Sushi in the park

San Sui was empty. My dinner date arrived as late as a diva. So there I was on my own. I waited to be offered a drink. And waited. Eventually I said, 'Look, can I have a drink?' in that hurt way people on their own say to an inattentive waitress.

She brought me a glass of green tea and served it with the appropriate amount of Japanese humility. Then I had to ask for a menu as well.

I know that Japanese women are not like their hooting British oaf sisters, but when I could not get any kind of answer to my questions about the menu from the waitress, save a trembly and uncomprehending cooing in elementary-school English, I felt a disconcerting guilty anger which did not improve my appetite.

The chef came upstairs. I asked him to make up my sushi from a selection of the more unusual fish they had - of the 15 or so different types of on offer, only squid was unavailable. They were insistent that I choose, although neither he nor the waitress understood what I was requesting. OK. OK. I ordered ten different types of fish just to be bloody, including eel, sea bass, red snapper, mackerel, octopus, salmon, tuna and those pretty roes that look like dolls' eyeballs made of rubies.

God only knows why San Sui is empty - the sushi is fine and fresh enough, if not the best quality fish. The menu has plenty of Japanese dishes which you do not see in the newschool minimalist sushi bars. Nasu nengaku, grilled aubergine topped with sweet miso, was cooked to melting perfection.

The different misos used in various dishes were distinctively flavoured and interesting.

The tofu actually had some flavour. A portion of seaweed salad was generous and pleasantly drenched in mild rice vinegar. The tempura was not good, the batter too thick and cooked in fat that clearly wasn't hot enough.

You get wooden chopsticks. For two of us, drinking beer and sake and trying lots of things, the bill was reasonable. The place reminded me of the sort of busy, authentic Japanese restaurants you find in Sydney's downtown King's Cross - a bit frayed around the edges, but when you get the bill your heart sings at the cheapness of it. Except San Sui wasn't all that cheap. And it certainly wasn't busy.

San Sui
10 Clarendon Raod, W11 3AA