Kiasu review - London Bayswater's Singaporean and Malaysian restaurant, good food let down by indifferent service

Address: 48 Queensway,
London W2 3RY
Tel: 020 7727 8810
Nearest Tube station: Bayswater

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £15 pp
Service charge: 10%
Taste: ****
Service: *
Ambience: **You will be surprised at how many searches for “Kiasu” there are in the London Chow’s search box on the right. Frankly, I myself am surprised at how long it took me to do a proper write up about Kiasu, the default Singaporean restaurant in London’s Bayswater or some say London itself.

Ironically, the owner of Kiasu hails from Malaysia and is also running Kam Tong, the Cantonese restaurant opposite it along Queensway. I only found that out after confirming with a waiter when I saw a staff from Kiasu walked across the road with an empty bucket and return with it filled with rice. That’s definitely much more efficient than boiling a fresh pot all over again.



To be honest, I am never enthusiastic about Kiasu’s service. Its staff are at best indifferent. This seems to be a common characteristic of a good many Singaporean or Malaysian restaurants in London (Rasa Sayang is one classic example). Yet people are willing to return to them repeatedly because the food served reminded them so much of the hawker fare back home halfway across the world. It’s unfortunate that they have to suffer the same service offered by the hawkers back home as well.



Staff service attitude aside, Kiasu’s food is really quite good. The char kuay teow (£6.90) is easily one of the better ones that I have tasted in London. Unlike Sedap’s drier version, Kiasu’s char kuay teow is certainly more oily and it comes with lap cheong (Chinese sausages), fresh prawns and, wait for it, fresh fried lard. Yes, gloriously sinful lard. I remember it used to be the norm for lard to be served with char kuay teow back home when I was a kid. As customers become more health conscious, lard and half-cooked clams gave way to pak choi and beansproats. The pieces of fried lard in Kiasu’s char kuay teow reminded me of that burly guy (always with his shirt half buttoned) sweating over his huge frying pan tossing char kuay teow at the Queenstown hawker centre when I was a kid.



Wife wasn’t as keen about Kiasu’s nonya laksa (£6.80). I took a sip of the laksa gravy and agreed that it didn’t have the depth that prima taste prepacked had.



Or luak (£5.50) or oyster omelette was advertised as being prepared the ‘Singaporean way’. How could I resist that? The irony is that we don’t quite like the way it is supposed to be prepared – the original Taiwanese way, if you prefer. For those who do, the one served at Leong’s Legends quite similar to Taipei’s Shi Ling market.

The Singaporean way of preparing or luak is quite different from how the Taiwanese people like it. Unlike the wetter (I prefer to call it slimy) version, the one that I am more accustomed to is drier and reminded me of the chai tou kuey (or fried carrot cake) with starch and oysters. Kiasu’s or luak was done just the way I liked it. If only it comes with chilli paste and squeezed lime like my favourite stall in Alexandra market back home.



Surprisingly, the highlight of the dinner was the dessert – a simple scoop of homemade durian ice-cream (£1/ scoop). Jost a Mon’s Feanor sent me a message earlier telling me that it tasted heavenly and I was sceptical and for good reasons too. Not because of his taste, which I absolutely trust, but because of the many London restaurants serving up scoops of run of the mill ice-cream as desserts and charging customers a premium for that.

Truth to be told, Wife and I decided to drop by Kiasu for its durian ice-cream after Feanor’s tip off. We weren’t at all disappointed to put it mildly. We could definitely taste the durian paste in the ice-cream and I could almost imagine one tearing the soft flesh off the durian seeds when preparing the ice-cream. I’ve tasted many so called durian ice-cream pumped up with essence but Kiasu’s homemade durian ice-cream is definitely the real deal.

For Singaporeans who have been away from home for quite some time, Kiasu’s toilet might bring back some fond memories. Yes, you read that right. There’s this glass cabinet just behind the door that leads to toilets featuring memorabilia that those of us born in the 60s to 80s would familiar with. Mr. Kiasu and Gotcha! merchandise, and even a bibliography of the late minister Goh Keng Swee.

