658670 Sun Oct 11 13:32:37 -0700 2009 2 42 U.K./Ireland 0 5095336 A newish place on Regent's Park Road, probably been open for quite a while. A tempura of noodles, nori and carrot has a fairly prominent carrot flavour, despite just slivers and the noodles (forgot which type) were softly chewy. Flavours came together pleasantly -- imagine a maki made with noodles instead of rice, and then sliced, battered at both ends, then deep fried. Nothing bad about the batter, but nothing exceptional -- pieces were served from a plate that was prepared beforehand, so non of the piping hot freshness from the fryer. The quality is more homemade than refined (and perhaps this could be said of all their food) and on the whole rather tasty with a little drizzle of the soy sauce. ~£2 for 2 pieces. Lunch bento box was a treat with many parts, nearly all very lightly seasoned, and as a result one was mostly tasting the items on their own terms. Miso soup was excellent, light but deep, with shiitake mushroom slices and onion; they use just regular miso, but say that the stock is the special part and a secret. Other parts include a salad of kabocha/Japanese pumpkin with walnuts dressed with a light Japanese yellow curry overtone. Then a very applely cous cous (made with apple juice?), sweetened with carrot shreds and apple. A homey croquette made of (if I get this right) potato and tofu that somehow seemed more baked than pan fried, with a cherry tomato embedded in the centre, not really super crispy on the outside, perhaps just the thinnest bit of golden browning. A pile of salad with contrasting broccoli, wakame seawwed, and dandelion greens. Served with brown rice and their variant of furikake (a topping for rice) which was quite aromatic with sesame seeds and other nutty flavours. And I loved their little pickles - mushroom and daikon, alternating tangy and crisp £10. A hot drink made from grated ginger and maple syrup was heartwarming, and enlivened by just the right amount of zesty acidity from two thin lemon slices. £3. A "cheesecake" made with tofu was interesting, was a good soya bean flavour in the dense cake that was topped by a thin film of some berry-based jelly for fruit and sweetness, and laid on base consisting of coarsely ground nuts and perhaps other things. £3ish Very good, somewhat inexpensive food, with light but vivid watercolour flavours. Definitely worth checking out. Sun Oct 11 13:32:37 -0700 2009 10076 limster 1 5127859 A crisp daikon salad tickled with a light zesty orange flavour. What seemed like minced tofu with dark deeply flavoured threads of hijiki (a seaweed), it's umami (and that from shoyu) balanced by the sparer sweetness of shredded carrots. Gorgeous texture in the tofu within the tofu cutlet. It;snot fresh from the fryer, so quibbles there, but the snappy and dense texture of the tofu (almost yuba-like) was great. Toasty glutinous brown rice contrasts the sharp green crunch of chopped vegetables (spinach?) in the onigiri, a rice ball wrapped with a crackling piece of nori (dried seaweed). Pumpkin pie is elemental, exploiting the natural sweetness of the pumpkin, and giving it a nutty, toasty dimension with pumpkin seeds and a crunchy walnut. The pie crust was soft and a little moist, rather than a clean dryness that I would have preferred. Good flavour though. Sat Oct 24 13:01:01 -0700 2009 5095336 10076 limster 2 5142174 I must go and try this place. This must be the only macrobiotic cafe now in London. I used to love the restaurant in the East-West Centre on Old Street, but that closed many years ago. Fri Oct 30 00:23:38 -0700 2009 5127859 19800 loobcom