Itsu, 41 - 44 Great Queen Street, London.

• Duck & Pomegranate: roast hoisin duck, shaved leek, pomegranate seeds, itsu ‘no lettuce’ salad, Khoebz bread
• Hip, Humble & Houmous [vegan]: itsu chilli houmous mix, muki beans, pumpkin seeds, itsu 'no lettuce’ salad, Khoebz bread

Miss G and I were in London a couple of weeks ago for geeky pursuits (okay, Leaky Con; it was brilliant) and totally ate lunch here two days in a row. We regret nothing.

Being able to just buy vegetarian/vegan options (just buy it! in shops! you just pick it up and you buy it!) is still pretty new to me after two years in Japan, but this was a delight. Super fresh, brilliantly put together, fantastic flavours; you know when you just know you’re putting something good in your body? Dreamy sigh.

With that said, I love how bright and healthy their menu is, but the emphasis on calling it 'skinny’ food makes me a little uncomfortable. I know this is marketing, bro. I know everyone wants 'skinny’, low-fat food. But given that the nutritional information is already available for any choice you make, I always wince a bit when a place overplays that angle.  Come on, I get it. You’re putting me off my fro-yo.

(A note on the fro-yo: G and I both held out for the caramel sauce option. Actually, I thought it didn’t work as well with the tang of the yoghurt as my brain had anticipated; I enjoyed the standard blueberry fro-yo more. Not that there is any wrong way to eat fro-yo. Dreamy sigh #2.)

I sorta wanted to try their sushi, but I’m still at that point where I can’t morally bring myself to eat sushi outside of Japan. My professional eye said it looked good, but it also said that the udon noodles on the table next to us looked good, and then it got distracted by this cute little green tea lemon soda drink things? I don’t know. My professional eye was kind of hungry.