Zuma

Zuma is a Japanese Restaurant, with Bar and Lounge as well as Private Dining facilities.

Zuma :: Contemporary Japanese Cuisine

http://www.zumarestaurant.com

Restaurant Review: Zuma

The restaurant is priced as you would expect in Knightsbridge, but for people-watching Zuma is second to none.

Chef Rainer Becker has gone on to open Roka, Hakkasan and Oblix at The Shard, but for many the mix of  good Japanese cooking and the cool surroundings means Zuma is still the first choice each and every time.

The crispy fried squid with a kick of lime and chilli is immediately tempered by the most delicious slices of perfect yellowtail with a hint of pickled garlic.

The seared beef with ginger and coriander melts in the mouth, and the fried soft-shell crab are some of the best I’ve had anywhere in London.

There’s a brilliantly-oozy chocolate fondant (enough said) and chawan mushi – steamed custard – with exotic fruits; like eating mouthfuls of delicious tropical whipped air.

Zuma restaurant review: Precision, chaos and some of London's ...

I could have eaten it all night, but I was informed that there were plenty more courses to come, and as soon as it was finished – which was very soon – it was gone, removed by the invisible hand.

Its partners in crime, some seared beef and tuna tartare, barely got a look in, but, despite my own crustacean bias, they were splendid too, sharp in flavour and avoiding the sodium-filled pit that plagues so many Japanese restaurants.

The sashimi was vibrant, but the nigiri, or more specifically the rice, didn’t have much place in an evening I felt was more designed around tasting than filling.

The hot courses were a spicy beef tenderloin, unassumingly yet gracefully accompanied with sesame, red chilli and sweet soy, and a marinated black cod, wrapped like Marilyn Monroe, in a Hoba leaf.

There’s a course too many and it’s bigger and louder than you’d expect from truly fine dining, but, in the crowded market of high-end Japanese fare (think Kurobuta and Nobu), it’s up there with the best of them.

Review of Japanese restaurant Zuma in London by Andy Hayler in ...

Deep-fried squid with green chilli, salt and a wedge of lime had good batter, but the squid was unremarkable, some pieces with a hint of chewiness.

The small pieces of chilli added bite, and the lime a little freshness (barely 14/20).

The best dish was langoustine (£25.80), again deep-fried and served with a red chilli dip.

The langoustines were of genuinely good quality, the batter again light and crisp (16/20).

Zuma is not a bargain restaurant, and it is so successful it has no need for cheap lunch offers to lure in the punters.

Zuma Bar Restaurant Raphael Street Knightsbridge London ...

Zuma bar and restaurant in Knightsbridge offers a modern take on the traditional izakaya Japanese style of eating and drinking.

The calmed and relaxed atmosphere is the direct result of carefully selected lighting, pastel walls and Japanese traditional music.

The menu, a mix match of small bites, sushi, sashimi and tofu aims to tantalise your taste buds and includes 40 different types of sake for a complete Eastern dining experience.

On top of the food, the Sake Bar and Lounge boasts a wide selection of sake-infused cocktails for those looking for a relaxed environment to let their hair down after a hard day on the grind.

Classics Revisited: Zuma Knightsbridge

Zuma is one of those places where everyone is happy to be here: as long as you can afford the stratospheric prices, you’re in.

Suzuki no sashimi is typical of Zuma’s culinary approach: thin slices of pearly sea bass blushing pink around the edges, dabbed with truffle oil and with a mound of tangerine-coloured salmon roe sitting pretty on a shiso leaf.

The preparation is usually simple – the dishes are often raw or cooked quickly on a robata grill – but the presentation is visually arresting and ingredients the best available.

If there are faults, it’s that there’s a slight impersonality to proceedings – the attractive staff are a bit robotic – while so many of the international super-rich in one place can make you feel that you’re in Zuma’s Dubai or Hong Kong branches.

But that aside, this game-changing restaurant is still the leader of the pack for western-accented modern Japanese food, and Zuma is one of the very few places that manages to please foodies as much as fashionistas.

Scotts, Zuma and Sariyer Balik, London | Life and style | The Guardian

The things done very well were elvers, simply fried and lightly doused in lemon juice; perfectly poached salmon; scintillating potted shrimps; fine dover sole meunière; and a smile-inducing rhubarb tart.

Quite apart from the unexpected joy of finding elvers on a menu at all, the basic fish-cookery techniques were flawless - if you do not believe that there can be a difference between one example of potted shrimps and another (quality of shrimp; ratio of butter to shrimp; discreet use of mace), then you have not lived enough.

Against this must be set a misconceived, too, too solid egg brioche as a base for fresh morels; a chicken and wild mushroom tart from the section of the menu wittily entitled War Rations; fabulously boring broccoli (at £2.50, if you please); salsify fritters, which were as bizarre as they were horrible; a Grand Marnier soufflé that had too much sugar and too little Grand Marnier; and a bill of £122, including a bottle of Meursault at £55 off a boring wine list.

It is the epitome of contemporary metropolitan eating: high-concept design (honey-coloured, wood- panelled walls; marble flooring; matt-black piping and aircon ducts overhead); high-octane, high-energy, high-worth, Sex And The City clientele; Japanese food doctored for that crowd; and a bill of £162 for two (£94 after liquid intake).

Hence, huge chunks of tofu, turned slimy within a batter sitting in a tasteless liquid, the advertised bonito flakes and grated ginger notable for their reticence; a travesty of nasudengaku; standard-issue organic spare ribs; casual, oafish chicken wings with sea salt and lime; sea urchin sashimi served too cold to be palatable or pleasurable; crude sushi.