Fast Sushi in London

Whether it's from their kiosk at the train station or at their street locations, Wasabi Sushi & Bento serves fast sushi with flair. There are other offerings like chicken curry and tofu yakisoba, but boxed sets of sushi and cellophane-wrapped hand rolls are the specialty here. These temaki, which are packaged in such a way that the seaweed is separated from the rice (to maintain the crispness of the nori), are easy to handle. You undo the plastic wrap around the seaweed and then apply it to the conical blob of filler—sushi rice with spicy tuna, for instance. The £2.50 tag for one of these hand rolls is reasonably inexpensive.

Meanwhile, Samurai Sushi & Bento gives Londoners the opportunity to mix and match their own individually wrapped nigiri, which is reminiscent of the style found in Taipei's supermarkets. There's the "Crayfish & Mango Maki" for 80 pence per piece (there must be something to this combination; a crayfish and mango salad is available at the deli inside Harrods); the inari nigiri is unusual, since normally these bean curd are shaped like little pillows and stuffed wth sushi rice, or, as seen in Australia, sliced up and used as a component in a vegetable hand roll.

I sampled the beetroot salmon nigiri, so named because beetroot juice is apparently used to redden the salmon and give it a nuance of the herbaceous plant's flavor (although it just tasted like regular fresh salmon to me). This piece cost a mere 65 pence.

Wasabi Sushi & Bento, London

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Samurai Sushi & Bento, London