The trip down memory lane doesn’t just end there. Once you step into the toilets proper, there are old photos of Singapore in the 60s plastered all over a wall housed in cheap IKEA photo frames. Ever wonder what CK Tang Shopping Centre looks like back then? Well, head towards Kiasu (or more precisely, its toilets) to find out.

While Kiasu is probably the place to go for Singaporean and Malaysian food, I couldn’t help but think that the only reason why it wouldn’t be high on my list of recommended places to eat in London is because of the indifferent attitude of its staff.

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Isarn review - fabulous Thai mango with sticky rice

Address: 119 Upper Street,
London N1 1QP
Tel: 020 7424 5153
Nearest Tube station: Angel

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £15 pp
Service charge: 12.5%
Taste: ***
Service: ***
Ambience: ****“Why didn’t you bring along your camera?” Wife mumbled under her breath. I guess it has almost become a habit of taking a shot of the dishes brought to our table every single place we have gone to after I started London Chow. It started with the camera attached to my phone and I moved on to bringing my Olympus autofocus along. Nowadays, my Nikon is getting a tad conspicuous. I do try to be as discreet as possible with my camera. I do apologise to my fellow diners if it bothers them.

“It’s alright,” I replied as I pushed through the door into Isarn, “Let’s enjoy the meal, shall we?”. Wife gave a shrug and followed me in. Isarn, a Thai restaurant is owned by Tina Juengsoongneum, sister of Alan Yau who started Hakkasan, Yauatcha, Cha Cha Moon and Wagamama among other prominent restaurants in London. I’m certainly not suggesting that Yau was the reason why Isarn was packed on Monday evening but I suspect Isarn benefited from the well established system that Yau is known for.


“Sawadii kah”, a Thai staff purred and showed us to our table, somewhere in the middle of the long narrow restaurant. She set a bowl of crackers on our table. I waited for the sweet Thai chilli sauce that normally comes with the crackers but there was none to be had. “Have you got that sweet sauce to go with the crackers?” I beckoned to a passing staff. “Sauce?” she looked puzzled for a split second and came back with some chilli sauce – the garlic chilli sauce that you could get from Tesco. Hmm, not exactly what I was looking for but I wasn’t there for the crackers, was I?

It didn’t took us long to decide what to get. Wife and I have got this repertoire when it comes to Thai restaurants. I would invariably go for phad thai while she would opt for tom yam gung. My penchant for phad thai started during an exercise held in Thailand quite some time back – the barrack’s canteen served the best phad thai ever. Till this day I suspect it might be due to the fact that I was thoroughly famished when I tucked into that piping hot phad thai.

Isarn’s phad thai (£7.50) came with a twist. That was the first time I had phad thai with fried tofu bits. While it added an interesting texture to the dish, I did miss the peanut gratings that was missing in the dish. That said, I must add that Isarn was really generous with their prawns in the dish. Halfway through the dish, I began to wonder whether it was meant to be prawns with flat noodles instead of the other way round. Note that the portion is quite small and you would probably need something else if you went with an empty stomach.

Wife was raving about Isarn’s tom yam gung (£5.90). Like phad thai, this is one Thai dish that everyone knows. While there are instant paste readily available at supermarkets, it’s difficult to get the dish at the desired spiciness. In my opinion, the a decent tom yam gung must not only have fresh ingredients (and I’m talking about large prawns and mushrooms here), it must not be too spicy. Instead the spiciness should only kick in after the tom yam goes down the back of your palate. Isarn’s tom yam gung is one such example.

We ordered some pineapple rice (£3.50) to go with the tom yam gung. It was a bit too mushy for my liking and I though the MSG was overwhelming. But the pineapple bits did nullify that somewhat.

Now, if I were to return to Isarn again, it would be because of its mango with black sticky rice. At £6.50, it costs as much as a main course and only rightly so. Come with half a juicy mango that would melt in your mouth, the black sticky rice (which tasted very much like pulau hitam) was to die for with accompanying coconut milk. At that point in time, I regretted not lugging my Nikon along for the dish was quite a sight as well.

