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Unlikely as it may seem, the first house I lived in was called 'Moshi Moshi', which is a Japanese greeting used mainly when answering the phone. It is also the name of a chain of Japanese conveyor belt restaurants in London. We don't have one in Chiswick, but we do have Sushi Bar Makoto on Turnham Green Terrace. 'Makoto' means sincerity or truth, which is a reassuring trait in a restaurant selling raw fish.
Makoto opened in Chiswick in 2008 in Devonshire Road, before moving to the Terrace in 2009. It's a small place, with half a dozen or so tables fairly close together, but functional rather than cosy - it's not the place for a romantic dinner if that's what you're after. There are a few seats at the bar where you can watch the sushi chef in action. (We went on a sushi-making course last summer, but have some way to go to match the experienced chef here, you'll be relieved to learn.)
Unimpressed with the wine options ("red" or "white") and daunted by the sake choice, we opted for Japanese lager to drink. Kirin, Asahi, Sapporo and Suntory control 96% of the Japanese beer market, so not surprisingly the first three are on the list here.
The restaurant is popular with locals - including at least one Japanese when we were there - and on TripAdvisor, where the standard review is 'excellent food but pricey'. What do you expect in Chiswick?
The sushi and sashimi appear fresh and are well presented. I'm not sure I'd recommend the salad, having seen much of it tipped out of a Green Giant tin, but stick to the specialities and you can't go far wrong. We started with some edamame, then shared some salmon sashimi (only available as 3 or 5 pieces), tuna and mackerel nigiri (2 pieces of each, it's not a new combo) and some spicy salmon sushi roll. We tried two types of Makoto special roll - the ebi ten dx (which sounds like it might be a camera) with king prawn tempura and the spider dx with soft shell crab. And if that weren't enough, we shared some salmon teriyaki from the specials board (but drew the line at the rice).
Food (for 2): £49.80
Drink: £16
Total: £75
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