Please note, Tsuru has now closed. Time Out Food editors, March 2019.
This small Japanese restaurant in the shiny shopping mall behind Tate Modern is aimed at the takeaway crowd with its display case of ready-prepared sushi and salad boxes, and fridge full of canned drinks. You can eat in – perched on leather-topped stools at high shared tables, or at one of the standard tables near the door – but it can get uncomfortably cramped at lunch. Quality is higher than in many high-street sushi outlets, with all food freshly prepared on the premises. Staff are bright and efficient.
Katsu curry is the signature dish, the mildly spiced sauce cooked for eight hours and served with breadcrumbed pork, chicken (breast or thigh), beef, cod, salmon or vegetables and steamed rice; you can also order it as bento or a sandwich. Other hot dishes include teriyaki chicken or salmon, tempura prawns and miso soup. Tsuru makes a fuss about sustainability, using line-caught yellowfin tuna and Icelandic cod, and packaging that is biodegradable or recyclable.
This is the original branch; there are also two in the City, one near Mansion House and the other close to Liverpool Street station.