It’s funny how you come to know of places to eat. Isarn was mentioned in passing by a mere acquaintance. Apparently her son loves Isarn’s tom yam gung to bits and for good reason too. Did Isarn deliver? Surely. Would I be back again? Definitely. (read about our second visit to Isarn - this time with pictures).

Just curious, are you bothered at all when someone on another table brings along a camera and start photographing every dish on the table (his, not yours)?

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Zeen review - Drummond Street Indian casual dining restaurant

Address: 130 Drummond Street,
London NW1 2PA
Tel: 020 7387 0606
Nearest Tube station: Euston

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £10 pp
Service charge: N.A.
Taste: ***
Service: **
Ambience: ***Ab leaned forward during lunch at Waitrose when I told him that I got an invitation to Zeen for dinner. "Never heard of that place but let me know if it's good and I'll probably pop down a meal some other day." When asked how I could tell whether an Indian restaurant is good, he answered with a twinkle in his eye, "Oh, it really depends on the individual - if you like it, it's probably good. Then again, a good Indian restaurant usually serves lamb that's tears easily. Look out for it.". With that in mind, Wife and I went down to Zeen one Friday evening.

If not for Zeen, we would probably never have ventured to this part of London and boy, were we glad that we did. Drummond Street, which in Ab's words, is literally an Indian street with its fair share of Indian restaurants and sweet shops. I was also told that many Indian visitors will stop by Euston station just so that they could get hold of some sweets for friends and families in other parts of the UK.



Zeen, with its bright orange facade, was towards the west end of Drummond Street. The ground floor entrance did little to betray what was in the basement - a cosy no-frills restaurant, visually enlarged by strategically placed mirrors, with the only distraction being a 40-inch Samsung LCD perched on one end of a wall playing a World Cup live telecast.

After settling down for awhile, we were eventually presented with the menu. To the untrained eye, Zeen provided quite a fair variety of vegetarian dishes other than meat dishes. When asked whether Zeen served warm drinks, a staff told us that they have only tea and coffee. We found out later from the dessert menu that other than just 'tea', Zeen offered masala chai, mint tea and ginger tea as well. I would have probably gone for the masala chai had I known that.

We placed our orders, sat back and watch France and Uruguay battled each other to a stalemate amid horns' trumpeting and fans' screaming.



Our starters were served quite soon after. The soft shell crab (£5.95) was not the most tantelising looking of dishes. In fact, it looked shrivelled and quite sorry indeed. I thought that the garlic butter sauce that came with it didn't quite go well with the crab. All in all, the dish was somewhat underwhelming. Not a good start to our evening. But we had little to worry about as it went uphill from there on.



The jheenga achari (£5.95) - two jumbo prawns marinated with spices and roasted in clay oven, turned out quite well. I was tempted to swallow the shells and all but soon realised that it wasn't meant to be. What I loved was the spicy mint chutney that accompanied it. That with the red onion enhanced the prawns' taste.



The Zeen platter (£11.95) was essentially a thali, which came with butter chicken, lamb pattice, aloo gobi mutter, hyderabadi dal, pilau rice, baby naan, papad and chutney. Of these, the most notable being the butter chicken and lamb pattice. Unless I was mistaken, the butter chicken was done with chicken thighs instead of the tougher and dryer chicken breast. Lamb pattice was one of my favourite snacks back home and the one at Zeen was easily one of the better ones that I have ever tasted.



The baby naan was quietly set aside when the nawabi lamb shank (£12.75) arrived. The reason being that the lamb shank came with two sizable thinly baked garlic and coriandar naans. Couldn't blame us, could you? Recalling what Ab said, I poked at the lamb and it tore away easily. Fantastic. The curry that comes with it was a tad bland to my taste though.



We asked for the dessert menu after the rather filling mains. I felt bad leaving the baby naan (essentially plain naan) almost untouched but I did crave for something sweet. Ab did mention something about rasmalai but we opted for crispy jalebi with cream rabri (£3.50) instead. Why exactly I wasn't quite sure but the description - "crisp, sticky swirl' did sound like something that I would like.

The dessert when it finally arrived looked surprisingly simple. It reminded me of the savory crispy twirls that my Malay neighbour used to make during Hari Raya celebrations. The kind lady used to pass us two huge bags of it, which I easily devoured in a single sitting. Those were the days when the word 'metabolism' sounded like foreign word to me. I picked it up with my fingers and took a bite.

