Mayumi @ Lagos Oriental Hotel

3, Lekki-Epe Express Way, Lekki, Lagos

01 280 6600

NOSA: I can’t believe it’s taken us this long to review Mayumi. Should’ve been off the bucket list a long time ago. 

FOLLY: We've eaten here before though but never reviewed it. I think it was because we didn't think we had ordered an adequate amount of menu items. 

NOSA: For a place, so fancy looking, their sushi menu is incredibly limited. Just 12 regular rolls and 3 specials. No sashimi either. Just all round weak sauce. Maybe they don’t go all in because the clientele is probably very Nigerian. Oriental Garden is on on the same floor and you know our people love the hell out of Chinese. You might ask how that’s relevant, but Mayumi also serves items off the Oriental Garden menu.

FOLLY: They have an extensive Teppanyaki menu, though, something tells me that's actually their strong point and we made the error of ordering sushi.  

NOSA: We got a bunch of starters. A combination of the dumplings from Oriental Garden and the Tempura Sweet Potato from the Mayumi menu.

FOLLY: Dumplings that we've ordered before when we reviewed Oriental Garden. There's no update on how I feel about them as still taste the same so I guess they get points for consistency. 

NOSA: The sweet potato was like an alté yamarita. A yamarita of Japanese origin, you might say. 

FOLLY: An artisanally made yamarita, if you will, as the crust was thin with an almost perfect consistency. 

NOSA: Tasted more like yam than sweet potato to be very honest. 

FOLLY: I agree but now I wonder if that was just in our minds because of the strong similarities to yamarita. Anyway, on to the sushi rolls. We ordered the salmon roll, tempura prawn roll, and the red crab roe roll. 

NOSA: There was this “soapy” thing to the rice in the salmon roll. I can’t really explain it. Some sushi places have it.

FOLLY: I can't say I've tasted this at any sushi places before now but imagine you were eating rice and stew and as you take your first spoonful, the taste of Morning Fresh hits your heavy. 

NOSA: The salmon in it is nice, I guess,  but there’s just something about it that I didn't like. In comparison, the prawn tempura roll we had didn’t taste the same way.

Maybe it’s the seaweed.

FOLLY: Yeah, that's possible because the salmon roll was one of those inside-out rolls.  The prawn tempura roll was decent, just as good as the prawn tempura roll at the next place. 

NOSA: Forgive me for being razz, but I had no idea Tobiko was the Japanese word for Roe.

FOLLY: And crab roe is basically crab eggs. 

NOSA: So imagine my surprise when our crab roe roll came and it was basically a regular roll with tobiko on top of it. I was so convinced we were scammed. 

FOLLY: For what it's worth, the red crab roe roll, while disappointing as the rest, was actually my favorite. 

NOSA: The sushi here is pretty disappointing. I actually prefer Sakura and I don’t even like Sakura that much. It’s way better than Bonsai though if anything. The salmon was expensive and it wasn’t that good

POSTSCRIPT

NOSA: When the menu had so few rolls, I should have known this was going to let me down. 

FOLLY: Izanagi has the best sushi in Lagos. Fin. 

Oh, sushi and beer is nice. 

VERDICT

DAMAGE

Salmon Roll - N3000

Steamed Shu Mai - N1500

Red Crab Roe Roll - N1500

Tempura Prawn Roll - N3000

Sweet Potato Tempura - N2000

Steamed Shrimp Dumplings - N1800

Pan Fried Chicken Dumplings - N1200

PARKING

Yes