masuya

 on thursday fourteenth july the legal division wrapped up our flagship ministerial meeting. the team had been working on this meeting since last year and it was a great relief when it was done and done well. after a team drinks at the sir stamford hotel some of us went off to dinner. the concierge at the intercontinental had recommended a japanese restaurant called masuya.

masuya is in the basement of a rather nondescript and unlit building. so it was quite a surprise to the five us to come down the stairs to a brightly lit and very busy space. even on a week day it was packed and we had a short wait before being seated. there were a fair number of families eating hotpot. i would have loved to order one but that’s only possible when you are dining with people who are interested in the same things as you.

what strikes one about masuya is the presentation and generosity of the sushi and sashimi. the menu includes visuals of the dishes making (in az’s and my case the choice harder). luckily for us, we were both interested in trying the wagyu beef which was very reasonably priced.  however, being seafood lovers as well we wanted to have the sashimi too. so, whilst the rest of the team ordered individually az and i picked a dish each with a view to sharing them. out of the two wagyu dishes i suggested we pick the one with miso paste instead of the teriyaki. i have had miso marinated onglet and i love the pairing of this salty soybean paste. with that we had the assorted sushi and sashimi which included salmon, tuna, king prawn, california rolls and spider sushi rolls.  

the fish in the sushi and sashimi was excellent. the only thing i could fault the sashimi on was the thickness of the cuts. sashimi is meant to be delicate and thin and these pieces were quite chunky. but where it lacked in finesse it more than made up for in taste especially the salmon and tuna. we had asked for the wagyu beef to be cooked medium rare. the sliced beef had a seared dark edge around a dark pink centre. strangely though it was served with mashed potatoes which both az and i found quite peculiar not least because miso and potatoes do not work well together. but once again the potatoes were eclipsed by the beef. to say that the beef was tender is an understatement. it literally melted in the mouth. i have never eaten beef like this before.

pity that wagyu is so expensive in england. and that travelling to sydney is too expensive otherwise i'd love to be eating more of it.