Japanese Canteen

Tottenham Court Road (TCR) is generally known as the place for electronic goods but in recent years there has also been a concentration of home/furniture stores. And more recently still, it appears to be home to an increasing concentration of Japanese eateries. From the Centre Point Food Store, right up to Warren Street I counted at least 12 outlets - not to mention the Futon Company shop as well.

However, the old maxim about quantity not equating to quality is a sad truism in the Japanese food regard... As well as a few gems, there is also a Wasabi (see below) and some other pretty shoddy restaurants. I aim to visit them all so watch out for the definititive TCR J-Food Guide.

The other day I popped in for lunch at the Japanese Canteen.



This no frills diner offers an uninspiring menu of dishes - bento boxes, noodles, gyoza and "chilli fired rice" all with the same variants of topping. These are predictably, chicken and salmon teriyaki, pork and chicken katsu, chicken curry and so on... staples made either spicier or blander in accordance with some imagined idea of the "British taste", presumably based on Anglo-Chinese cuisine.

Attempting to judge the place on its own terms I went for the salmon teriyaki bento box. It was a reasonable size, served within about 2 seconds and tasted, well, pretty average. For £4.95 I guess the pricing is fair(although it's £2.45 for a few edamame!) but I found the bare interior, lack of smiles and unimaginative cuisine rather depressing overall. Go, if you have to but I reckon you'd be better off with a cornish pasty.



Looking forward to getting round to the good places!