Gyoza

So we were in Brixton last night for a concert, and decided to grab a quick bite beforehand. Unfortunately, it appeared that everyone else had the same idea, and we wandered around for half an hour trying to find a table in a restaurant.
Eventually we spotted Gyoza and although it was heaving with people, they managed to seat us. I am entirely willing to cut them some slack for the relatively poor service given that they were rushed off their feet — what’s less forgiveable is the absolutely disgusting food.
The menu features Japanese and Chinese dishes. We felt it’d be wrong to go to a place called Gyoza and not actually have gyoza, so we ordered the mixed plate as a starter — chicken, pork and prawn dumplings. I ordered roast pork with ‘spicy singapore fried rice’, and my girlfriend ordered roast duck with wheat noodles. This seemed like the sort of quick and tasty bite required in the circumstances.
Let’s start with the gyoza. Damp little stale-​tasting dumplings, with a pot of sweet, oily, unpleasant dip. I couldn’t really distinguish between the fillings as there was no discernible flavour beyond a worrying fishy aftertaste. This isn’t really what you want in a chicken dumpling, particularly.
We abandoned the gyoza and went on to main courses. I was rather picturing one of those lovely bowls of crispy, slightly fatty roast belly pork on a bed of rice, maybe with some chilli oil on the side. When it arrived I initially assumed they’d forgotten the pork entirely, but on closer inspection there were a few tiny shreds of char siu hidden, somewhat apologetically, under the rice.
The rice was not, by any stretch of the imagination, spicy. The barbecue pork appeared to have been barbecued at some point during the Major administration — it was tough, grey, with a soapy sheen to it, and tasted of nothing at all. At least there was very little of it. In desperation I ordered a dish of chilli oil to see if I could rescue it a bit. Even the chilli oil was bad.
Meanwhile, my girlfriend’s roast duck and noodles had arrived. I am not sure I’ve ever seen roast duck this bad before. Again, in Chinatown even the budget places have something at least resembling proper roast duck. This was as dry, grey, old, and vile as the pork. At least the pork wasn’t covered in pale beige goosepimpled skin. Thank God I didn’t taste it.
Thoroughly depressed, we left most of our food untouched and paid the incurious hostess twenty-​seven quid for the privilege.
Other people seem to have had good meals there in the past, I guess, so perhaps we just caught them on the worst possible night. Still, I’d run a mile before I went back.

I’ll open by saying that my tale does not begin well. Why? Because when one goes out for a sushi lunch, one expects to be served sushi — but that was not to be for my companion and I.
And so unfolded: The Case of the Missing Sushi!
Clue 1. The last time I walked pasted, there was a sushi poster in the window.
Clue 2. There was a sushi page within the menu.
Clue 3. On arrival the waitress did not mention anything about the sushi.
Clue 4. When time came to order, it was only then, we were informed there was no sushi to be had.
Reason 1. The fish was getting a rare deal so left?
Reason 2. Was it just impossible swimming against the tide?
Reason 3. Maybe the scales were tipped and not in the fishes favour?
Reason 4. Did the chef just flip out one day?
In the end we opted for some prawn tempura & gyoza. Followed by Bento Boxes: prawns in hot & spicy sauce, and prawns in Szechwan sauce. Which overall were not bad, but there was defiantly something fishy going on.
And so remains open: The Case of the Missing Sushi!

I tried the food here and it was very good, so I kept going at least once a week until I saw a server picking through her nose and not washing her hands, LOST MY APPETITE!!! I have not being back since.

I went here last night for some sushi and I must admit that I am incredibly impressed. The fish in the sushi was the best that I’ve had in London — very fresh and flavourful. They must get it from the Brixton Market around the corner? The staff is really nice and attentive as well. I will definitely be going back.

The food here is excellent. The dumplings are especially good. A huge menu with a mix of oriental dishes. The service is great and the food is piping hot when it reaches the table. The kitchen is visible. They did run out of sushi rice though which is a bit odd because that makes the menu smaller. it was Friday night and very busy and we had to be in and out quickly to get somewhere else. We ordered a mix of dishes to share and I cant fault anything. Authentic décor, very busy with takeaways and table service, and they made sure we could be fed and out by a certain time. YUM!

I think this place deserves to be much better known, I can only assume that amist the bling hip resturants with funky lighting that have sprung up in Brixton in recent years, this snazzy family resturant has been too shy to stand out.
I come here regularly for family birthdays and not one of the several hundred dishes we must all have tried have ever been less than excellent. The run of the mill chinese dishes are a step above. They have a really interesting mix of dishes from China, Korea and Japan and none of the different cuisines are afterthoughts either, the whole range is lovely. The staff are great and the prizes very reasonable. The only thing that stops me giving it five stars is the odd ‘feel’ of layout, not a major thing at all but I know what they mean about the feng whatsit being off.
Grr now I want to go and eat there!
EDIT
Took a mate there yesterday and nad sushi which was FAB. This is the bestest place! oh yes!
25÷7÷11
Went back here and they’ve put their prices up. Resonable prices no longer. We left and went elsewhere, having alread sat down and gotten menus. –one star.

I went to this restaurant for a friend’s birthday. The staff are very friendly and the food was good and reasonably priced, with a good selection of bento boxes; but there wasn’t much atmosphere. It seemed very quiet for a Friday night — could be due to the location?