Sushi and Cricket

Sushi and cricket, sushi and cricket, sushi and cricket. Right, hopefully now anybody googling 'sushi and cricket' will find me. And that's only right. Those are pretty much the two things that take up most of the space in my brain.

I try very hard not to overload this blog with tales of sushi and cricket, because, let's be honest, they're two pretty minority interests. But every now and again there's something worth mentioning here that touches on my favourite subjects.

Today it's sushi. I'll spare you the cricket.

I had a great trip to Durston House School in Ealing today - my second visit there, and it was a real treat to be back. But the first time I went, three or four years ago, I hadn't known it was so close to Sushi-Hiro, which is, by reputation, one of the finest sushi spots in London.

Today, I knew. (My sushi knowledge has more than kept pace with my writing career.)

I've been wanting to go for ages and today my hunger was satisfied. Lunch at Sushi-Hiro, opposite Ealing Common tube station. Is it one of the best sushi places in London? Is it, in fact, the best? TimeOut puts it in the top five sushi places in London.

There are two on that TimeOut top five that I haven't been to (yet), and two that I know very well. Sushi-Hiro makes up the list of five, and based on this visit it certainly deserves its place.

On quality it's up there with the very finest I've had in London, comparable to the great Atari-Ya. (By the way, TimeOut lists the small Atari-Ya outlet on James Street, but it's even better to go to their store/sushi bar in Golders Green).

On price, Sushi-Hiro is very competitive. About 10 to 12 per cent more expensive than Atari-Ya, but both are such good value it's silly to make a comparison.

Only on service did Sushi-Hiro suffer, and I think that's only because it was completely full and I was sitting down for a late-ish lunch, so mine was the last order to hit the deck. And let's be honest, I wasn't in there to time them. I was there to savour as much sushi as I could possibly manage.

I think I did a pretty good job.

So on today's performance, I'd rate myself an 8 out of 10. But wait, that's me. I've been distracted. I was meant to be recommending the sushi. So I do! 9.5 out of 10 for Sushi-Hiro! Let's go back and eat more!

Before I collapse into a dribbling sushi fit, let me quickly add that there are a handful of other sushi places not mentioned in that TimeOut list that I would definitely rank in my top five London susheries.

And there you have it - finally some sushi on my blog. I hope I kept that light enough for the non-sushi-ists out there. I promise to keep sushi and cricket to a minimum on this blog over the Summer.

But I did give you a new work: susherie. Suck it in, people. It's heading for the dictionary:

"Sushi-Hiro confirmed as one of London's top susheries!"