Friday 2 May 2008

Nanakusa



Are apparently seven herbs (Seri, Nazuna, Hahakogusa, Hakobe, Konitabirako, Suzuna and Suzushiro) that are eaten on the 7th day of the first month of the new year to promote wellbeing, longevity, nourishment and vitality. It is also the name of a new Japanese restaurant on Sauchiehall St.

We had popped in there for some food before going to see Iron Man, which was fab!
Go see it. Best action hero adaptation there has been, and given the dross there has been is probably not that much of a compliment, but I mean it to be. Not too long, good character evolution, good baddy and good chemistry between Downey Jnr and Paltrow whom I am inclined to dislike. However, hats off to her-not only can she do smug and superior, she can now do ditsy and endearing.

Glasgow is pretty poorly provided for when it comes sushi. We used to have OKO which was owned by Jim Kerr of Simple Minds. As well as being a sushi kaiten it also was the only place you could get decent sashimi and tataki. Guess this was one of the reasons it closed down or got taken over. To have sushi or sashimi of reasonable quality, costs money and cuts down your profits. The only other place I go to in Glasgow is Ichiban but even there the sushi is 'safe' no hamachi here and definitely no sashimi. I was excited when I heard that Yo Suhi were opening a branch in Silverburn but this was short lived as they didn't have 4 out of the 5 dishes I ordered.

So was Nanakusa going to be any different? In a word -no.

Its a funky place alright and I can see it will appeal to a younger crowd. But the menu is heavy on the cooked dishes-rice, noodles and heavy on the fried stuff.
We had a glass of wine, a beer



two salmon nigiri, two eel nigiri



a flavourless grilled mackerel dish (how is it possible to make mackerel tasteless? it is one of the tastiest fish out there!) an equally flavourless Salmon teriyaki (fried of course, steaming is too difficult) gyoza



and a decent miso. All for £31. So not cheap and not that filling.

But then what was I thinking? It's Sauchiehall St not Tsukiji .

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