Koya

It was a typical day out to a typical Japanese restaurant in London – if you discount the giant parade of people akin to zombies “celebrating” Chinese New Year and ensuring they manifest their absolute lack of knowledge or respect for any values that are connected to said celebration. There is something quite refreshing in the sight of throngs of white people shaking around dragon shaped paper dolls. Not.

I digress. Koya, as mentioned, is a typical Japanese restaurant. Queue in front, the typical entrance, walls covered in orders and simple furniture inside. One or two staff that couldn’t really pronounce the dishes and instead decided to butcher the names and, in the process make hundred of dead Japanese chefs twist in their tiny Japanese graves.

The food however made up for the slight phonetic mistakes of the staff. The tempura (basically deep friend vegetables) had a lovely crisp texture, which is generally difficult to obtain as too many places just offer it either too mushy or covered in enough oil to drown a colony of penguins. The udon (this is that soup with the very thick noodles) tasted just how udon is supposed to taste (this is a very big compliment given that Japanese cuisine is not at its best in London unfortunately). The broth was clear yet fragrant, the pork meat was well cooked (the dish can come in many forms, from just the noodles and the soup, to vegetarian, with poached eggs and all sorts of meats).

Disclaimer: I apologize for the horrendous quality of the photos, I was an idiot and forgot my SD card at home again so couldn’t use my camera and had to lower myself to use the iPhone to take photos. I felt so dirty.

Grade: Sainthood

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