Koya City
When speaking of Japanese udon specialist in London, Koya is the one and only that has been leading the pack since 10 years ago they opened the first udon bar in Soho. My last time having Koya’s udon was when they still had a stall at Markethall Victoria and I know I much needed to have it especially when Londoners have marveled at udon hype recently.
Their Soho bar is cozy and usually was quite busy so I personally like their site at Bloomberg Arcade more. Have ordered ‘Zaru’ (cold udon with cold sauce to dip) when I headed there, it seems they didn’t change much on menu over the years and the udon I had on that day actually tasted chewier with a pleasant bite than I remembered. It’s pure, simple, with a neutral flavor. If you love your udon firm or al dente, then this is the place for you.
Besides udon, I would highly recommend their prawn tempura. I ordered ‘Ten Mori’ (2 prawns and vegetable tempura), the vegetable tempura was as good as supposed to be but prawn tempura was blooming delicious. It was perfectly deep-fried with a lacy crisp, featherlight shell of batter, a crunchy mouthfeel. The texture, I would say, was luxurious and this is the food that really satisfied my taste buds and soul.
I’ve also noticed they have a daily blackboard rotating specials like grilled monkfish or sake steamed clam and I would still like to try next time.
Koya City
10-12 Bloomberg
Arcade, London EC4N 8AR
Shōtengai Japanese Market
Just
went down to Kings Cross on Saturday as it was the final weekend of Japanese
Market at Coal Drops Yad despite having a very strange
weather phenomenon. You may have seen me packing some Japanese
bakes from Rise Bakery at the market on my Stories and let me show you this EGG
SANDWICH. It’s made with ‘Dashimaki Tamago’ だし巻き卵, the rolled egg has included dashi (Japanese soup stock) so the
texture was extremely soft and fluffier. The mustard sauce inside, which I like
it a lot, was a little spicier with a tangy kick. Then I realised it was
handmade with sake lees/sake kasu 酒粕 (a
fermented-grain beverage which can be used in cooking and baking), that’s why it has
imparted a distinctive savoury flavour to the sauce. The bread was Japanese
Shokupan so it’s pillowy soft as well. Cucumber was thinly sliced and crispy
which gave a delightful crunch to the sandwich.
Overall this was absolutely divine while made with gourmet ingredients but
it cost £8.9, probably the most pricey egg sando I’ve ever had in London.
Rise Bakery
BRAT
BRAT has been on my
list since it launched and I finally got to go this Basque-inspired grill
restaurant to find out how Wales meets Basque on the plate! We sat close to the
open kitchen with charcoal scent which makes a great watch to see the
proceedings and chefs working on an open flame.
What we had:
Grilled bread with anchovy
This puffed-up bun with anchovy is such a winner to start and
I even think of it now. Buttery, smokey, and chewy. Anchovy is aggressively
salty but that’s also a flavour to magnify the umami.
Grilled cucumber & roe
I thought grilled cucumber would become tender but they are
actually fairly crunchy with charred taste! Fresh dills and mashed roe also achieve
the right balance and certainly add bursts of flavour to this dish.
Hake Kokotxas
Hake throats in three pieces cooked in different ways to show
the different textures and tastes. I particularly love the fried one.
Bread & burnt onion butter
A thick
flat piece of charred sourdough with a great mound of onion ash butter. Simply
delicious. (We also took the small piece of bread to mop up the sauce of mashed
roe, sooooooo good!)
Aged duck
Each slice of duck is soft without fail. The leg has a lovely
mix of tender and meat texture with mouthfeel while sweet and bitter leaves
give sharp contrast to the duck.
Lemon sole
This is fish at its finest, best when simply cooked. Soft and
tender, a little smokey.
Burnt cheesecake & peach
Custardy and gooey centre with charred layer, deliciously
light and creamy. Love their version to have a slight citrus taste as it literally
lifts up the flavour.
Everything about the food, the service, and the restaurant
itself was great. It’s a one Michelin-starred restaurant but very Shoreditch
with casual atmosphere. Would recommend to go as a group so you can share more
and try a bit of everything. They are currently doing Climpson’s pop up in
London Fields and I think it’s worth checking out as well.
4 Redchurch Street, London E1 6JL
Taiwanese Rice Box BIANG DANG
Have heard it from
my Taiwanese friends for years, can’t believe I’ve just tried Bian Dang in Kerb Food recently for
their iconic Taiwanese rice
box and it was superb!
Everything on the
menu looks so good. I ended up ordering traditional pork chop rice box with 1/2
marinated tea egg. The rice box is also packed with Taiwanese pickles,
stir-fried greens, chilli oil and braised minced sauce, all served over a bed
of steamed rice.
The fried pork chop
itself was flavourful, easy to chew, and covered with a crispy and crunchy layer.
(If you like Taiwanese salt & pepper popcorn chicken, you would love this
one as well.) Tea egg was probably not what I expected (supposed to be hard-boiled
with marble-like pattern) but it’s still a perfect jammy egg to bite. This rice
box was so satisfying to eat, loaded huge portion with authentic Taiwanese
flavour and definitely filled me up! They also have ‘Beast’ and ‘Game Changer
Beast’ (vegetarian) rice box, both are looking giant like a monster which has a
bit of everything, would love to try at my next visit.
Various location at Kerb Food
