Tosa

Tosa is a Japanese restaurant rather than one of those scary dogs the size of a small horse (the restaurant is named after the place where those dogs originated, now called Kochi, on Shikoku). Tosa specialises in dishes from its Japanese charcoal grill. Tosa is a simply decorated restaurant, with tiled floors and wooden tables with no tablecloths. It is in a parade near Ravenscourt Park. There are set lunches available from £10. Small dishes range from £3.60 to £10, mostly around £5, while maguro tuna is just £2.50, salmon sashimi £9.20, and indeed most dishes on the lengthy menu are less that £10.  Indeed there are no "main courses", with diners encouraged to try an assortment of dishes.

A skewer of scallop (£3.20) was pleasant rather than exciting, cooked just a fraction longer than I would have preferred. The scallops were frozen ones from Canada, and were of ordinary quality (just about 11/20). Better was prawn tempura, with nicely made, crisy and light batter (12/20). Salmon teriyaki was properly cooked, the sauce marinade a little heavy, served with pickled ginger that was rather sharper than I was expecting (11/20). Miso soup was a little thin but serviceable (11/20). The fish here is supplied by a Japanese company that I have not come across before, and neither the salmon nor the scallop really impressed in quality (doubtless their supplier is cheaper than Atari-Ya). Overall this was a decent neighbourhood restaurant, not somewhere to journey to but a good place to have on your doorstep. There is a sister restaurant in East Finchley.