There is an element of the difficult second album about episode 2. The initial rush of excitement and anticipation of a project has dissipated a little but there is still a bit of it left. With comparison now possible, do you alter direction or double down? Unlike music, where there are quite a few directions that you can go in, a project focusing on the specifics of gyudon in London kind of locks you in so "double down" it was.
The location was down to me this time, in the spirit of sharing the burden, and so I went for a place I'd heard of a few times but never visited. Koya has two branches in London - the original in Soho and an offshoot in the city. In a probably vain attempt to introduce variability into a fixed project, I chose the City one[1] as 02. Unfortunately, Paul had not realised this and made his way to the Soho[2] one and when that was sorted out, we went in a little later than planned.
I hadn't really looked specifically for gyudon or, more widely, donburi that much in London and doing a more specific search highlighted the dearth of options away from the west end so this was an opportunity. This was still an offshoot of an original Soho place so I guess it is hard to start something new outside of the west end. There seems to be a proliferation of Ramen places over the last few years and sushi is very popular for lunch within London.
Koya City is a fairly new place and that showed in the way it was set up and the clientele. The area it is in is a brand new building for Bloomberg[3] and also the nearest train station, Cannon Street, has been refurbished recently. Being in the city[4] meant that there was an expectation of other city workers (or "salarymen" and "office ladies") in the evenings and so a more brisk trade than I would expect in Soho on a Wednesday night. At 6:30, it wasn't full but not empty either so it was a welcoming sight.
The menu could be as extensive as it liked but that would be irrelevant - we ordered a gyudon each and some sides. Koya is better known for udon and it actually has quite a selection but it doesn't have that much more on the menu[5] as appropriate sides so we ordered another main to share between us of cold udon with a sesame dipping sauce along with some fried tofu with enoki mushrooms.
I'd been recommended Koya when I had asked on twitter so my expectation was fairly high but also tempered by the knowledge that it was still going to be a restaurant. Japanese restaurants generally bring food out as and when it is ready but we were fortunate to get everything at the same time including a miso soup each.
Seeing the gyudon brought a mixture of pleasure and disappointment as it did not seem there wasn't much meat but there was a sprinkle of pickled, red ginger. Mixtures of disappointment and pleasure are what I live for so things looked positive. I tucked in and, what was this feeling? Was it what I thought it was? Was it natsukashii ("nostalgic")? Yep, that's what it was. Dredging up taste memories that I'd forgotten about, I was very surprised. Japanese gyudon is actually pretty salty I suddenly remembered, it isn't just a cheap meat, it is stringy and sort of tender. I wasn't sure if I was implanting this into my brain but Paul concurred. I dug in deeper into the rice. As it happened the volume of meat wasn't great so there was quite a bit of rice underneath which initially felt like a bit of a con. But, that rice was subtly flavoured by the meat and light sauce to make it really quite moreish. Digging in deeper still for a rounded mouthful of rice, meat and a little sprinkle of ginger gave those flavours and then rounded it off with the sharp flavour of the ginger which, again, was definitely hitting the right notes of my memory banks. This was pretty impressive and better than I was expecting. It felt a bit like an alarm going off in my head. And, it actually was an alarm going off but not in my head - the restaurant had a real and repeated problem of the smoke alarm going off. It was not ideal and although kind of fun the first couple of times, it was significantly less so the next eight or nine times.
The miso soup was actually a little different to what I expected too and even came with a spoon with which to have it. This kind of threw me and I did use it initially before realising that was too weird. The soup was without seaweed but did have radish to change the flavour which took some saltiness out of the meal making it a nice offset for the gyudon itself. The tofu was also a bit more coherent and stayed in cubes rather than falling apart.
And so, on to the "sides". Koya's extensive noodle selection made me think that they probably know what they are doing so we went for a simple udon to get a bit of the purist flavour and with a thick, creamy dipping gomadare (literally sesame sauce). The udon itself was cold (you can have hot udon too, we both fancied cold to go as a side) as was the sauce so it had an almost salady feel. Again, this was good but the gomadare was maybe a little thicker than it needed to be so the amount of sauce was a bit uneven and could mask the flavour of the udon. I'd recommend it but I think I would have preferred the simplest of dishes which would be zaru udon (cold udon dipped into a simple tsuyu sauce). The other "side" was an actual side rather than another shared main and was a more subtle tofu dish than I was expecting. The wording "Fried tofu with mushrooms and sauce" gave a different impression to the lightly fried large tofu piece we actually got. Again, it was of a certain style that did not quite work perfectly but was still very nice and easily finished. The tofu went quite well with the gomadare which allowed us to offset the surfeit of sauce on one dish with the subtlety of the other.
Overall, I was really surprised at the meal due to the gyudon. In many ways, this felt more Japanese due to the subtle elements to the dishes but the surroundings were a clear, clean "every restaurant" in many ways with little to distinguish it from a neighbouring burger restaurant or pizza place. That is not a negative, per se, and it still looked quite "cool" and I actually enjoyed the fact that the staff were not all oriental and it gave a better indication of the context of the location. The food felt sort of incongruous in that way but I will definitely be back. The spoon with the soup would normally be a massive sign that we were about to get a novelty meal but this indicator seemed less about unwitting capture and more about accessibility, which is a noble aim. The gyudon was the best I have had in a very long time but I am intrigued by the other offerings so I'm sure I'll go to try those too. Koya City seems less of a sharing kind of place than other Asian restaurants with its focus on difficult to share donburis so that is worth considering if you fancy a visit. And you should fancy a visit.
Cost of gyudon: £11.60
(other branches are available)
1. This decision was entirely unaffected by the fact that the City branch was closer to my workplace, near City Hall. And anyone who says it was is guilty of slander. Or libel. Whichever one it is depending on the method of communication.↩
2. Brilliantly, Paul was quite smug as he answered the phone as I called him. "why is Saif calling, probably to tell me he is running late. But I am on time, I am great." is probably close to what he was thinking. It was nice to give him the opportunity to be smug and then also the quick correction of his emotions.↩
3. I was asked to refrain from taking photos in the arcade, the creeping takeover of space by private organisations that make it feel public, I guess.↩
4. For those not in the know, "the city" in London refers to the area administered by the corporation of London and is sometimes also referred to as the square mile. Although not exclusive to the area, it is known for being a financial hub and so has many professional services in the area too.↩
5. It has a three page menu, one page for different udons (btw the lack of italics suggests that this is a loan word in English and so I am applying English grammar - so udon can be pluralised even though the original language has no plurals), one for drinks and one for everything else, including gyudon.↩
