Little Tokyo Leeds review: I tried this family-run Japanese restaurant that has stood the test of time

The Queen officially opened the Millennium Dome, Catherine Hartley and Fiona Thornewill became the first British women to reach the South Pole – and Little Tokyo opened in Leeds.

With just eight tables, the small family-run restaurant – one of the first Japanese ones in West Yorkshire – became an overnight hit. It was even rated one of the the Yorkshire Evening Post’s top 10 restaurants in Leeds just three weeks after opening.

Since then, capacity has grown, many more accolades have been graciously received and, in a time when the hospitality trade has been dealt several devastating blows, business remains brisk.

We visited on a weekday evening when almost every table in this charming restaurant in a rather unlikely backstreet location was taken. Having negotiated the small wooden bridge over the central water feature without giving the koi carp a fright, we were seated in traditional style on cushions; the atmosphere was lively and the service attentive as we ordered our drinks, a superb, ice cold pint of Asahi and a diet cola.

The menu is extensive, with everything a Japanese food enthusiast could wish for and more. Sushi and sashimi feature extensively but there’s also curries, soup with noodles, stir fries and the hugely popular bento boxes.

My guest opted for dim sum siu mai to start, steamed pockets of minced pork with a sweet chilli dressing. He found them delicious; piquant, rich and fulsome in flavour. By contrast, my tempura avocado was extraordinarily light with a perfectly sharp wasabi mayonnaise as accompaniment.

His main course was the intriguingly named dancing salmon – not a fish doing the floss, rather a seared salmon avocado roll with Japanese mayonnaise and spring onion.