Izakaya Shogun Japanese Sushi & Grill

Friday night we went to the best sushi in London - Izakaya Shogun Japanese Sushi & Grill. I have been to several (maybe 10?) different sushi restaurants in London, and this one is clearly the winner. I have been many times, and I have never had anything to complain about. This night happened to be really busy, with just two servers on the floor, so service was pretty slow. They were both really hustling, and we had been served by them before, but we were without water for way too long and very thirsty. Trying to leave when 4 other tables had the same idea wasn't easy. That being said, the food was still great! We started with the Beef Gyoza:

Beef Gyoza - fried crispy dumplings, mixed beef and veggies inside

The gyoza were so good, the perfect appetizer. Next up was the favourite, the Spicy Peanut Shrimp & Crab:

Spicy Peanut Shrimp - Crispy fried shrimp and crab meat, tossed with house dynamite sauce

It is that sauce we need to talk about. The crab pieces just melt in your mouth, and the shrimp is always perfectly cooked. The sauce is so rich and creamy, and so much more flavourful than whatever you are imagining. We talk about this sauce on our way to the restaurant and on our way home. If we could buy it by the litre, we would. Then the rolls started:

Clockwise from top left - Double Dragon (deep fried salmon roll covered with fresh salmon and crab meat), Baby Lobster Roll (fried lobster with avocado and cucumber), and Jack Daniel Roll (spicy tuna and asparagus roll covered with BBQ eel, avocado, and crab meat)

We knew we were here for the Baby Lobster roll and the Jack Daniel roll. I think the Jack Daniel was my favourite with all its flavours and sauces, but Scott preferred the Baby Lobster for the buttery lobster pieces. The Double Dragon was good, but a little boring - I am not a huge fan of mixing cooked and raw salmon either. We will probably sub in something else next time. Finally, we also had the super crunch roll:

Super Crunch Roll - whole roll fried, spicy tuna & salmon shrimp tempura with crispy topping

This was the strangest roll we tried. With the whole thing being deep fried, you really couldn't taste much else, or tell what fish were involved. There also appeared to be almond slivers as a garnish. It was a huge roll, that was impossible to get in your mouth without spilling crispy bits everywhere. It was tasty, but not like a delicious sushi roll, more like eating bits of fried batter in a nice sauce. I don't think we will ever order this one again.

Without ordering any drinks or desserts, our bill ended up around $75 for the two of us, which is pretty typical here. Unlike all you can eat sushi, you don't leave needing to unbutton your pants or feeling like you need to be rolled home. We left full and satisfied. While there were some misses, there are many more menu items for us to try, and we have found a few that we would never skip on. Unfortunately the location isn't central to London, attached to a Super 8 Hotel in the city's south end, making it challenging to get to from our Northwest home.

Likes: The spicy peanut shrimp appetizer, baby lobster roll, and jack daniel roll are favourites that keep us coming back.
Dislikes: This was the slowest service experience we've had here, and the super crunch roll wasn't great.
Food: 4/5
Service: 2/5
Would I go again?: Definitely. Hopefully it was just an off day for service, but it was a busy Friday night. Maybe we will stick to Saturday lunch, where we have been the only customers in the dining room.