Exactly six months ago I came across Kouzu for the first time, Kouzu is a high end Japanese restaurant based in Belgravia with a little French twist. I remembered I had a great time and I found that the food was close to perfection.
Recently I went for dinner at Kouzu with some other bloggers to discover their new chef's table (a private dining room for 7 people). We started the evening with an apéritif on the ground floor at the bar, then we went through the kitchen to the private dining room on the lower ground floor of the restaurant (there is also a private access from outside the restaurant to this room too).Randomly I managed to get what I think was the the best seat as I was facing the kitchen entrance. On this special occasion, Head Chef Kyoichi Kai had prepared for us a 10 course menu.
The meal started for me with a special dish - a salmon sashimi with julienne apple and cucumber which was not on the menu (as the one planned was a crab tartar and I am allergic to crab). The salmon sashimi have been made with perfect fresh pieces of salmon, that were marinated in chilli oil and yuzu soy. It was the most delicate and tasty sashimi I've had so far in London.The second dish was pan fried foie gras. Compared to my previous visit at Kouzu they've added a bed of sweet potato and some blue cheese on top. I really liked the combination of sweet potato, mango coulis, teriyaki sauce and foie gras. It was a delight but I don't think the blue cheese was necessary on this dish as it hid the foie gras' flavour.
Smoked chilli prawns was our third dish, I thought it was good but nothing exceptional. We all didn't think the dish had a strong enough chilli flavour, the only taste we got was from the smokiness of the prawn. The fourth and fifth dishes were sashimis made from perfectly sliced premium meat and seafood. We had the oriental beef fillet tataki and the yellowtail truffle. The beef was lightly seared and flavoured with an oriental sauce and topped with shiso leaves, daikon cress and horseradish. Yellowtail with truffle dressing was really delicious, I enjoyed the marinated yellowtail in yuzu kosho topped with grapefruit. The avocado on top added a bit of creaminess to the dish. Both dishes were very well executed.The seaweed salad was a quite unusual but very interesting dish. I liked it, it was well seasoned.
After this dish the Head Chef Kyoichi Kai came in the room to introduce and explain the last dish on the meal made with Japanese Wagyu beef before they started to cook it.
After the explanation we had two course before this ultimate dish.
The chef gave us a selection of sashimi and nigiri sushi, we had seabass and tuna sashimi and three different nigiri: seared tuna, salmon and scallops. All delicious !
The black cod dish was as I remembered, a perfectly balanced dish with moreish soft and flakey cod, I could eat the whole fish like that, not only a fillet! And finally came the most luxurious dish of the night, a rib loin steak of Wagyu beef. It was perfectly cooked and so rich in taste I didn't want to waste it by adding the sauce (even if I tried it on a small piece). Instead I ate my mushroom and asparagus with the ponzu sauce.
After 9 courses, we had the landscape dessert which was a mix of 6 different flavours: raspberry, mango, yuzu, orange, strawberry and the trend matcha green tea. It was ok, very refreshing after the massive dinner we just had but as usual I am not a sweet person.
Overall I had another amazing time, my first visit was a great experience but it was nothing compared to this dinner in the basement with a privileged view of the kitchen. I wasn't overly wow'ed watching the chef cooking in front of us but that's because I've worked in the hospitality industry before and have seen chefs at work all the time. However I felt a bit special sitting there, so I think this private dining room will be very busy. Kouzu already offers top quality seafood and meat and have attentive waiters, so with this room they have a successful combination. read more