Reaching for the Stars #6 | Sushi Tetsu (Clerkenwell, London) | No star

Sushi Tetsu is a seven-seater sushi bar located in Clerkenwell and headed by Toru Takahashi, who previously worked at Nobu for seven years. Sushi Tetsu is one of the only two traditional Japanese sushi bars in London (the other being The Araki with a minimum spend of £300pp). That means no hot food, no tempura, just meticulously sliced pieces of fish.

Given the extremely small capacity and its popularity within people in the know, it very naturally became the hardest restaurant to book in London. Sushi Tetsu accepts only telephone reservation. The telephone line is open only for five hours every other Monday for bookings two to four weeks in advance (changed to opening 3 hours for every Monday from March). Even with the convoluted booking rules that reminiscent of old school restaurants in Japan, real luck and dedication are still required to secure a booking.

The meal was an omakase (‘leave it all to the chef’) that consists of 12 pieces of nigiri, a hand roll and a Japanese omelette. Appetisers came edamame and a small bowl of broth cooked with the tail of tuna and white radish. The hint of sweetness from the fish and bonito flakes was given further levels of depth by a dash of soy sauce and the oil rendered from the fish. What a relaxing, comforting bowl of soup it was.

The first sushi was black seabream (クロダイ), a popular and similar substitution of the more expensive Japanese red seabream (マダイ) which is naturally very sweet and comes with a firm texture. Next came an also skilfully made piece of soy-marinated lean tuna (赤身の醤油漬け). Soy marination is a traditional way to preserve fish that originated from the Edo period. The shells – red clam (アカガイ) and scallop (ホタテ) came soon after and the lack of pictures says it all in a positive way.

Sushi Tetsu sources mostly from Billingsgate Fish Market, meaning that fishes mostly come from Europe. The next dish, medium fatty tuna (中トロ) was sourced from Spain and the one after, sardine (イワシ) was from Scotland. The sushi section is then concluded by Botan shrimp (ボタンエビ), gurnard (ホウボウ), fatty tuna (大トロ), salmon (サーモン), mackerel (サバ) and eel (鰻). A fair amount of variation in preparation were observed. As an example, the gurnard was perfumed by Yuzu, while the black bream was marinated by sheets of kelp overnight (昆布締め). These small but significant nuances are what sets apart a real sushi restaurant from the rest of the competition. My only complaint is that there were too many (four) seared fish and it did feel repetitive at one point. Tuna shinko temaki (Minced tuna with salty pickles) and tamagoyaki (Egg omelette) marked a classic and satisfying end to the meal.

The bill came £124 with two glasses of good quality but modestly priced sake. While it is not budget dining by any means, the quality of the food and the hospitality of Toru’s wife, Harumi made me believe that the restaurant was still very good value and lived well up to the hype.

How the hell this place still does not have a star is beyond my comprehension.

★★★★★ – Can't wait to introduce more people to visit with!