Year of Eating Differently (57): Itsu, Canary Wharf

Well, this is the furthest east we've been on our travels yet. Eagle-eyed or loyal readers might note that this is also the first time we've revisited a brand; Itsu on Wardour Street has already been tested.
This time round, in the soulless dungeons of Bankerland; had a fairly ok couple of boxes of 'vegetarian sunrise' sushi (that's avocado and ginger to you and me) but that was the sole vegetarian option. The bento available on Wardour Street were much better (and bigger) but this probably suggests that the Masters of the Universe in Canary Wharf demand meat to fuel their red-blooded murders and acquisitions, and vegetarian food is merely for losers and secretaries (who should really be at their desks/collecting dry cleaning/returning videotapes/buying birthday presents for the wife for their dark masters); us meedja whores of Soho have a different diet, as befits our calm and stress free lifestyles.
Anyway, okay. Ambience is pretty grim, what with being underground, and there's not enough tables, so we sat down by Cafe Nero, and twenty minutes in were asked to move on by a barista despite the empty tables around us. Cue enragement and barefaced lying, where we said we'd come in and buy a coffee immediately afterwards, and then flounced off instead when we were done. That, along with the barman in the Marlborough Head trying to pick a fight with one of his customers on Tuesday night, suggests there really is too much anger in London at the moment, and it might be time to get out. Bristol tonight it is then...

Year of Eating Differently (28): Crussh, Broadwick Street

A brightly lit juice bar, full of smoothies and other reprehensibly-healthy fare. I had a moment of nostalgia here; they were playing the Mark Ronson reworking of Radiohead's Just - I first heard this one night on X fm, driving back down to Folkestone and listening to the Cuban Brothers' barrage of eccentricities. And this was back in the day only slightly, before Ronson became hated for redoing a Smiths song and making it less depressing than the original.
So anyhow: another bento of sushi, hurrah. A little cheaper than the Itsu one, but no chopsticks, goddammit! Also, the presence of all this rocket salad is a mixed blessing at best - rather fiddly to eat out of a bento, regardless of whether you're using hanshi or a knife and fork. Grated carrot isn't bad either, and considering I was intending on a dirty burger from Nando's today, doing substantially better than I might have expected. (Did eat some crisps as well though, but I'm at kempo tonight and that should burn it off)
Oh, and the wasabi here is a bit stronger. I'm currently blinded with tears, my nose and throat are on fire - it's tremendous. Maybe a bit less next time though...

Year of Eating Differently (24): Itsu, Wardour Street

Jolly good work this: a second day of Japanese food, although this time with a French woman behind the counter. Bento is a simple way to get some food in you, and there's a good amount of wasabi paste to spread on the sushi. I'd actually forgotten how good this stuff tastes - must be at least 6 months since I had any sushi at all. However, all and sundry are suffering from aggressiveness at the moment - when asked by the counter lady if I wanted a bag, had to bite my lip from yelling "Do I ****ing well look like I want a bag?" - why would that be? Is it the strain of a year in London, finally breaking my psyche? Or should I have got more sleep last night, rather than staggering back from the Castle at well past 11 and then having to feed the cat (a lazy feline that failed to wake me at the proper time this morning, I must add)