Kurobuta: A New Take on Japanese Dining

London’s Japanese restaurants seem to have fallen into 3 categories. The trendy ‘Bonedaddies’ ramen bar, the ‘Wasabi’ high street chain and the up market ‘Sushi Samba’ joint.

That was until Kurobuta came along and whacked their Japanese-come-pub grub stamp all over the scene!

Aussie founded Kurobuta serves up the conventional Japanese plates (think maki, sashimi and miso) with crazy cool gastropub-esque fusion plates. The menu is splattered with the likes of BBQ smoked pork belly buns, Tuna Sashimi Pizza with Truffle Ponzu and Crispy Skin Duck Confit.

With all this in mind you can understand why my friend and I got totally excited when we arrived for a late lunch last Sunday! We were advised to order 3 small plates each by the beautifully Australian accented staff (Aussie soft spot!), which was awesome as we wanted to try EVERYTHING!

I’ll take you for a little stroll through what we had:

Sweet Potato and Soba-Ko Fries with Sauces (£4) – The most beautiful knobby sweet potato fries with wasabi mayo and a jalapeno sauce. We cleared these up pretty sharpish.

Roasted Scallop with Yuzu Truffle Egg sauce and Yuzu Tobiko (£12) – The scallops were sat on a bed of tender mushrooms with a creamy egg sauce……we cleaned that up pretty quickly too…..

Jerusalem Artichoke Chopsticks with Truffle Ponzu Dip (£7) – These were a little more batter than artichoke HOWEVER the truffle dip may be the BEST DIP EVER INVENTED. Just a heads up.

Pumpkin Tempura with Pickled Pumpkin and Creamy Spicy Shiso Dressing (£6.50) – Good meaty pumpkin chunks in a light a fizzy tempura batter. Massive winner.

BBQ Kurobuta Pork Ribs with Honey-Soy-Ginger Glaze (£14) – We ended up with these plastered all over our faces. They were ooey, gooey and fell of the bine like awesome ribs should. Buuut a word of warning. If the waiting staff bring over what seems to be sushi, they have not mixed up someone else’s order, they in fact are hand towels. My bad!

Wagyu Beef Sliders; Steamed Bun, Crunchy Onions, Pickled Cucumber and Umami Mayo (£19) – These were our favourite! The patty was so tender and juicy it was unbelievable, and when teamed with the crunchy onion ring, sweet bun and may was a blissful match.

Tea Smoked Lamb with Smokey Nasu and Spicy Korean Miso (£15.50) – This was a little bit of a curveball. After the first bit I wasn’t sure on the flavour, however the lamb was pink and tender. Yet after the second bite the taste rather grew on us and they were devoured!

These little plates made sure we had room for dessert! We tried the special mochi (Japanese ice cream encased in rice balls) and the blackforest melee. The mango and coconut mochi were light and refreshing, and the blackforest dessert was intricately awesome! There was the a pistachio almost marzipan like cake, a decadent chocolate mouse, a tangy and sharp blackcurrant sorbet and a sprinkling of both red berries and candied hazelnuts. It was fan-tastic and really displayed the culinary expertise in taste and presentation of the kitchen.

Overall Kurobuta is a light, open and airy new age take on Japanese dining. Founder Scott Hallsworth has really got this right with immense flavors, beautiful presentation and an awesome setting. Take our word for it, shimmy down!

Reporter Aspen Glencross @GollumCrackCorn & Philly T

 

Website: www.kurobuta-london.com

Twitter: @KUROBUTALONDON

Facebook: /KurobutaLondon

Kurobuta Marble Arch

17-20 Kendal Street

W2 2AW