Chicken is halal and so is the wagyu beef
Date of visit: 28 June 2017
I first saw this place a few years ago and it’s taken me a long time to make the trip. Oliver Maki is a Japanese sushi restaurant with a fusion twist.
I went on a Wednesday evening and the place was a like a ghost town. The restaurant is split across 2 floors. I didn’t want to sit downstairs, bad light (always have to consider lighting for photos) and close to a drafty door.
The decor is clean, modern and somewhat sterile. It’s going for that fancy chic stylish look but lacked the atmosphere to pull it off with any effectiveness.
The menus are on iPads and each menu item has its own beautiful picture to go with it. I liked this touch as there’s a large menu so it did help with narrowing down what to order.
I’m not a sushi pro, so I let my friend do the ordering as he’s a fan of sushi.
Kizami Wasabi Maki (8 pcs, Nori) £12
We started with some well-crafted sushi, Kizami Wasabi Maki. It had what you wanted: fresh fish and ingredients and balanced flavours.
7.5/10Chicken Plum Sauce, £8
Since this place offers up halal chicken I wanted to try a chicken dish, so I got the well-presented chicken plum sauce. The chicken didn’t seem fresh to me and was a little overcooked which didn’t make it juicy enough, although it was the chicken breast which doesn’t tend to be that tender. Also, it didn’t have enough depth in flavour and was a very small portion size. 5/10
Sushi Jews, £29
This is what lured me in, seeing this picture looked pretty epic and very Instagram worthy. It comes with a heavy price tag, almost £30 for 12 pieces, more than £2 per piece. It was a mix of Maki and rolls, all fresh raw fish, there were some really nice ones that had a hit of unexpected sweetness and some with good flavours. Was it worth it? No. I couldn’t even get a decent photo, either.
5/10Robata Miso Baby Chicken, £16
This tasted really nice, the burnt crispy edges created an extra layer of flavour and texture. The main issue was the portion size. Far too small and not enough. 7/10
Granted, I only tried 4 items off a massive menu, but I spent nearly £80 and left feeling hungry. Would I return? Not really.
The total was £77.63, including service. A pricey dinner for such a small amount, but that’s sushi for you and, in Soho, well, what was I expecting?
