Kokin

Kokin (“past and present”) is the new home for chef Daisuke Shimoyama, formerly of Hannah. The premises are in a luxury hotel in Stratford, the former site of the now shuttered Allegra. The room has a long bar down one side and a view from the seventh floor over Stratford, an area that has been completely transformed by redevelopment since I lived nearby back in the 1980s. Kokin offers a wide range of menus, with eight set menus as well as a la carte. The lunch set menus ranged from £28 for a menu including grilled salmon to £90 for the wagyu and otoro menu. Three pieces of sashimi were priced at £6 to £15. Main courses were mostly £16 - £28, with twelve pieces of vegetable tempura to just £12.50 up to A5-grade wagyu at £60. We had an omakase menu today and drank beer.

The meal began with a beautifully presented tray of starters. Homemade tofu with langoustine tartare had a creamy texture due to the balance between the tofu and water, topped with langoustine tartare mixed with langoustine oil from the shells. Oyster with apple-smoked celeriac puree and nanban (a style of food brought to Japan by the Portuguese) jelly had jelly made with Japanese second dashi stock (a milder stock made by reusing the kelp and bonito flakes used in an earlier dashi) and Japanese rice vinegar, adding a freshness and acidity to the oyster. Sabazushi was vinegar-marinated smoked mackerel sushi wrapped with a layer of Shiro-ita battera kombu (a thin kelp) and a layer of pickled radish sheet, adding an extra flavour and texture to the sushi. Sazabushi originated in Kyoto and historically involved salt-curing, vinegaring and pressing mackerel into vinegared rice before being wrapped in bamboo skin. The mackerel was excellent, and the vinegar was just sharp enough to balance the natural oiliness of the fish. Aubergine tempura was served with Padron pepper tempura, with tempura sauce and grated radish. This was very light and much more delicate than most tempura that you will encounter in London. Anago chawanmushi was a savoury Japanese steamed egg custard with smoked Japanese conger eels, and was gorgeous. The texture was silky and the eel flavour permeated the custard. All these starters were classy, and the presentation reminded me of top-end kaiseki meals that I have eaten in Kyoto (easily 16/20).

Sashimi of bluefin wild tuna was from Hajime Tanaka, a renowned Japanese fisherman who has been capturing bluefin wild tuna in a sustainable way in Portugal for several years. This was served with sansho pepper and seaweed with soy sauce. The seaweed provided umami as a contrast to the buttery otoro tuna (16/20). Carabineros prawn nigiri was served with grilled carabineros coral sauce and N25 caviar. This was a suitably simple presentation of top-class ingredients that did not need distraction (16/20).

This was followed by a spectacular dish. The wild bluefin tuna collar was slow-cooked over silver birch wood at a low temperature for three hours. This gained an infused smokiness from lemon chips and whisky barrel chips, giving a dark-chocolate, cotton candy and caramelised aftertaste. The tuna was served with grated radish and 8-year-aged house ponzu sauce, matured soy sauce marinated with bonito flakes, shiitake mushrooms and citrus, including yuzu and oranges. The flavour of this tuna was quite remarkable, beautifully balanced by the acidity of the citrus sauce (18/20 may be a harsh score). This is one of the best tuna dishes I have ever eaten.

This was followed by charcoal-grilled A5 wagyu from Miyazaki, served together with grilled leek puree and house-made teriyaki sauce. Miyazaki is one of the most highly regarded of the wagyu areas, though personally I find the A5 grade so rich and buttery that I actually prefer the notionally lower A4 grade. Still, this was cooked impeccably (15/20).

Temae sushi is a style where you choose a mix of ingredients and serve them over woodfire-smoked sushi rice. At the bottom layer of this version was wood-fired smoked sushi rice, topped with three kinds of wild bluefin tuna (smoked akami, chutoro, otoro), and salmon roe. Served on one side was smoked Japanese eels, along with seaweed, soy Sauce and wasabi on the side. You could make your own roll, starting with the thin seaweed, adding rice and toppings and then wrapping up the roll by hand. This was a fun experience, and the quality of the toppings was very high indeed, as was the texture of the rice (16/20).

Dessert was wood-fired smoked ice cream infused with a smoky flavour from burning silver birch, lemon chips and whisky barrel chips. This was served with fermented raspberry sauce and spinach crumble. This was a little smoky to my taste, but it was made well (15/20). Service was charming. I was being treated to this meal and didn’t see a bill, but if you ordered from the a la carte menu or a set menu and drank modestly, then a typical cost per person might be around £70. The standard of the food at Kokin is remarkably high, as it was at Hannah. The ingredients are impeccable and the flavour balance is very well judged. This is Japanese food of a very high standard.