Second helpings of Kulu Kulu

10 April 2012

This review was first published in October 1998

Japanese food seems to have gone quickly from being impenetrable to being all-pervasive. Nowhere is this sensation more keenly felt than when sitting beside a conveyor belt of sushi and watching the colour-coded (ie, price-coded) plates snake past, only for them to come round again, and again, like unloved pieces of lost luggage. Because of this possibility, the kaiten (revolving) system is not highly rated in its home country. And even the easier-to-impress English are beginning to realise when sushi has been prepared by novices, as is often the case at the flashier outlets. At Kulu Kulu, in the street that housed London's first noodle bar, the chef on view is reassuringly Japanese, and from most vantage points in the narrow room it is possible to see when the dishes start their journeys.

Watching the plates go by is a bit like life. There is a dull period with nothing that entices, then suddenly, like party invitations that are all for the same night, there arrives an array of must-haves. For me this includes savoury/sweet eels; salmon sashimi cut from a fillet by the chef on view; nori-wrapped rice studded with jewel-like salmon roe; futomaki (thick-rolled) sushi with omelette and avocado scattered with sesame seeds; fried beancurd-skin parcels; aubergine stewed in something sweet, presumably a rice wine called mirin; a clump of greenstuff like wet grass cuttings which seems demonstrably beneficial.

On the counter there are chopsticks, paper tissues, bottles of shoyu (Japanese soya sauce) and little dishes in which you mix the shoyu with wasabi (the mustard mixture often referred to as horseradish), which sails round the carousel in small green mounds. Another pot holds gari: pink pickled-ginger slices, which complement the ingestion of raw fish. You help yourself to green tea made with a teabag and water from the urn and/or order sake, Kirin beer or wine, the last the least apt accompaniment. Miso soup and noodle assemblies can also be summoned from the back kitchen. Kulu Kulu is my favourite kaiten; a frequent lunch stop.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in