly I had to request soy sauce (and fresh chopsticks) because it was void of flavour. ‘I have three prawns Sarah… Three,’ was Kim’s verdict on her udon noodles with ‘large’ prawns (£5.75). Her dish was also cold and tasted of hand lotion. The edamame beans (£3.95) were the most edible; liberally but unevenly covered in rock salt.

Ready to leave, we chose the quickest dessert possible; zero fat frozen yoghurt (£2.85). I asked for mine to be topped with Reece’s Pieces and Kim went for strawberries and chocolate chips. They were out of Reece’s Pieces so I had M&Ms which, when cold, could break a tooth.

Mori is acceptable if you want a quick bite in between shops or for take-away as the fresh sushi was great but the service was pushy, the interior was unwelcoming and the hot food was awful.

Meal for two, around £30.

Mori, 9 King’s Road, London, SW3; mori.uk.com; 020 7351 1033

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