"This taste like a dense donut," Wife noted. The deep fried flour dipped in syrup did taste like a biscuity donut. I should have taken Ab's word and go for the rasmalai instead.

While Zeen, which is started by Zeenat Harnal, daughter of Sir Gulam Noon whose business empire deals predominantly with ready made Indian and Thai food, would probably not be the premier Indian restaurant in London's culinary scene but it does appeal to those who are looking for a casual dining option along Drummond Street before catching a train at Euston. Still I couldn't help but think that the huge LCD TV was a bit out of place.

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Tomoe review - Marylebone Lane Japanese restaurant, somewhat lacklustre

Address: 62 Marylebone Lane,
London W1U 2PB
Tel: 020 7221 2280
Nearest Tube station: Bond Street

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £10 pp
Service charge: N.A.
Taste: ***
Service: **
Ambience: **Wife and I were on our way to The Golden Hind a couple of weeks ago (when the sun was still out shining) after missing its opening hours time and time again. While we were trekking along Marylebone Lane, we were waylaid by Tomoe. Let’s face it, the temperature was pushing 30C and that we were sweltering under the blazing sun, it wasn’t exactly the best time for deep fried fish and chips, was it? Obviously, something cooler was in order and being famished, we succumbed to Tomoe.

With its tinted façade and cooled interior, Tomoe was indeed inviting. In fact, it looked what Tenshi would be a in a couple of years’ time – more assured and a little jaded. The staff who showed us to our table was a bit distracted. We realized that she was laminating pieces of menu that has been removed from their original file folder.



As we ponder through Tomoe’s uninspiring menu, the laminating machine giving out a soft whirling sound on the table next to us. Alright, I’m just here to fill up my stomach so let’s get on with it, I mumbled to myself.

Pointing to the pork katsu rice, I flashed my most brilliant smile at the Japanese waitress. She scribbled the order onto her notepad without even a hint of acknowledgment. Crestfallen, I turned towards Wife. Perhaps she’ll have better luck getting a response from the waitress.

“Can my tempura be set aside from my udon?” Wife requested. “No, we don’t do that,” the reply was swift. “Erm, I think you have misunderstood me. What I meant was whether it would be possible to place my tempura aside so that it wouldn’t be drenched in the soup?” Wife persisted. “I’m sorry, we don’t do that,” came the reply. We wondered why it was so difficult for the restaurant to comply with such a simple request but Wife decided to proceed with the tempura order nevertheless.



Our dishes arrive soon after. To be fair, Tomoe’s pork katsu don (£8.90) wasn’t bad at all. With generous slices of battered pork, vegetables and an egg with a tinge of runniness in it, I was rather satisfied with the dish.



Besides having her tempura doused in the soup with udon (£8.90), Wife mentioned that the soup could do with more stock. Tomoe’s tempura udon was a far cry from that offered at Tenshi. Determined to have her tempura somewhat crisp Wife requested for a small bowl and went on to set her tempura aside before tucking into her udon.

We found out later that Tomoe, like some other restaurants found in the vicinity, closes soon after lunch and reopens for dinner. That probably explains why the staff was a bit lacklustre towards the end of the meal. While we probably wouldn’t head specially to Tomoe for a meal, it is nevertheless a place to rest your feet if you are tired of the cafeterias along Marylebone High Street.

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Leong's Legends 3 review - Taiwanese cuisine has reached London's Bayswater Queensway

Address: 82 Queensway, Bayswater,
London W2 3RL
Tel: 020 7221 2280
Nearest Tube station: Bayswater

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £25 pp
Service charge: 12.5%
Taste: ***
Service: ***
Ambience: ****It was only recently that I realised that Limehouse used to be London’s Chinatown in the early 1900s. If you would take a stroll down Narrow Street that runs parallel along River Thames, you could still see some Chinese signs outside what I could only imagine used to be warehouses nearly a century ago.

