LOTI EATS | SUSHISAMBA

Occupying the 38th & 39th floor of the Heron Tower, the City outpost of Sushisamba boasts some of the best views in all of London – on a clear day you can see right across the city and it’s incredible. Competing with that wow factor is a tall order but they’ve not done a bad job with what’s on the other side of the windows. The interiors are on the maximalist side – a canopy of lights hanging from a bamboo ceiling, a black-and-white zig zag floor, and an orange tree sculpture in the middle of the terrace bar – but the result is impressive rather than gimmicky.

The food certainly lives up to the surroundings in terms of looks, with pretty plating and lots of beautiful ceramics, but thankfully also in terms of taste. Japanese-Peruvian-Brazilian fusion is the name of the game and it’s handled expertly. The pork anticuchos, Peruvian skewers cooked over the Japanese robata grill, are fat crisp pieces of belly pork dressed with a moreish miso butterscotch sauce; the lamb chops are charred on the outside, tender in the middle and come with a red miso sauce that’s almost chocolaty in its depth; and the shrimp tempura hand roll is filled with Padron peppers and quinoa in place of sushi rice.

The sushi rolls all look as pretty as a picture but the tuna roll, topped with generous dollops of spicy mayo and aji panca (that’s Peruvian red pepper paste), is a real winner, as is the salmon ceviche with tamarind and sesame, given extra pops of texture from macadamia nuts. Don’t miss the green bean tempura with black truffle aioli either, we could have eaten bowl after bowl of them.

There’s no getting away from the fact that Sushisamba is expensive; not only have you got luxury ingredients on the plate, but you’re also paying for the location (and the views that come with it) too, so save a trip up the tower for a special occasion, or better yet, get someone else to pick up the bill.

Heron Tower, Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AY
sushisamba.com

Loading...