Lording over Argyle Street, revellers of Aqua Kyoto rejoice.
As the perfect spot to use a giant magnifying glass to fry the little ant like folk below, or simply just to enjoy a chilled glass of white, Aqua Kyoto devoted to fine dining and fabulous drinking has mustered up an impressive tasting menu guaranteed to titillate your culinary-erogenous zones.
The experience menu does what it sets out to, letting guests experience master chef, Paul Greening’s fine flavours, delicate textures and presentation skills like no other.
Sky high palates were whetted with kyoto ume-shu (a plum wine cocktail) which kick started the a culinary trail towards desert.
The chef’s selected sashimi platter came out first. Presented on a mini island of ice, the array of raw delicacies really set the bar for what was to follow.
In place of a commercial break, the green beans came next. Stacked in a wigwam and coated in a light tempura with hand picked fresh nori seaweed and sprinkled with a dusting of yuzu salt.
Next up were a few plates; a magnificent blacken cod which came again with yuzu salt (YUM) and cucumber, tonburi seeds and Japanese herbs and by its side came a long dish of Wagyu beef which was seared in soya garlic butter and laid up next to egg tofu and nameko mushrooms (AKA the chubby little brown Japanese mushrooms).
As a matching bookend to the meal we were given the Aqua Kyoto sushi selection, which was a long slate which held, slithers of tuna, salmon with cod roe and other miscellaneous fresh bites.
Rounding of this feast Paul suggested his scientifically sensational Fuji apple dessert, which was a hard sugar shell, that when tapped into exploded with its light fluffy inners.
After the meal we were lucky enough to bag 10 mins of Head Chef Paul’s time, where he told us how he aims to combine his microbiology education with his love for foraging for natures untapped ingredients such as seaweed.
His radical new thinking and scientific know-how have created an affordable (£45) yet very exploratory menu, will be hard to top!
By demand The Experience Menu is now available at dinner from Monday-Saturday
Aqua Kyoto
5th Floor –240 Regent Street
London
(Entrance at 30 Argyll Street, W1F 7EB, opposite The Palladium)
