Bento Cafe

Its position beside Camden’s Jazz Café makes Bento popular with smoky bohemians filling up before a show, but you’ll find all walks of life packing the place out nightly. The interior is decorated with bamboo shoots, lanterns and vintage Japanese weapons, and there’s something decidedly Zen-like about the layout of dark wood tables. Sushi is hand-rolled behind a central counter – a Kyoto starter platter tasted fresh, although was a little prone to falling apart – and mains are artfully presented: the seafood grill was an elaborate bundle of scallops, seared prawns and squid held together by a banana leaf and a stem of pickled ginger. Pork and prawn dumplings were golden brown, grease free and packed with piping hot, powerfully flavoured meat.