Ozen Sushi

The name promises sushi, and Ozen Sushi delivers it — but a table that orders only rolls and sashimi leaves most of the kitchen untouched. Behind the fresh-fish counter sits a second menu that runs Korean: bulgogi, bibimbop, okonomi yaki, and bowls of ramen and udon that have nothing to do with raw fish. The honest way to read Ozen is as a Japanese and Korean bridge on Richmond Row, a downtown London kitchen where the strongest order crosses between a torched specialty roll and a hot pot of rice. It has worked this stretch of the neighbourhood since 2008, long enough that the breadth reads as range rather than indecision.

The specialty rolls are where the kitchen shows its hand. Rocket Roll #1 stacks torched salmon over spicy salmon, cream cheese, avocado, and sweet onion; Rocket Roll #2 swaps in torched tuna with garlic flakes and unagi sauce over crab and cucumber. The house-branded Ozen Roll goes further — breaded salmon, eel, avocado, crab, and cream cheese under the restaurant's own signature sauce. The Golden Crunch Crab Roll torches crab over cream cheese, cucumber, and spicy mayo, and the Salmon Sushi Pizza turns the same instinct into an appetizer, Ozen's bite-sized rice cakes crisped with bread crumbs and topped with salmon. These are built-up, sauced, slightly theatrical plates, richer than a standard maki order but still tied to the fresh fish. For the table that wants variety without negotiating it piece by piece, the Osaka Set arrives on a boat built for two: twenty-five pieces of sashimi, sushi, and spicy salmon roll, with miso soup and a garden salad alongside.

What keeps Ozen from reading as a sushi counter with a few add-ons is how seriously it cooks the rest. Tonkotsu Ramen comes in a creamy pork-bone broth with pork belly, soft-boiled egg, shiitake, bean sprout, and green onion, regular or spicy; miso ramen and a full rack of udon sit beside it. The Korean side is not garnish either — bibimbop in a hot pot with red chili paste and a choice of beef or tofu, bulgogi worked into both a roll and a combo. Seafood Okonomi Yaki carries the same crossover, a Japanese-style pan cake finished with mayonnaise, teriyaki, and bonito flakes. Combo mains, poke bowls, and shared appetizers fill in around them, so the cooked half of the menu carries as much weight as the raw.

The breadth runs past the sushi list. There is a vegetarian path that holds its own — edamame, vegetable tempura, spring rolls, a tofu teriyaki combo, and a vegetable poke bowl layered with yam tempura, shiitake, inari, and avocado — so a strict eater is not left building a meal from side dishes. The drinks lean Japanese without overreaching: hot and cold sake, soju, plum wine, Japanese beer, and a yuzu highball, enough to carry a casual dinner without becoming the reason for it. Sets, combos, and boats give the bill a few honest shapes — the San Sushi Set runs fifteen pieces of the day's chef's choice with a spicy tuna roll — and most of the kitchen travels well, so takeout reads as a fair use rather than a downgrade.

That flexibility is the throughline. Richmond Row has cycled through plenty of openings and closings while Ozen kept the lights on at the same address, and the menu it runs now is wider than the one most sushi places defend — Korean and Japanese, raw and cooked, solo bowl and shared boat. The clearest picture of it is a table that couldn't agree at the door: one person set on sashimi, one craving ramen, one who came for bibimbop. At Ozen that is not a problem to solve. It is just dinner, ordered off one menu and carried out on a single boat.