Sushi Ga Ga

It was with some trepidation that I accepted an invitation to review Sushi Ga Ga. Located on Lisle Street, Chinatown isn't particularly known for its good Japanese (or otherwise) restaurants. Fears were strengthened when we walked into the packed restaurant and were studiously ignored for a good 10 minutes. I noted that all the staff there were Cantonese, as were most of the customers, save the two teenagers sulkily queuing who decided to tastelessly mimick everyone around them.

The waitress would do anything at all but to approach us. In the end I marched to the counter at the back of the restaurant to explain I was booked in and they had no idea about it. A few minutes later, and with an apology from the what looked like the head waitress or manager, we were seated. The same lady served us, and when I asked what she would recommend or what her favourites were, she was stumped. Eventually she led us to the specials page, and to the most expensive dishes. We ordered our selection, and she retreated back to the counter to eyeball us for the majority of our meal.

House sake was served hot - an oddity for summer, especially as we weren't asked how we wanted it. It was mostly tasteless. A bizarre platter of sushi and sashimi arrived first; garnished with mint, a leaf of lollo rosso and a sad little pile of cress, it was rather pitiful. Nigiri were skinny and flacid.

Nasu den, miso grilled aubergine was soft, silky and sweet. This was to be the best thing we'd eat at this meal.

Agedashi tofu was made with firm rubbery tofu, no silkiness within it and none of that gorgeous jelly-like texture you get through the crunch of the crispy shell.

Seaweed salad was served with a thin, watery sesame sauce on the side. It tasted of nothing. Oh no wait, the sesame sauce gave it a faint hint of the seed and the tang of vinegar. At £6.50, it seemed a whopping rip-off. We didn't finish it.

Speaking of whopping rip-offs, this black cod miso was a sorry affair. At £17, the plate was enormous, making the portion size look small. Deep fried aubergine on the side drizzled with some sort of sauce tasted like air freshener. The fish had obviously been a corpse for longer than is good; its skin was tough and I spent my entire journey home with the stale taste of fishiness in my mouth from it. Extremely unpleasant.

On par with unpleasantness was the tempura scallops with a wasabi dressing. The dressing tasted of mayonnaise with a dab of mustard in it. The scallops tasted of old oil.

The list goes on, really. A side of rice had a hard crust on it, as if it had been hanging around for a while. Miso soup was pedestrian. The dessert menu was comprised mainly of ice cream and I was excited to see mochi on there, but alas, we were told the ice cream machine was broken. I didn't really fancy a plate of mixed fruit, so we called it quits.

We left feeling despondent, the whiff of disappointment about us. If we had paid we would have easily hit the huge £70 mark though it's currently running 50% off on it's menu to celebrate it's opening. I shan't be returning; unfortunately, Sushi Ga Ga was just blah blah.

Sushi Ga Ga (they don't seem to have a website)

16 Lisle Street,
London,
WC2H 7BE

Tel: 020 7287 6606