With new restaurants opening across the capital at a rate of knots, it’s so easy to forget the goodies that have been consistently delicious over the years. ROKA is a perfect example of this and would you believe, they also happen to be celebrating their 15th anniversary this year.
Never has there been a better time to return than during the all too brief cherry blossom season where you’ll find a beautiful canopy of flowers decorating the Shochu Lounge in the basement of ROKA Charlotte Street. It really is the prettiest of spaces, so we’re pleased to hear the installation (a collaboration with the House of Suntory) will remain for the foreseeable future. Alongside this, they’ve launched a new Sakura Sunday Brunch which we went along to check out.
There are two menus available, priced at £60 and £80, both of which include free-flowing brunch cocktails and wine (doesn’t that sound so much chicer then ‘bottomless’). The difference being the choice of mains, with the more expensive option allowing for more premium choices. We loved the super spicy Japanese twist on a Bloody Mary which came with a healthy dose of wasabi or if you’d rather keep things nice and light, the yuzu highball was so refreshing you can barely tell there’s any booze in it.
We snuggled into our cosy armchairs and spent the next couple of hours digging into the most delicious brunch we’ve had in ages. First up came the theatrically presented selection of sashimi and salmon tartare, alongside a selection of crackers and seaweed to scoop up every last piece with. An iceberg lettuce salad shouldn’t have been so delicious but the caramelised onion dressing had us gobbling up every last leaf. Up next were sushi rolls, followed by the most incredible soft shell crab in a roasted chilli dressing. The infamous black cod obviously has to be ordered (can you even say you’ve been to ROKA if you don’t?) and slices of tender beef fillet in chilli, ginger and spring onion, rounded off our mains along with a side of ginger and miso tenderstem broccoli. To say we were full at this point is somewhat of an understatement.
With a brief rest under our belt, the OTT ROKA dessert platter was bought to our table, groaning under the weight of ice creams, sorbets, fresh exotic fruit, a decadent square of chocolatey matcha fondant and a ROKA take on baked Alaska.
Bottomless brunch is rife in London but ROKA has shown us how to do it in absolute style. Here’s to another 15 years.
The Sakura Sunday Brunch will be available weekly from 12.30 to 4 pm from Sunday, 7th April.
