Restaurant: Kurobuta Chelsea, London

Restaurant: Kurobuta Chelsea, London

I’ve never been wowed by Japanese food. I’ve had moments of, ‘nice’, and ‘fine’, but nothing that’s really made me sit back and fall in love with the country’s cuisine — it’s all been a bit bog-standard. That was until I settled into Kurobuta’s menu on the King’s Road.
The brainchild of Aussie chef Scott Hallsworth — alumni of Nobu — Kurobuta is a buzzy, hipster kind of place, where the light’s are low, the volume’s high and the kitchen beams with a confident swagger. It’s first date material, or a friend’s birthday hangout. It even lived up to the cliché with a member of the Made in Chelsea clan dining on the table next to me.
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Snacking on flamed edamame, with sake, lemon and butter, washed down with a beautifully crisp sauvignon, we rattled through the menu. It’s Japanese, tapas-style with dishes made for sharing, and within minutes of ordering, our first plate appeared: a delicate, rectangular portion of tuna sashimi pizza with truffle ponzu, red onions and green chillies. A superbly crunchy thin base, topped with the softest tuna, it was elegance on a plate. Next up we demolished the beef fillet tataki with onion ponzu and garlic crisps — red in all the right places with a wonderfully zesty hit to each mouthful.
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And they kept on coming, each dish a knockout, from the BBQ pork belly in steamed buns with spicy peanut soy (soft, sweet, salty), to the sticky miso grilled aubergine with sesame seeds — moreish and almost meaty. The stand-out dish for me was the tea-smoked lamb with smoky nasu and spicy Korean miso — I ended up licking the sticky glaze straight from the bone. And the baby shrimp tempura with kimchee mayo was seriously tasty — the dish I keep on craving now I’m back in the East End.
Kurobuta is elegant and on-trend. It’s Japanese cuisine but not as you know it — and a triumph for Hallsworth. Good job there’s another in Marble Arch.
££: Snacks from £5; other dishes £7.50-£17.
More info: 312 King’s Rd, SW3 5UH, kurobuta-london.com

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