Friday, November 27, 2009

Roka restaurant, buzzword dining room

Roka Restaurant is one of London’s busiest dining rooms I've seen lately.

This is a "younger" sister of now famous Zuma (see the other post here) and obviously, it has a plenty of customer.

This is one of not so many Japanese restaurants (in Europa) that has a robata grill.
Robata is a rustic form of grilling; translated as “around the fireplace”, it is actually the ancient Japanese home cooking custom.


The Shochu Lounge in the basement; this is genie distillery equipment for Shochu, ancient Japanese spirit (or Japanese vodka).


Up in the restaurant; wonderful big windows and the big wooden benches around large Robata Grill.

What we had:


Sashimi with fresh wasabi; presentation was great, but tuna was substandard...


pickled celery...


rock oysters rice vinegar and ponzu...


Wagyu maki with spring onion... ultra-tender and very interesting flavors...


juicy lobster and black cod dumplings...


fried eggplant with sesame miso...


boring stuff...


asparagus with sweet soy and sesame...


In my opinion, this is stand-out dish; black cod, grilled to perfection...


and the desserts are to die for.

It has a very comprehensive sake and wine list with several quite nice options by the glass.

At about 100€ per person for a tasting menu, including drinks will not break the bank; however, we expected a great food, which is not exactly how we feel at the end...

Anyway, this will become one of my favorite London restaurant and lounge.

Recommended.

Rating: 7.5 (out of 10.0)

Roka,
37 Charlotte Street
London W1T 1RR

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