Hare & Tortoise

5pm on a Monday evening and the place is packed. Must be good? Not sure.
Udon soup bland, salmon maki rolls cheaper than California rolls, and lots of student-​aged patrons. My guess is it is quick and priced well for Uni students. Ok if I’m in a hurry but not a place I would go to again for a good sit down.

This restaurant is a hit among local university students as it is a relatively affordable option, especially for a sit-​down restaurant. The portions are very generous, and there are plenty of vegetarian options available. It appears to be Asian fusion, so you can opt for anything from sushi to pad thai. The food made up for the somewhat spotty service, my friend and I were seated at our table, then waited about 10 minutes before finally getting a menu. It gets quite busy on weekend evenings, and sometimes there is even a line out the door. Additionally, if you are paying with credit card, they only accept chip-​and-​pin cards.

Asian food at its worst. I had udon taste like instant noodle and sushi with mushy rice. Just wasted £15! Might as well get Nandos.

Love this place, even worth putting £3.60 in the parking meter for. Consistently good food and reasonably priced.

I love the Hare & Tortoise and have been around 5 times. I like the extensive menu, and despite this the food is generally good quality.
Disappointed a bit this time round
— the wakama salad was a bit of seaweed salad on top of normal lettuce.
— the singapore noodle was bland with not much meat /​fish
— edamame arrived without salt! Seriously — the only reason to eat edamame is as a salt vehicle.
Generally it’s a four star experience, but it gets three stars this time. I’ll update next time I visit. Don’t let this put you off, great with friends, speedy, fast and good value.

One day while in London, I had a mad craving for katsu curry. Luckily I’m staying nearby, but from what I can tell this is the only place that serves a variety of regional Asian cuisines in the Russell Square area. This is the ONLY place I could find that served Japanese curry within a 10 block radius, so I hastily made my way over there.
The restaurant is small with a very airy, light, and modern interior. I came at off-​time to avoid the crowd, but there still were a good number of tables filled despite it being late afternoon on a weekday.
I went ahead and ordered the pork katsu curry, but noticed they have a good number of south east asian dishes in addition to all of the Japanese entrees. Quite a good variety!
My curry came out within 10 minutes of ordering it. Every main dish comes served in a really beautifully decorated porcelain bowl– something I wouldn’t expect for a place with such cheap prices! The serving of rice, curry sauce, and meat was quite substantial. The curry itself was incredibly tasty and rich, and it had lots of veggies mixed in. Definitely one of my favorite curry-​rice dishes I’ve ever eaten at a restaurant.
The servers were very sweet and attentive. Even though I’ve only tried one dish, I definitely think they’re worth visiting if you’re in the neighborhood.

My work colleagues decided we needed to go out for lunch. They chose Hare and Tortoise because they are huge fans. It’s quite close to their building (ours it a bit further away). I’m always up for trying any new place so I was keen to give it a try.
This branch opens at 12:00, so if you get there right around then, it’s quite easy to get a table. When we left around 1:15, the place was packed, so it’s definitely popular. I can see why, the food is fairly inexpensive and decent, so you feel like you’re getting a good lunch somewhere.
I had the brown rice tea (because I love that stuff), and it was quite nice. Plus it’s unlimited refills, so I made sure to have a second cup. I also went for the Penang Prawn Mee. It was one of the few items on the menu with three chillies. And with the rain, it seemed like a big bowl of soup might be nice.
It also came out very quickly (so obviously they do have a lot of stuff made up in advance). Everything was nice. Pork cooked well and was soft. Prawns also cooked well. The soup had nice flavor, but it was far from three chillies. I’d say a half a chilli if anything. Barely any spice. So that was a bit disappointing, but since it’s about half the price of expensive ramen joints where the food isn’t really much better, I at least feel like I’m getting value for money instead of spending a ridiculous amount of money on what amounts to a bland bowl of soup.
So yeah, it’s probably a place to come back to for a work lunch. I wouldn’t go out of my way to come here with friends or on my own, but someone suggested it, I would definitely come along.

