Kuyamoto

Kuyamoto (”the older brother”) is a Japanese restaurant in Chiswick that opened in January 2020. As with many Japanese restaurants in London, it offers a range of cooking styles, from ramen to tempura to donburi and more. In Japan, most restaurants specialise, often to an extreme degree. Some places serve sushi, some tempura, some ramen, some kaiseki etc. Some just serve eel. However, in London, other than some sushi counters, Japanese cooking tends to be less specialised. Kuyamoto is a fairly casual restaurant, offering a bento box option at lunch and an all-you-can-eat option on Sundays. The chef was Reynaldo Sabinosa, formerly sushi chef at Buddha Bar. The restaurant was owned by two Philippine brothers, one of whom, Marvin Marcelo, was running front of house tonight. 

I started with chicken karaage, which was edible but had a lot of mayonnaise; this turned out to be a recurring theme (11/20). Easily the best dish of the meal was mixed tempura. There were two prawns as well as some mixed vegetables including various bell peppers and a squash. The tempura was much heavier than you would find in Japan, but it was not greasy, and was perfectly decent (12/20). 

“Red wave” rolls were spicy tuna and cucumber rolls, served colder than they should ideally be, but having acceptable tuna, supplied by fishmonger Atari Ya. They were not really spicy, but tasted decent enough (11/20). Maki roll with spicy salmon was remarkably lacking in flavour, so much so that it was hard to tell what was in the rolls at all. This also lacked spice, in addition to any discernible flavour, and was slathered in mayonnaise (9/20 at best). The pickled ginger with the rolls was quite pleasant and provided a burst of something that actually tasted of what it was supposed to, but turned out to be from a jar. What was claimed to be “wasabi” was nothing to do with wasabi root but was made from a powder, which is usually a blend of horseradish and mustard, and rarely any wasabi whatever.

Teriyaki salmon was dried out and disappointing (barely 10/20). Katsu prawn curry had reasonable fried prawns and rice but some truly unpleasant katsu sauce. This had a sludgy texture and a one dimensional and mildly unpleasant taste. I had, by coincidence, eaten an excellent prawn katsu curry at someone’s house just days before, and the difference in standard was striking (9/20). We skipped dessert. The bill, with beer to drink, came to £57 per person. If you had three courses then this is probably not far off what would be a typical bill here.

Although the front of house staff that we encountered were very nice, the food was pretty ordinary, and in some cases less than ordinary. It seems to have found some local clientele and I wish them well, but I won’t be returning unless they find a better chef. Literally the best thing I tasted all night was the pickled ginger from a jar.