Little Tokyo

Situated in the heart of Braunstone Gate, Little Tokyo offers a tasty range of soups, sushi, stir fries, noodles, rices, and a la carte delicacies.

With a warm, cosy atmosphere and the waiting staff making you feel at home, me and the girls stayed there for almost three hours..... just eating, chatting, more eating, more chatting.

So then, lets get to the food......

For Starters we had a selection of sushi : Shine Saba Sashimi (Makerel), Tamago (Japanese omlette), Amsebi (sweet prawn) and sweet potato (err sweet potato?). All were presented amazingly with not a grain of rice out of place. The freshness of the fish combined with the weird and wonderful flavours proved to be a big hit with us and all four plates were pretty much devoured within minutes (may i add that we had just come from cardio kickboxing). All sushi is handmade and each individual plate is reasonably priced at £3 to £11. They also offer a selection of sharing plates, these are priced at £10 to £50.

We ordered a trio of rice dishes for our mains (I know variety is the spice of life, but what can i say? we were just digging rice). The first, Kamokatsu curry - a japanese curry with deep fried duck served with boiled white rice and vegetables. The duck was amazing and came coated in a light and crispy batter. I thought it may be a little greasy as duck tends to be but no, they got it spot on. The second, Ten Don - japanese spiced rice served with egg, onion and tempura. Again the batter was light, crispy and not overdone - just how batter should be! The third was my favorite, Una Jyo - lightly grilled eel with seaweed on a bed of spiced rice. I have never tried eel before and I must say I was extremely dubious at first. I hate the way they look - all shiny and long, swimming about all day. However, it was to DIE for. It was succulent and tender and the skin was so crispy. The seaweed was quite disappointing as it was not crispy despite saying it on the menu. This made me a little sad. But I soon perked up again when I had my second mouthful of the not so long and shiny eel. All mains are priced around the £7 region. You know you cant grumble at that.

The desserts. Hmm. They did not do it for me. The Cappuccino bombe resembled something from the 5000 piece party pack from Iceland. It tasted like it too, boring and generic. But, to be fair , I would not think 'Oooh lets go to Little Tokyo, I fancy a right big tasty pudding.' But having said that, it did give me that 'sweet kick' we often crave after a good meal.

If you are having a mid week catch up with your pals then Little Tokyo is the place to go. With wonderful dishes and a welcoming atmosphere at affordable prices, you cant really go wrong with this gem.

Kaffir Inn, Whetstone

Alright then! First one!

There are pictures (and hopefully will be in other posts... depending on what we can get) because you ever get that thing when you're in a place and deciding what to have and you kind of want to get up and have a look at someone elses plate to see what you get?

This saves you your dignity in the end because everyone wants to do that but everyone knows that you never do that. Believe me I was subject to someone doing it and after she'd been over, had a gander, then said "oooo just wanted to see what yours looked like" and walked off we all talked about the "weirdo that eyed up our food so blatantly".

Now, I love the Kaffir Inn. Love love love it. It may well be a bias opinion, but anyone who has been there that I know thinks its lovely too.

We went on a sunday. They "hold" a carvery 12 - 8. I love it. The main restaurant is normally super busy, especially if you go at regular lunch time, you know between 12 and 3pm. And it is advisable to book. But, we found that if there is no table in the restuarant you are welcome to sit in the bar and which is just as good, and in a way a little more informal and chilled out, tables are roomy and spaced out and it was quite quiet apart from the football on tv (Stoke 3 Arsenal 1) but it wasnt too in your face. Staff are nice and friendly and happy to help.

NOW. On to the food. Weeelllllll....

We had starters of pate, prawn cocktail and garlic mushrooms;

Farmhouse Pate, beaut. Just enough for the bread. Nice bit of cumberland sauce to go with (pot not in picture...its a bit like jam)... if anything... wish there was more cumberland sauce.

Prawn cocktail - really light and fresh. Personal opinions - bread came buttered. I prefer none (or to apply my own). Little too much marie rose sauce for me. I'm not very saucy. Nice range of salad not just plain old iceberg.

Pan fried mushrooms and bacon with garlic and cream. Tasty. Great balance of cream and flavour. Just the right size portion to allow room for a good old carvery.

The carvery choice is awesome. Meat they have is Gammon, Pork, Turkey, Beef or Lamb. They are fresh and succulent. You can choose one or a variety and get a fair whack. Ruby had 3 fat juicy slices of turkey!

The only thing I found, being friendly and nice, is don't try and make friends with the meat man. Maybe he thinks you're trying to butter him up for more meat rather than merely being polite and friendly, but he is having none of it!

Now, the veg section. I think this is where the Kaffir really comes into its own. The selection is goooood. I'm a great believer in veg.

I will list what you can get... I'm not sure if this changes but the couple of times I have been its been the same... brocolli, swede and carrot mash, green beans, sweetcorn&peas, cabbage, cauliflower cheese (which I have been asked to say was lovely with lots of cheese and cheesy sauce), mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, boiled potatoes.

And then there is your yorkshire pudding and stuffing. Proper stuffing. Not dry old balls. Noone likes dry balls.

All of this was replenished regularly and if you were getting your stuff and it ran out it was replaced in a flash so you werent loitering like an idiot for ages.

The veg cart.

Everyone likes a roast. And its not amazingly hard to make an alright one. But with a nice selection of well cooked meat and loads of different bits to go with it you're pretty much on the way to a pretty good one. You can have as little or as much as you want. Its an awesome hangover cure. A great place to go hang out with your mates for a lazy sunday lunch and well worth the money, 2 courses £10.99.

I whole heartedly recommend it.

Go visit the website here... http://www.thekaffir.com/

Browse the menu, they do other bits as well besides the carvery. They also do a cheaper version in the week.

Think the only down sides are the mardy meat man and only one type of gravy. I dont know what type it is. It doesnt say.

Oh yeah, and they got all the sauces. Apple, mint, horseradish, mustard...

Fat dinner...

(ps. it's mostly veg honest)

So here's where it begins...

Do you ever read a restaurant review and think, "well that's all very well and good but I still don't know if I really want to go or not"? Well we do and that's why we've decided to create Come Dine in Leicester.

You now need look no further for everything you want to know about eating out in Leicester. We'll be bringing you regular reviews of restaurants in the city and county (when we have somebody to drive us), but not your poncy, boring reviews that you get 1 paragraph into before you give up and just check the star rating, no no our reviews will be much more fun and interesting than them!

The 4 of us (Angel, Cherry, Ruby and Tahlula - nice names huh?) will be visiting all the restaurants and cafes we can to bring you details of the best dinners, lunches and even breakfasts in Leicester. We'll even keep you up-t0-date with any good offers we see floating about.

So make sure you follow us, tell your friends and join us on our journey as we inevitably become poor and fat!