I recently celebrated my 4th-year dating anniversary with my boyfriend. Being extra special and going all out this year, I organised a relaxing fitness/spa experience in a fancy London hotel, before going out for dinner in the evening.

I love looking around sites such as Time Out London for special occasion ideas. I was also quite impressed by the choice of restaurants and discounts on Bookatable.com.  I had never heard of Sticks’n’Sushi before it came up in a search for Japanese cuisine on Book a Table. The idea of eating grill meat on sticks and/or a selection of sushi never occurred to me as a restaurant idea. Nonetheless, I was definitely up for a taste test, so I booked a table. The process of booking a reservation was quick and straight forward. The restaurant also called to confirm your reservation on the day.

Walking into Sticks’n’Sushi, Covent Garden branch we were met by a beautiful front store display, lightly draped curtains and dimly light upper floor. The décor was very trendy and the vibe warm and lively. Downstairs was even more of the same. When we sat down, we were presented with two small photobook menus in a striking red, which completed contrasted against the black leather upholstered table and chairs.

First thing first, we ordered cocktails! The cocktail menu was filled with some really creative mixes. Our waiter recommended the Keroppi and Hotaru, which we decided to try. Laced with a really generous serving of gin with fresh cucumbers, my Keroppi cocktail had a nice kick and refreshing taste. The Hotaru cocktail option was a slightly sweeter blend of passion fruit and apple slices.

For food, the menu was had even more tantalising options. I found my mouth watering as we flicked through the pages. Although we wanted to try the skewered meat, we decide to save that option for the next visit and ordered the Table for 2 / Sushi.

I really do not know where to start with this dish. Everything was so tasty!!! I am a really big Salmon Nigiri fan but I fell in love with the Ebi Panko (Temura shrimp, spicy sauce, avocado and sesame). The creamy avocado and fried shrimp was a great mix. The sauce was a great touch as we did not need soy sauce for that one. We initially mistook the Inari for Tamago because of its sweetness. However, it was actually tofu with trout roe on top of rice. The Pink Alaska Uramaki also had a surprise of cream cheese wedged between salmon, avocado and lumpfish. It was difficult to tell the added taste without really researching the menu. The only one that I liked the least was the Spicy Tuna Uramaki. It had a lot of new ingredients I had not tried before and took a bit of chewing to get through.

All in all, it was a great dinner which we struggled to finish. We totally underestimated the power of how filling rice can be. Luckily the staff packaged our leftover sushi in a lovely little takeaway box to carry away with us. The whole experience was 10 out of 10. Even the dent in my bank in my account (it was definitely a pricy) but I highly recommend it. I will be back for the sticks of meat, so look out for Part 2 of this post.