Now, London’s Chinatown comprises of a couple of streets on the north of Leicester Square. While I’m surprised that there isn’t a single Chinese temple to be found in the area, numerous eateries, restaurants and groceries stores lined the streets in the vicinity. Food is never far from the Chinese mind. In my post about how people of different cultures greet each other, I suggested that it might be due to the harsh environment that the people have since grown accustomed to.



Well, if Limehouse is the old London Chinatown, then Bayswater must be the new Chinatown. As it gets more crowded at Leicester Square, businesses began to shift their focus west. Well, I guess the fact that there is already a critical population of ethnic Chinese (from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore) who are already residing at Bayswater helps.

The supermarket at Oriental City promptly moved to Bayswater when its lease at Colindale ended. True, while Four Seasons first found its footing in Bayswater before setting up shop at Leicester Square, Leong’s Legends after saturating Chinatown diners’ appetite for Taiwanese cuisine by first opening up at Macclesfield Street before expanding to Lisle Street with Leong’s Legends Continue, it has since start up its third branch along Bayswater Queensway.



After receiving an invite from Leong’s Legends PR firm, Wife and I took a trip down to Bayswater after work to check out the latest addition to the fast expanding Leong’s Legends brand that seems to have taken London by storm.

As if to put up a challenge to the more established Four Seasons, Leong’s Legends has opened up just next to it. Though both serve different cuisines, I suspect Leong’s Legends would do well to catch the spillover crowds from Four Seasons especially during peak weekend periods, at least for the initial period until it has built up a certain presence.



Keeping up with its Chinese inn theme, there was a unmistakable thatched roof extension on Bayswater Leong’s Legends as well. Interestingly, unlike Four Seasons and other Chinese restaurants along Queensway, there was a staff posted just outside the entrance who would occasionally smile and beckon passerbys into the restaurant – a practice that I suspect would ceased once things get going.

The interior was an improvement as well. If that was a Chinese inn, it was a much more spacious one compared to its counterparts in Chinatown. Other setting tables further apart, there were some private booths somewhere in the middle. If you were to make a reservation, I suggest that you ask for these booths.

Lawrence, the manager at Leong’s Legends 3, was all smiles when he showed us to our booth. As we have been to Leong’s Legends a couple of times, I asked for Lawrence’s recommendations. With practiced efficiency, he quickly pointed out to a couple of dishes, some of which we have never tried before.

While we were waiting for our dishes to arrive, Lawrence was making his rounds in the restaurant, making small talk with the customers and inquiring about how they find the food. Even though the rest of the staff was a tad reticent, I couldn’t fault them on service really.

The dishes soon arrive one after another. Like the typical Chinese cuisine, there is no concept of starters and main courses – they are all presented on the table as quickly as the kitchen can manage it.



The first one to hit the table was braised pig's trotter and boiled egg with soya sauce (£7.20). Wife and I have nothing but praises for this. The trotters were evidently braised for an extended period of time as the tendons and fats tore away easily. A full flavoured dish and I would highly recommend this one if you have no problems with tucking into trotters.



Siu loung bao (or xiao long bao) came right up next. At 8 pieces for a fiver, this could be easily a meal in itself for a small eater. Probably I was biased, but I honestly thought that I would have them at Leong’s Legend than Min Jiang. Lawrence was a bit concern when he saw us leaving the dish untouched for a couple of minutes. “You should have this while it’s warm,” he cautioned. But I could only manage that much at one time!

That said, I did notice some inconsistency in the skin thickness of siu loung bao across the Leong’s branches. I thought the ones that I had at Legends Continue had thicker skins and were as good. Anyway, if you are still clueless about how to get the most out of this dish, read how to eat siu loung bao.



Casket (£4.80) is another dish that one should consume piping hot. While I wasn’t too enthusiastic about the starchy gravy itself (filled with chicken, peas, corn concoction), the lightly golden fried bread tasted heavenly with the gravy. Well, if you insist, that alone could be a well balanced meal by itself.



I’m sure the Tainan steamed meat ball (£3.20) have a certain following in Taiwan itself but it just didn’t do it for me. With its accompanying sweet red sauce, its translucent skin looked like a dim sum went wrong. It didn’t help that it scalded me quite badly – the skin kept the steaming heat in a bit too efficiently.