The area surrounding Blackfriars station isn’t known for having a huge selection of restaurants so when arriving for check in at a nearby hotel we were pleasantly surprised when the concierge mentioned this quaint place right around the corner.
The sushi was passable but then I’m from California and really picky about my fave food. The restaurant also offers other Asian dishes that are quite tasty. I had the chicken chow me in and my hubby had the thai pad thai. The chow me in was good but the pad thai did seem a little bland compared to others we’ve had.
All in all, Hare & Tortoise is a pleasant establishment with good food for the value.

I rate this place highly because the flavours and seasoning are spot on and the dishes are mostly under £10! If you have an appreciation for Asian food and on a budget then I definitely recommend this place! Laksa was delicious!

Good price and good food, has Japanese, Chinese and Malaysian food. Tried the yaki udon and roast duck & rice so far, both pretty decent.

We stumbled across this restaurant during the Christmas holiday period several years ago, when most other businesses were closed. We haven’t looked back since.
The restaurant is situated in the thriving Brunswick Centre which is host to a plethora of eateries and retail shops. Due to the popularity of this restaurant (especially at lunch time) you are often greeted with a line of eager customers queuing outside for a table.
Parking can be expensive and problematic in terms of finding spaces. There is an underground station only 2 minutes away (Russell Square) and Holborn station is around a 20 minute walk.
The interior and décor is a little tired-​looking and the tables are very closely situated next to each other which can prove a little intrusive on your personal space while eating.
The toilets are situated in the basement and require a fair walk down a grimy metal staircase, you could be forgiven for thinking you are going down into part of the London Dungeons expecting to find a torture chamber for non-​paying customers :)
(Most) of the staff are very friendly, welcoming and tentative, they are very efficient at their jobs and your food arrives freshly cooked in what seems like minutes.
My only criticism, would be that you do feel rather rushed to finish, especially at busy times when the queue is going half-​way round the block.
The eagle-​eyed staff will swoop down and collect your empty bottle or bowl/​plate, even if others on the table are still eating. You are then asked if you would like anything else in a — ‘could you please hurry up as we need the table’ — kind of a way.
Ah…the food, yes. Although primarily with the title of a ‘Noodle Bar’ restaurant, The Hare and Tortoise has an excellent range of freshly-​made Sushi. The quality is excellent and is on par, if not better than the likes of Yo! Sushi.
The menu is not vast in its food choices, but every single item on that menu has been carefully chosen for its uniqueness and flavour. All the starters are mouthwatering and moorish. Try the prawn dumplings!
I would highly recommend the ‘Curry Laksa’ it is to-​die-​for. I cannot put into words the explosion of flavours and variety of content within the dish to give it justice. It’s like a party in your mouth. :)
My family and I frequent this restaurant monthly and although we have tried other dishes on the menu, (all of which have been fantastic) we always seem to go for the Curry Laksa — It almost doesn’t ‘feel’ right visiting the Hare and Tortoise and NOT having the Laksa, which we have named as their signature dish.
It’s quite amusing actually, on our way there, we all agree to try something different from the menu and we have all the good will in the world to try something new, but when we are sat down and the waiter (tress) comes over its Curry Laksa all round! Well, It’s a bit like going to a swimming pool and not getting wet! You just can’t do it!
The chicken Katsu Curry is worth a mention too, it’s panko-​covered chicken in a thick curry sauce on a bed of boiled rice, a hearty and warming dish if you are feeling cold and hungry.
Anyway, I digress, enough with the analogies, just have the Curry Laksa, OK?
Just one more thing to note, the size of the dishes are ‘one (Big) meal’ size, therefore, you pick one main dish as a meal, don’t get carried away ordering several dishes thinking its like a standard Chinese restaurant, as you WILL be eating for hours and taking home several ‘doggie-​bags’.
I cannot recommend this restaurant enough, (for its food) and if we lived more locally to its address, we would probably eat there 3 – 4 times a week.

This restaurant is full of students from nearby Universities. I can see why as the food are reasonably priced. And if you order green tea, it’s unlimited refilled for £1.
The quality of the food is so so as you can expect from this type of restaurant. The service is on the slow side. We had to wait for nearly 30 minutes for our mains.

They served me the worst fried rice I have tasted in a very long time. I ordered one starter and one main, my main course came less than 5 minutes after I had ordered it. Their ramen and noodle soups however did look quite good. Dear lord give me the strength to forgive this lovely restaurant for serving shitty rice!

