Picture of Sapporo Ichiban, SE6 4SP

Historical version 4 of Sapporo Ichiban, SE6 4SP (view current version)

  • 020 8690 8487
  • 13 Catford Broadway, SE6 4SP (streetmap) (osm) (gmap) (bingmap) (streetview)
  • noon-3pm, 6pm-11pm Mon-Fri; noon-4pm, 6pm-11pm Sat-Sun

A sushi restaurant in Catford, very near to Catford Bridge Station (and Catford Station as well).

This restaurant is just off the main street alongside the stations, and opens into a foyer with a large fish tank. Inside, there is plenty of seating stretching past the sushi counter, and takes in a raised area with sunken seats photo at tables seating around 6 people. On a Tuesday evening at 8pm, the place wasn't too busy and we were easily seated.

A large selection of food was sampled, both side dishes and mains and the total price worked out at just over £20 each, including a modest amount of alcohol. Of the side dishes, vegetable tempura was good, hot and crisp but a bit greasy, while the agedashi tofu was fine. The kimchee was generally adjudged to be excellent, with good vegetable texture and chilli flavour as well as heat, and several reorders were made.

Avocado handrolls were served in a neat little wooden stand to hold the cone-like shapes upright, and considered by Ewan to be really very good indeed. In general, the rice in the nigiri and rolls was fine, certainly nothing to complain about. The fish was mushy, particularly the seabass, though the mackerel was OK. Kake suspects freezing issues, so would suggest sticking to the fattier fish.

Of drinks, standard beers (Sapporo, Asahi, and Kirin, all £2.50) were available. They also had plum wine (£2.20 per glass), and various flavours of bubble tea (all £2.20). The sake choice was limited to "hot" or "cold" (£4 for a quarter-bottle and £6.50 for a half-bottle). We had it hot, and it was fine. The house red wine (Marques de Leon, can't remember the price but about £12) was drinkable but not particularly good.

The desserts were fine, though the sesame ice cream was particularly nice.

Ewan's verdict: Perhaps not worth a trip across London, but for those in the south-east, this is an excellent and good value choice for sushi.

Kake's verdict: I'd come back if I happened to be in Catford again, but would probably stick to the vegetarian sushi and the hot dishes next time.

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Last visited by Ewan, Kake and others, 24 June 2008. Opening hours taken from Time Out website, June 2008.
OS X co-ord: 537525 OS Y co-ord: 173646 (Latitude: 51.444594 Longitude: -0.020857)
This is version 4 (as of 2008-06-27 15:36:03). View current version. List all versions.