Once you’re through through the skin, the mixture of meat cubes and mushrooms were rather uninspiring. Then again, like I said, it would probably fare better as a street fare.



Hu yao zhu (£2.80) or the Taiwanese mini kebab is a much maligned dish. It started simply as a split bun with braised pork belly. Nowadays, it’s simply whatever you choose to slot into the soft white steamed bun. Leong’s Legends’ version came with a generous slice of firm braised pork belly and pickled vegetables (mei cai). What clinched the deal for me was the peanuts bits sprinkled at the inner edge of the bun, which added the extra crunch and texture to the humble dish.

This dish comes with its own fork and knife. If you aren’t too bother by it, I suggest that you hold it like a burger and eat it with your bare hands. Trust me, it would taste way better that way.



The dried shrimp, scallops, mushroom and sticky rice steamed in bamboo (£4.50) was a timely dish considering that the Dumpling Festival (also known as the Dragonboat Festival or Duan Wu Jie) is just round the corner. Instead of being wrapped in banana leaves, this glutinous "sticky" rice dish came in a bamboo container. This can be rather bland, especially when Leong's Legends' sticky rice wasn't well mixed with soya sauce with its central still whitish.



The noodles with minced pork in soup (£5.20) was a last minute decision by Wife who has got a penchant for soup noodles. While the noodles was suitably springy, I thought that the layer of oil film floating on the soup left an unpleasant aftertaste. 

With a name like Leong's Legends Continue at its Lisle Street branch, I would have thought that it would come up with a more inspiring name than Leong's Legend 3. However, though Leong's Legend 3 at Bayswater didn't exactly bring anything new onto the menu, it certainly hit the ground running with its proven track record at Chinatown.

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Necco review (revisited) - London Exmouth Market Japanese cafe, a quaint little place

Address: 52-54 Exmouth Market,
London EC1R 4QE
Tel: 020 7713 8575
Nearest Tube station: Farringdon

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £10 pp
Service charge: NA
Taste: ***
Service: ***
Ambience: **
Suitable for: a lazy afternoon tea and snacksWife and I discovered Necco a couple of weeks back. Even though TT has posted a review on Necco earlier, I thought I’ll just chip in my two cents’ worth on this quaint little Japanese café.

That said, I have never quite figured out the fascination about Exmouth Market. Yes, I get it, it’s a market. Then again, Chapel Market at Angel is one too. Maybe my visits are always ill-timed but I can’t help but notice that the street though lined with nice cafes and restaurants is invariably quiet even on Saturday afternoons and evenings.

Anyway, there we were with HP looking for a quiet spot to laze away the afternoon after a rather unsatisfying lunch at Aqua Kyoto. Perhaps Londoners are all out in the open enjoying the rare spot of sunshine but we were the only ones there save for a staff seated out in the open and was furiously texting someone with her phone.



Having dined there a couple of times before, I know exactly what to order – karaage (fried chicken chunks) and tokoyaki (octopus balls). I did try its chicken katsu curry in an earlier visit. Though its consistency was better than the powdery ones at Wagamama (my favourite example of how not to prepare curry), it was oddly sweet. Though I didn’t expect spicy Indian curries, it seemed that the cook was especially generous with his sugar that day. Even then, it was still better than the one I had at Miso Noodle Bar.



At under a fiver, the karaage was reasonably priced. Though it wasn’t as good as the one I had at Tsuru, Necco’s portion was definitely more generous. More importantly, there was no hint of Necco recycling its frying oil. It would be fantastic if a tinge of lemon juice could be added to the battering.



Takoyaki was one of my favourite s back home. In fact, it was almost a mandatory dish at the basement food halls in the major Singapore malls. While there was a variety of fillings back home (prawns, veg etc.) besides octopus, I realised that ‘tako’ literally meant octopus and the original one at Osaka had only octopus and nothing else.

Necoo did takoyaki beautifully. I wouldn’t want to get your hopes up high though. If you’re going to go for the dish, bear in mind that takoyaki is meant to be a no fuss street fare to keep things in perspective.



