Restaurant Review: aqua kyoto

The waitress knew my name. How odd.

Alas, as we were guided to our seats, it dawned on me that she was neither psychic, nor had I become a minor celebrity overnight. Instead, it was all the work of the nice gentleman with the reservation list, who'd greeted us at the street-level entrance and ushered us into the lift.

In the time it took to ride up five floors, deposit coat, hat, gloves, and scarf with the charming (if over-staffed) bevy of receptionists, Mr Ground-Floor had the opportunity to radio my name, description, and possibly shoe-size, to the wait staff above. Cunning.

 

aqua kyoto (painful lower case mandatory) is one half of David Yeo's latest dual-restaurant-concept-thang -- the other half being aqua nueva (a Spanish restaurant) -- located on the fifth floor of the former Dicken & Jones store at Oxford Circus.

There's also a bar (aqua spirit) which, despite reports of being the latest lightbulb for London's young glamorous moths, struck me as rather unassuming, with a simple circular bar and a few brightly-lit alcoves. All the better to see you in, my dear. There's also a roof terrace, which all reviewers hold great hopes for, come the British summer.

In contrast, aqua kyoto was dressed to impress, all black lacquer and red velvet, while the patrons ranged from jeans and loafers to my "chance to dress up" Banana Republic silk dress. Background music, upbeat but not distracting, gave the place a degree of "buzz". So far, so good.

 

The menu, given the aspirational surroundings, was surprisingly well-behaved. A handful of fashionable Japanese staples (wagyu beef, miso black cod), nothing insanely fusion-based, and, once you got past the pretty typography and menu-speak, at least half the dishes were drawn from the traditional culinary canon (such as spinach with sesame sauce, teriyaki chicken, and agedashi tofu).

We started with the seared beef tataki, which came in a neat row of six, with a bowl of chilli ponzu. The scallop, prawn, and mushroom soup, served in a black teapot, was a mildly messy affair but fun nevertheless. Prawn tempura was textbook, even if they tried to serve it with green tea salt.

Portion size is anyone's guess at a new restaurant, but the two huge fillets of miso black cod soon put my fears to rest, as did the 'contemporary' sushi platter composed of 12 super-sized nigiri (not one for the purists, I'm afraid). Again, aqua kyoto steered clear of wildly oddball flavours, with the prawn with miso bisque and beef tartare with raw egg being the only really wacky nigiri toppings. Unfortunately, I wasn't particularly convinced by the freshness of the fish.

Dessert was a satisfying "half-baked" chocolate pudding with black sesame ice cream. Forget green tea; sesame is where it's at, frozen-dessert-wise. The cocktail list (courtesy of aqua spirit) was inventive and slick, with gems such as my Rose&Li (champagne with rose liqueur, lychee and floating rose buds) and the Chamomile Bubbles (umeshu with peach liqueur and chamomile).

All in all, aqua kyoto sits in that slightly uncomfortable gap between London's destination-dining venues (think Nobu and Zuma) and the high-quality traditional Japanese restaurants -- and the menu reflects this.  The dishes were generally well-executed, but fell short of superlative, in terms of both innovation and authenticity.

Worth a curiosity-driven visit if you've got cash to spare; otherwise, head to aqua spirit to soak up the glitz, or check out rumours of the generous (and very reasonably priced) lunch-only bento sets.

Around £70pp (including cocktails and service, and a smidgen of over-ordering)

aqua kyoto
5th Floor, 240 Regent Street (entrance at 30 Argyll Street)
London  W1B 3BR
020 7478 0540
www.aqua-london.com

 

 

Comments

[The London Foodie]

Hello,

Just found your lovely blog through Twitter. It sounds like a very good meal although £70 is not cheap. Do you think it was good value for money?

Luiz @ The London Foodie

[JenJen]

Hi Luiz,

Short answer is: I think there are better places in London to blow £70 quid on dinner, both in terms of quality of food and glitz factor...

That said, the miso black cod was good value for two huge pieces at £26, and the cocktails (£12 each) and service (12.5%) inflated the bill quite a bit.

Longer answer in e-mail winging your way. =)

[Wild Boar]

Beef tartare nigiri sushi sounds really really weird, not sure I could have stomached that. How did that one turn out?

[JenJen]

Hi Wild Boar - yay, nice to find more Malaysian food bloggers in London! [Well, I half-count as one... =) ]

The beef tartare was fine, but I don't think it beats a proper French tartare, or just a whole piece of beef nigiri.

[London Chow]

Hey JenJen,

Went to Aqua Kyoto for lunch after reading your review. Hmm, I would think that the ambiance would be better in the evening. Food wise, I must say that the bento lunch set was reasonably priced and the chawanmushi that came with it clinched the deal for me.

Oh, the waitress didn't know our name. :)