For those that don’t
know, Koya is a Japanese noodle house, specialising in Udon. In many ways, it
deserves more time and words from me but, then again, their (deceptively) ‘simple
food’ speaks for itself.
Located on Frith Street
in London’s Soho, since opening a couple of years ago they have won numerous
awards and accolades, including a Michelin ‘Bib Gourmand’ (which promises ‘good
food at moderate prices).
Great reviews by bloggers
and the print media alike (including Time Out, Metro, The Times, The Guardian
and The Independent to name a few) have helped to establish Koya as one of the
capitals busiest informal eateries – but perhaps more ore telling than the
opinions of a few snooty foodists (myself included) is the queue of people that
frequently line the pavements.
In their own words,
‘KOYA is a restaurant of food and space to offer both purity and quality,
without exaggeration or pretension.’ Words which, ironically may sound
pretentions but after one visit, I’m sure you’ll agree they are not.
Using old school foot
kneading techniques, their authentic wheat noodles are made fresh each day; the
dashi base stock too is freshly made in house – together they are slurpingly good!
Udon wise, Koya has a
number of options: Atsu-Atsu (hot udon in hot broth); Hiya-Atsu (cold udon with
hot broth); Zaru Udon (cold udon with cold dipping sauce) or Hiyashi Udon (cold
udon with cold sauce to pour) – it was hot outside, so I selected a refreshing
Hiyashi Saba.
Hiyashi Saba (£10:50) consisted of a bowl
of the excellent udon noodles with a sufficient amount of smoked mackerel
(saba) to enable a smoky sensation to every bite. The umami rich sauce and
fresh green leaves with lemon completed a healthy, clean tasting meal.
As well as the udon
dishes, Koya also offer ‘Donburi’ rice bowls served with miso soup and various
‘Small plates’ featuring salads, pickles, tempura and alike.
From the specials board
I also selected a portion of Baby turnip
pickles (£2.80) – I’ve always been a fan of anything pickled whether it be
eggs, gherkins or rollmops. Perversely, I think this love stemmed childhood
visits to the Horniman and Grant museums where I’d stare fascinated into the
jars of pickled primates, dissected domestic cats and dogs, fetuses in
formaldehyde and the Grant’s famed ‘jar of pickled moles’. The turnips were
less fascinating but I’m sure much more delicious.
The above two dishes
would have been enough to make a satisfying lunch but I could not resist also
ordering the Tofu and broad bean dumpling
with Turnip “Agedashi” listed on the specials board (£6.70). The silken
tofu made for a light airy textured dumpling, pleasantly dotted with the bite
of the beans.
I’d like to remind my
Manchester readers of Yuzu in Chinatown (see here) the closest thing we,
in the North, have to Koya and another place worthy in my mind of one of
Michelin’s Bib Gourmands – the choice isn’t as wide as Koya but the quality is on
par.
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Check out the
entertaining review by fellow Manchester based blogger, Foods To Try Before You Die (here).
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Miss eating hiyashi udon, zaru soba etc in summer in Japan! Have eaten hand kneaded Houtou (noodles from Yamanashi region) when I was a child. Can't forget how thick, chewy and tasty they were.
ReplyDeleteLast year when I went back to Japan, I had hand kneaded Kishimen in Nagoya. It was in a small diner, specialising in hand kneaded Kishimen and soba. Not an expensive, michelin starred restaurant but Kishimen was fantastic. Wish I had taken some photo!
There are so many small every day diners which serve excellent meals in Japan.
Food wise, don’t expect either value for money or taste sensations. Our enduring imagine of Koya, is that they could learn a trick or two from some well known chains. The kamo roast duck breast was basically executed with a flat soy soup, some spring onions and a knock-your-head-off wasabi paste; completely unbalanced.
ReplyDeleteValue hunters beware; your dinner money would be better spent elsewhere…