Pan Asian eatery Tootoomoo in Crouch End does a bang up job offering a range of crowd pleaser dishes focused on Chinese, Southeast Asian and Japanese flavours. Kemey and I enjoyed sampling a few small plates from the menu before heading out for a show at the nearby Hornsey Town Hall Art Centre. Highlights were the shichimi squid (£4.95), soft shell crab maki (£6.95), and tiger prawn tempura (£6.95). An Asahi Super Dry (£4 for a 330ml bottle) paired well with the dishes.

Both this post, and the next couple that will appear on my blog, are scheduled, as I'm currently in Japan on a sake tour! And oddly enough, this one, and the next, are both reviews of Japanese restaurants in London. Long time readers will know how much I adore Japanese food, so to get to go to two restaurants in London serving one of my favourite cuisines, then to the place itself, is pretty magical. Starting with Tootoomoo. Though not strictly Japanese, Tootoomoo serves a range of pan Asian (from Thailand, Malaysia, China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan) inspired dishes at its four restaurants in London (Whetstone, Islington, Highgate and Crouch End - where we went). The Crouch End branch has had a recent makeover and is all brightly coloured wooden tables, chairs and walls - we were sitting in the red area, hence the ruby glow in all my photos!To get my taste buds going, we started with warm sake. I'm not (yet) a sake expert but am hoping the next eight days will teach me a thing or two about this Japanese rice wine, that's made by fermenting rice that's been polished to remove the outer layer. As I was off to Paris the following day and eating with Moosh who's not a meat fan, we stuck with the lighter dishes on the menu, starting with the mixed sushi (tuna and salmon) and yuzu sake maki (salmon, avocado, yuzu and citrus mayo). The sashimi pieces were incredibly fresh and light, and cut from the perfect part of the fish for sashimi. The rolls were good - not the best I've had, but certainly not the worst - though could've had a bit more going on. They too were fresh, just a little bland.