HP was quite excited over yakisoba (fried soba noodles). Again, yakisoba was one of the more popular Japanese fare back home and it was often peddled together with takoyaki. Unlike the mess back home (they were usually prepared in a hurry), Necco’s yakisoba was well presented with the usual omelette over the soba lying beneath.

HP seemed a bit disappointed with the dish. Didn’t ask her precisely the reason why with my mouth stuffed with takoyaki. I thought that the noodles was a tad dry, which was nothing the spread of mayonnaise couldn’t overcome.



To top it up, we ordered the green tea tower and the baked cheese cake. The green tea tower looked like the green tea tiramisu. Whilst the cream at the top was somewhat overwhelming, the cake bits in the middle did the trick and we cleaned it up within minutes.



We all agree that the baked cheese cake was better than we expected. The cheesy taste was subtle yet thick and it could certainly hold its own to those served at the more upmarket cafes.

As with most Japanese cafes, I couldn’t fault the service a single bit. Upon noticing that I didn’t order any drink unlike HP and Wife, the waitress came right up with a glass of tapwater without me asking for it. Sometimes, it’s the simple gestures like that which makes all the difference.

Then again, the service could be awfully slow especially if you place an order for sushi. A couple who walked in towards the end of our meal ordered just that. The staff behind the counter was not exactly a sushi chef, either that or Necco’s customers seldom order that. Let’s just say that he wasn’t not quite apt at preparing his sushi. In fact, it was painfully agonizing watching him do it. Don’t take it from me though. Try ordering sushi the next time round and watch him do it yourself. You'll see what I mean.



All in all, I’m extremely glad to have Necco set up stall at Exmouth Market as I was beginning to get a bit embarrassed by my frequent visits to Tenshi. With the weather turning for the better, it would be a good excuse to get out of Angel every now and then.

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Koya review - best udon in London

Address: 49 Frith Street, London W1D 4SQ
Tel: 020 7434 4463
Nearest Tube station: Tottenham Court Road
/ Leicester Square

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £15pp
Service charge: N.A.
Taste: ****
Service: ***
Ambience: **
Suitable for: those who love their udon chewyMany people have raved about Koya, the new kid on the block which is apparently a udon specialist. It is rather centrally located, along Frith Street, just opposite Chinatown. I was in the area one day and decided to give it a try.

Koya's decor is minimalist, just rows of wooden tables and chairs/benches with a large menu mounted on the wall. Probably the most interesting thing about its decor would be its mosaic floor. I was there for an early dinner at around 6p.m. and it was already pretty packed. By the time we were seated and placed our orders, a queue was forming outside. Be prepared to share your table with others as the tables are meant for groups of 4 and 6 so it is probably not a good place to go if you want to linger over a meal.



Koya offers hot udon in hot broth or cold udon with hot broth and various toppings to go with them. It also has a few rice dishes, but the udon dishes greatly outnumber them. It was a cold day so I went straight for the hot udon in hot broth with prawn tempura. Koya had some interesting side dishes as well. I was very tempted by the pork belly cooked in cider but as I wasn't particularly hungry that day, decided to save it for another day instead.

My udon didn't disappoint. The udon was springy and the broth was flavourful. The tempura was light and crispy and my only complaint was that at £9, I would have dearly loved another tempura (instead of just the one). My friend's cold udon with hot broth didn't go down that well though. While he liked the texture of the noodles which went particularly went well with the seaweed shreds mixed with the noodles, he found the accompanying hot broth a tad too salty.

Koya is clearly a place which takes pride in the food it serves and takes it seriously, something which its neighbouring Chinatown restaurants could very well learn from. However given its pricing, its no reservations policy and the long queue required to secure a table, it is probably a place where I would go again only if I am in the area.

TT, a regular contributor to both Singaporean in London and London Chow, loves her food to death. She would give anything for a good tempura. Do leave a comment if you know of a good place that serves just that.

