GINZA

We met up with T, her two daughters and our son, who was sleeping over at her place in La Moraleja for the weekend. From the Ritz, we crossed over to Plaza de las Cortes and walked to this sushi bar across the street from the Westin Palace Hotel and behind the Thyssen-Bornemisza.

Ginza is a simple Japanese restaurant with a large conveyor-built sushi bar downstairs and some tables upstairs. We opted to sit at the bar so the children could have their fun picking out their dinner from the contantly moving array of sushi, sashimi and rolls plus a few other small cooked Japanese dishes. There are 6 types of plates and each different coloured plate is priced accordingly from 3.90 for a simple tamago (egg on rice) to 7.90 for a negi-toro (fatty tuna and chive sushi). My son, who loves Japanese food, ordered a plate of salmon sashimi immediately while the rest of us watched and waited for what goodies would come up on the moving display.

We picked up these dishes from the conveyor - tuna and salmon sashimi, negi-toro, ebi tempura maki, spicy tuna maki, toro temaki (cone-shaped sushi), crab roll and ebiko roll (shrimp roe). From the menu, we ordered miso soup, yakitori and tofu agedashi.

The fish was fresh, the rolls were reasonably-priced and the portions were substantial. This place is a perfect lunch spot after a visit to either the Prado or the Thyssen. We spent about 30 euros per person for great sushi - a bargain comapred to what we spend in Marbella. After our terrific dinner, we walked back to the Ritz and said goodnight to T and the kids and agreed to meet for lunch the following day before we headed back to Malaga.