Ajimura, Hiroko
JAPANESE food has not quite caught on over here the way it has in America. We have quite a few Japanese restaurants, mostly in London and many of them excellent, and they have a devoted follow- ing (Japanese food, indeed all Japo- naisene, seems to attract the devotional) but I should say that still more than 50 per cent of restaurant-goers have not tried eating Japanese.
No other cuisine is as foreign to us. And it's not just a question of the raw fish which seems to put off so many of the squeamish British: everything about it is different; the rituals that surround its preparation and serving, the importance of artistry and formal aesthetic principles; the whole ethos of eating. We have learnt, and rightly so, for often it is mere window-dressing, to be sceptical of excessive presentation in cooking, but the Japanese way is far removed from the gratuitous landscape cookery of nouvelle cuisine at its worst.
The aesthetics that govern the presenta- tion of Japanese food stem rather from sumi-e, black ink painting, with its use of empty space, and ikebana, flower arrang- ing, with all its rules of contrasts and complements. Colours, shapes, tastes and textures are all arranged in strict relation to one another; and not only with the food, but with the dishes it is served in as well. Dumplings or foods roundish in shape are presented in straight-lined dishes, square blocks of tofu or long-sliced vegetables will come in round dishes or bowls; glassware may be considered appropriate in summer, whereas heavier ceramics will be used in winter.
But you don't have to be a student of Japanese culture to appreciate all this; and those of you who have never set foot in a Japanese restaurant need not feel intimi- dated. Courtesy is fundamental to the presentation of Japanese food and no one will make you feel that there is a right or wrong way to eat it.
Ajimura in Shelton Street (240 0178/ 9424) is a good place to start. With white painted walls with pale wood tables, the atmosphere is calmly efficient, although its popularity can be a distraction. It is poss- ibly more comfortable to eat at a table, though if you sit at the sushi bar you can see the fish being sliced and carved in front of you — mesmeric entertainment.
I would advise deciding on the such or sashimi before you look at the hors d'oeuvres. Sashimi is the plain raw fish, deftly cut and placed in the hirarnori way, a flat arrangement, on a miniature wooden table. The wattle-pink tuna, the salmon cut against the grain with what look like wood markings, the marbly grey and white yel- lowtail, steel-skinned mackerel and gleam- ing turbot are arranged asymetrically against the marzipan green ball of wasabi, the horseradish/mustard and the darker green on the shiso leaf. If you are new to raw fish I should choose the sushi. Nigiri- sushi are the fingers of fish on vinegared rice; nori-maki (temaki-sushi here) are the rolls of fish and vinegared rice wrapped in seaweed, cut into cylinders or curled into cones, and served with a pink rose of pickled ginger and a bowl of shoyu, the Japanese soy. Before these, for a starter, try namban zuke, deep-fried fish marinated in a ginger and onion dressing, oshitashi, logs of spi- nach rolled in nori seaweed and sprinkles, if you like, with bonito (a tuna-like fish) flakes or Hirmae Uni Ae, raw fish in a dressing of sea-urchin, raw egg yolk, sake and lemon. The starters are so good here (and there are many more of them) that I would order a meal around these.
Of the main courses, the beef teriaki (a sauce of reduced shoyu, sake and sugar) was not as good here as at the Hiroko in the Kensington Hilton (603 5003), which has a more bustling atmosphere than Ajimura. No sushi bar, but there are individual tables in trellised-off alcoves and waitresses in traditional gear. Especially good are the seaweed salad in a sesame sauce (fleshy and other-worldly), shabu- shabu (a dish of broth in which you immerse and cook, at table, shreds of beef and vegetables), beef teriaki and special herbed rice, highly perfumed and flecked black, pink and white like Fifties bathroom wallpaper.
Japanese Kirin beer is the best accom- paniment, and to end with, it has to be fruit, carved and chiselled in a formal arrangment of great beauty. None of this is cheap: at both restaurants the bill (with 15 per cent service) came to £46, but the set meals are cheaper and very good value. An added bonus is that both places are open on Sunday evenings, although it is always advisable to book. A final and salutary point: the Japanese have the lowest rate of heart disease in the industrialised world.
Nigella Lawson
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