When I Have More Money: A New Look for Aqua Kyoto

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

A New Look for Aqua Kyoto

I was invited to review Aqua Kyoto and our food and drink was complimentary. I was not paid to visit and was not under contractual obligation to write this blog post or create content on any platform.

One of my favourite London restaurants has a stylish new look and a delicious new menu items. On the London scene for over ten years, Aqua Kyoto on Argyll Street is moving with the times and has had a fantastic face lift ready for a new decade!

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Fully in the festive spirit Oscar and I headed down to check out the makeover. The always gorgeous space is now looking even more stylish with a chic dining space, open kitchen and the famous terrace with an incredible view of London.
We were fortunate enough to try a tasting of some of the new dishes on the menu as well as old favourites. Kicking off with salted edamame and tofu miso soup, our appetites were well and truly whet for what was to come.
New on the menu for lunch time as the chirasi don bowls (think poké but make it Japanese!), we tried the plant based bowl and the salmon bowl but there’s also tuna and chicken available all of which are served with avocado, wakame, glazed tofu, radish, lotus root and pickled vegetables on a bed of rice.

Also set to be a lunch time staple are the bento boxes. There’s the deluxe box pictured below which includes 12 dishes including wagyu beef, black cod, tuna tataki, rock shrimp tempura, maki and sushi and the veggie box above which features grilled yuzu miso truffle asparagus, tempura and vegetable maki, rice and miso soup.

On the menu there is also a whole bento box devoted to salmon and also one of chicken.

Sushi is always my favourite course and Aqua Kyoto never disappoints… we tried Salmon & avocado harumaki, chargrilled octopus, yamagobo and sesame, tuna and spicy tobiko, avocado, cucumber & chilli mayonnaise as well as grilled eel, sweet potato, red pepper, asparagus and kampyo. Spicy tuna was my absolute favourite and something I’d order again and again.

The tempura selection was another popular course on our table and I loved both the padron pepper with shiitake, shiso yuzu mayonnaise and the rock shrimp with spicy chilli and garlic mayonnaise.

Main courses were matcha green tea soba noodles, edamame, Japanese mushrooms, onion teriyaki and tamago (always a favourite of mine), fillet of Chilean sea bass and sea vegetables, slow cooked Aka miso & garlic pork belly, shiso green apple and braised beef short rib. One of the great things about being invited to tastings like this is being able to try so many dishes that I wouldn’t always order. The sea bass was my top choice, flaking apart beautifully with the most delicious but delicate flavour.

There was just time to sample desserts before I dashed home to give Oscar a feed and nap. The Forest Floor dessert is as beautiful as it is delicious and contains yuzu oba leaf cream, almond praline, chocolate and azuki with sour cherry sorbet. It was my first time trying the yuzu parfait with hazelnut crocanti, satsuma sorbet and it was so light and refreshing. The soy panna cotta is 100% vegan and is accompanied green tea crumble and raspberry sorbet.