I’m almost a regular here. I recommend the pad Thai and vegetarian egg rolls. Takeaway service is also fast

Went here for lunch and the sushi is great for affordable prices. The salmon is really good but not the tuna.

It is not so good as recommendations. But it is relatively cheap compared with other Japanese restaurant. I recommend the curry noodle and plum wine. The environment is good.

Nom nom nom.
I fancied some katsu curry for lunch today, so popped in here for take-away…the takeaway service was surprisingly decent.
The good:
— It took less than 5 minutes for me to leave with my order
— The portion is MASSIVE (I’ve saved half for lunch tomorrow)
— For £7.10, it isn’t too pricey
— The curry is really good, and I was given loooads of katsu.
The less good bits:
— It gets incredibly busy, and the service can be pretty poor
— This is Chinese-​y Japanese food, so don’t come here expecting authenticity
— The ramen here always disappoints me
Normally I’d give this place 2 – 3 stars, but the takeaway service was so speedy, and today my curry made me soooo happy… I can bump them up to 4 stars. :)

Super fast seating and good sushi at decent prices for London. Nothing is particularly creative here but the service is good and if you are looking for a boisterous start to an evening, this is a solid bet. The convenient location next to the British museum lends it to be a good post museum meal.
Besides sushi they also offer all sorts of Asian standards. Pad Thai, gyoza, katsu curry.
They so takeaway so if there is a queue, give them a call and then go get coffee.

This location of the Japanese food chain in nestled in the corner of Brunswick Square, a fairly busy shopping plaza with no shortage of shops and restaurants. The interior is clean cut and well lit, with smooth wooden tables and comfortable seating.
The Hare and Tortoise’s menu is extensive and comes in several parts: noodles, rice, nigiri, maki, sushi boxes, sashimi, donburi, drinks, and dessert, as well as being very reasonably priced (a noodle or rice dish could set you back 6 to 12 quid, depending on what you choose to get). You’d find your standard chicken teriyaki boxes and your unagi boxes, but you’ also find other Asian dishes, such as char kway teow and fried rice. Overall, it’s a pretty standard pan-​Asian menu leaning more towards the Japanese.
The sushi box that my three friends shared came speedily, along with our beverages. With 12 pieces and was about 14 pounds – it is sushi, so of course it was a little on the pricey side, but it was fresh and pleasant, However, nothing to write home about.
My roast duck came with two or three pieces of boy choy and was served over a bed of white rice. The duck was crispy and tender, but again, it was nondescript and predictable, as well as my companion’s chicken teriyaki and my other friend’s tonkatsu ramen.
The service was great-​I barely felt that the servers were there, yet they managed to answer our every need in an efficient manner. I would have given this place 4 stars, but I felt the food could have used a little more «oomph,» which I understand is difficult when you decide to do a pan-​Asian restaurant of any sort. It’s difficult to stand out from the crowd.
3.5 stars.

When I told my friend that I was craving Sushi she recommended we go here for dinner.
The name itself threw me off as it is one more associated with pubs so I was dubious that the closest thing they would have to sushi would be fish and chips.
Actually the last time I was even in this area was the day of the London bombings so when my sat nav took me by the square where I was caught in the drama of that day a whole lot of memories came flooding back.
So anyway met my friend and walked into this place not sure what to expect but on entering it just turned out to be a typical Asian café layout, with small seats and tables and aiming more towards filling the place than a decent ambiance.
I went for my typical dragon rolls and California rolls, something I have eaten enough of to know the good from the bad. Verdict? This was just okay. Nothing special.
My friend and I ordered some sort of salad and pork dumplings beforehand which were really nice, but overall it is not the kind of place I would go to again in a hurry.

Essen ist in Ordnung — alles von japanisch bis hin zu thailändisch. Aber null Komfort. Hygienisch nicht besonders, was man etwa an den klebrigen Tischen und den zerfledderten Speisekarten sieht. Man wartet abends schon einige Minuten auf einen Tisch. Es ist voll, laut und ungemütlich. Preislich für London schon eher am unteren Ende angesiedelt, aber nicht wirklich billig.