Etsu, The Strand (off Brunswick Street), Liverpool

Apr 11 2008 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

That’s why I’ve never seen it as restaurant food. But I’m pleased I took a chance on this – tender pieces of fish ready to fall apart at the touch.

With the salmon, tuna, chicken and steak main courses, diners get a choice of three sauces, including teriyaki and a garlic and ginger flavoured yaki niku sauce. I went for the Ponzu, a sharp soy sauce and rice vinegar combo.

Normally, when I see salad, my heart sinks. Shredded detritus waiting to be condemned.

Not this time, though, a sharp dressing made it the perfect accompaniment to that tuna.

I wolfed that salad down, even the cherry tomatoes that in any other restaurant would have been left abandoned at the side of the plate.

I mentioned this to the waitress. “Secret recipe”, she smiled. Of course.

The portions at Etsu aren’t the largest in the world, but with food this good we weren’t complaining. And, of course, we had room for dessert.

My companion chose a dessert from the waitress’s special list – plum cake with black sesame ice cream.

The ice cream was the unexpected eminence grise of the dessert plate, at first sight a grey glob, looked like cement, tasted like a dream, smoky and sesame, sweet and yet not sweet. If it’s on offer, you really should try it. Not forgetting the plum cake, made (we were told) with specially fine Japanese flour, making it densely flavoursome while still light on the stomach.

My Japanese chocolate cake had the same dense-light balance, served with a luminescent lump of delicious green tea ice cream.

Together with green tea and a couple of Japanese beers for me, our Far Eastern feast came to a conveniently round £50. Etsu opened with such little fuss that many of my Daily Post colleagues don’t seem to know it exists. But with its fine menu, welcoming dining room and excellent friendly service, it won’t be a secret for long.

Never mind the Bullet Train – it seems that, if you want a real taste of Japan, you just need the Merseyrail to James Street.

Etsu, 25, The Strand (off Brunswick Street), Liverpool

Tel: 0151 236-7530

Service: Excellent and attentive

Price: Evening main courses moderate to expensive in the evening, though lunch menu includes bento box set meals, from £6.95

Menu: Authentic, healthy Japanese

Decor: Minimalist yet welcoming

Parking: City centre car parks

Total bill: £50

alistairhoughton@dailypost.co.uk