Ikkyu. Click here to view flickr.

It's not as if I steer the contents of this blog away from anything other than music. The temptation to write reams and reams of guff about the minutiae of my life has always been there. But then the focus of attention shifts to me, and there's enough ego online as it is (plus I'm a shy 'n sly sort). Having said all that, I need to take a break from applying words about music, purely for the fact I'm bored with words about music.

Which leads me neatly onto London. Up / Down, Love / Hate. One positive entity in this city (and folks, there are many - so this could end up being an ongoing series) is Ikkyu....Tottenham Court Road, near Goodge Street station. Next to that Scientology recruitment place. It's a Japanese restaurant, but a pretty unique one. I'd like to say something factual and wisened like it's London's oldest Japanese restaurant. But I'd be lying. I'll just say that, to me, it feels like London's oldest Japanese restaurant.

Save for a single red paper lantern and a sandwich board with crude hand-drawn signage outside, it's very easily missable. In stark contrast to the perfectly-aligned graphics and appealing colour schemes of other eateries in the area, this seems perfunctory in comparison.

This no-nonsense approach continued as you entered the restaurant (via an incredibly steep staircase). Uneven, creaky floorboards covered with threadbare carpet served as the platform for heavy wood tables, wobbly partitions and an envrionment that was more akin to a warehouse than eating establishment. Crates of beer, saki and supplies stacked up against every wall. Every space taken up, nothing left for decorative purposes, it all screamed out the mantra: sit / eat / leave.

Ikkyu. Click here to view flickr.

You'd have thought that they would offer equal, if not more valuable floor space to their staff. But the open-view kitchen is equally as chaotic and cramped. All visible from my favourite feature: the counter. Tightly packed seats means you get intimate with fellow consumers very quickly. But watching the kitchen dynamic is more than enough. The single confident sushi chef manning his post, the manager who doesn't seem to do much except sit and watch, the flurry of waitresses handling miniscule scraps of paper.

The service was another point....fair to say, it didn't always follow established protocol. The waitresses, whilst stable - in that I mean, they were recognisable on repeat visits - always seemed to behave as if they'd only just started learning their profession that day. A mix of meek and nervous body language (or 'cheery and a little ditzy' as someone on a forum better put it). Any questions thrown at them would result in sudden glances at the chef / manager. It's not a complaint and would usually add to the experience.

But I'd get the feeling that management couldn't genuinely give a fuck. Certainly not one to be warm towards patrons (established or otherwise) and no concessions to the demands of the typical Londoner. They took long holidays, eventually stopped their lunch service and didn't even bother to open on Saturday evenings (but they strangely opened on Sundays).

The food of course was just simply excellent. Amusingly enough, I'm not even going to try and distill any of it into words. It can't be done.

Epilogue: Sadly all the above has now drifted into memory, as Ikkyu closed down at the end of July. God knows why. Also, before anyone makes a smart-arse comment, I am aware that there's an Ikkyu in Chinatown. But it has nothing to do with this one. That Ikkyu is a horrible tourist trap only fit for visiting Europeans. Go on, try it if you don't believe me.

In the name of progress, another hidden part of London has gone.