Udon specialists, Koya have two branches in London. We visited the Bloomberg Arcade branch. Located in a beautiful part of London, it was easy to drive to and find parking nearby on a Sunday. The restaurant doesn’t do halal and does serve alcohol on site. However, the vegetarian options are decent. If you are looking to try out authentic Japanese cuisine, but want halal or something vegetarian, you can get a taster here. Japanese cuisine is wonderful and one of the best and most refined in the world. There are many aspects of the cuisine – e.g. sushi and ramen. Here, the focus is udon. Udon (うどん) are chewy Japanese noodles made from wheat flour, water, and salt, typically served in a simple dashi-based broth. You can get it in a variety of ways, but we’ll mention that below. We were very excited to try this place out!
To begin this authentic Japanese udon experience we opted for… donburi! To be fair to us, we did order udon at the same time, but just didn’t get it till later. A donburi combines a bowl of steamed rice, meat, vegetables, sauce, and usually a side of pickles and miso soup, for an all-in-one meal that’s both convenient and filling. We opted for the Yasai Tendon – which is vegetable tempura (served with wakame soup). We got an egg to pour over and mix with the tempura, which made it creamy and extra delicious. We also ordered Atsu-Age – which is fried and grilled tofu. The combination of the crunchy fried goodness of the tempura over donburi rice along with delicious earthy tofu made for an awesome dish/ meal. All of this was delicious and it was unlike anything we’d tried before. It built up the anticipation for the main event – the udon!
Koya are udon specialists, so you cannot come here and not try udon. They do it in authentic style (which we always love and appreciate) and they do it in many different variations. And I do mean many. You can get it hot udon with hot broth, cold udon with hot broth and cold udon with cold sauce to dip/pour. The broth is usually served separately to the noodles. We opted for the cold udon with hot broth. We got the Ten Hiya-Atsu – which is prawn and vegetable tempura. The broth was earthy, the udon were chewy and the tempura were crispy. All of these combined together to make for an absolutely delicious meal. We had to wait for quite a while to get this because they forgot or missed the fact that we even ordered it. So, we sat there awkwardly for almost 30 minutes. They eventually realised and due to the fascinating quality and taste of the food, we didn’t even mind this mishap. The cold udon and hot broth sensation was very unique and it most definitely worked. The quality of the ingredients can really be tasted in all of their dishes. Till this day, we crave this meal.
We also ordered rice tea (no longer on menu) – this was also very good. A roasted rice flavoured tea was wonderful and again something entirely different to what we are used to drinking.
We loved the layout of the overall restaurant. This was the first thing that impressed us upon entry. There is traditional counter seating which oversees the kitchen. This along with the dim lighting adds to the experience in my opinion. As we sat there, we were also able to witness the immense cleanliness of the restaurant and the staff and the kitchen. It was spotless. Literally. I know the Japanese are known for their cleanliness, but I didn’t expect it to be this pristine. Their prices are very reasonable considering the location and the cuisine (all dishes are in and around the £10 mark).
The very authentic ambience along with the very unique and authentic udon experience made for a good dining experience. We have been craving the food from koya for a while now. I think we would like to try out some of their other intriguing dishes and even their very interesting looking breakfast items. Koya definitely gets a recommendation from us – you will get a very unique and authentic Japanese udon experience.
Getting there
Nearest Mosque: Holborn Mosque (5 min drive)
Nearest station: London Cannon Street