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Aqua Kyoto review - Regent Street Japanese dining

Address: 240 Heddon Street,
London W1B 3BR
Tel: 020 7478 0540
Nearest Tube station: Oxford Street

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £25pp
Service charge: 12.5%
Taste: **
Service: ***
Ambience: ****
Suitable for: long lunches in the open terrace
when the sun's outDuring a recent visit to Hong Kong, D brought us to HuTong, a Michelin starred restaurant in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui. Like Michelin starred restaurant, the focus of HuTong is on style and overwhelmingly so such that I ended up not paying much attention to the very reason why I was there in the first place, which was the food itself.

Toned down lights with luxurious fabrics lined the walls and ceilings, panorama view of the famed Hong Kong’s business district skyline, and the mandatory segregation of staff’s responsibilities - one to greet you, one to set the table, one to take your orders, one to bring the dishes from the kitchen, yet another to place the dishes on your table. The whole works.

After our return to London, we realised that the Aqua Group that owns HuTong also operates Aqua Kyoto, a Japanese restaurant just off Regent Street and opposite the Palladium Theatre after reading Dashi Dashi’s review. We promptly made a lunch reservation over the weekend and asked HP along.



Like its sister restaurant in Hong Kong, there was little indication of Aqua Kyoto’s entrance. The crowd along Argyll Street was obviously more interested in Sister Act playing at Palladium Theatre. Well, there was a single word, “Aqua” at the far end through the entrance with a lady in a slinky dress standing behind a podium strategically placed beside the entrance to shoo away tourists who wonder into the place.

The lift’s door opened on the 5th floor and we were led through the bar area and into the main restaurant. There are some places when you should never go during the day and Aqua Kyoto is definitely one of them (Marcus Wareing being another), simply because the dark rich coloured setting is more suitable for dinners. It was like the morning after if you get what I mean. Interestingly, other than the sushi bar in the main restaurant, there was absolutely no indication that Aqua Kyoto was in fact a Japanese restaurant (other than the name of course). It was clearly meant more for wining than dining. I could imagine the bar area to be packed when night falls.



Let’s talk about the food shall we? At £16.50 , the bento set lunch deal at Aqua Kyoto was very reasonable indeed. Other than a portion of rice, the set lunch came with chawanmushi, a Japanese egg custard dish. You don’t see chawanmushi much around in London so we were pleasantly surprised by that.

Then again, I thought that the sashimi that was included in the lunch set was rather underwhelming. In fact, they tasted a bit flat. The accompanying tempura was served cold and limp. The beef, however, was a totally different story. It was succulent and done just right – all four bite size slices of it. HP requested for her sashimi to be replaced with a sushi and opted for teriyaki chicken instead of beef. Other than pointing out that the staff made a mistake with her order (she was served sashimi), she didn’t have much to say. Guess she wasn’t too impressed with her vegetarian sushi and teriyaki chicken. But we agreed that the chawanmushi was a winner.



Wife ordered a black cod miso set lunch (£26.50). Though it certainly sounded and looked more tender (though not much) as compared the one TT has at Tsunami, She felt that the miso over powered the black cod’s milky texture. Given a choice, I suspect she would prefer her black cod steamed instead of baked.



The green tea tiramisu (£6.50) was a tad creamy in our opinion but the couple of red beans sprinkled at the top did salvage the dessert.



The mini macaroons, which were complementary, was a letdown. Though the crust was nicely supple, the filling was hard and almost toffee like.



We finished the meal at around mid-afternoon and there were at most two other tables filled in the vast main restaurant area. When asked whether it was normally that quiet, a staff acknowledged that but quickly added that it would be ‘very crowded’ during dinners. We had some trouble concentrating on our conversation as the staff behind the sushi counter (or chefs if you prefer) were chatting loudly among themselves - one of them even let out a loud yawn at one point. It was that boring for them.



Though it didn’t have the commanding view of HuTong, Aqua Kyoto did have a open air terrace extension. With the weather that London is currently experiencing, it was hardly worth the effort. Besides, being perched on the 5th floor wouldn’t exactly give you a panorama view despite the height restriction on the surrounding buildings. That said, the view might be more mesmerising when it gets dark and you’re slightly intoxicated.

Aqua Kyoto would probably be a good place to bring any visitors to London to but if you are looking for more substance than style, I would suggest you head towards Mitsukoshi, which is at the other end of Regent Street.

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