Koya

So so so sad it’s gone. It was one of the best places to eat in town for udon and many other specials. Was best Japanese in London for me.

I had to come here at last. 2 weeks before its permanent closure (it will close on 31^st May 2015) I finally managed to get here, one of the most famous udon bar in London. I tried it and. it’s good, but definitely too expensive for what I get. And it’s only good, not holy broth I want to get on my knees and cry like a puppy delicious!
The décor, typically japanese, is exactly what I was looking for, spartan, linear, simple, wonderful. We showed up in three people around 20:30 on a sunday night and we were seated right away, something I did not expect, but the place was not as crowded as I thought!
The waiter promptly told us about something like 8 – 9 unavailable choices, both in the standard and in the daily menu: Now, I don’t think this is acceptable, I mean you are lacking 8 dishes, damn it! 8! You are closing in two weeks, I don’t think you are allowed to have half menus just because of that!
Anyway we ordered our dishes among the ones available, and. They were good, but not extraordinary: my udon were a little bit too salty for my taste, in a dish based on a miso soup adding salt later on is not something I’d like to have… the noodles itself were definitely good and well cooked but … well at the end the bill was about 13 pounds each for some well cooked noodles in a too salty dish, not exactly something I’d expect from it!
Kind of a delusion really, I was expecting much more from this place!

WIthout a doubt one of the best, and best value, Japanese spots in town.
Many other Japanese restos shriek of prestige and expense account — and thus attract equivalent clientele.
Koya, on the other hand, attracts serious eaters who want the good stuff. When San Pellegrino and Restaurant magazine hosted the World’s 50 Best Restaurants a few years ago (when Koya had just opened), Rene Redzepi of Noma (no. 1) came here with his cheffy pals and thoroughly enjoyed himself. What more could you ask for?
The udon is one of the few dishes that stands comparison to anything in Japan, while sides are precision cooked and thoughtful, and are actually more interesting than the main menu.
It can get quite busy around peak times, but its sibling Koya Bar is next door and offers the full visual counterside experience. Either of them will deliver a standout meal.

Koya is a solid place for food. Lunch is usually pretty easy to get seating, but during dinner the lines go out the door. You can possibly expect to share a 4 top with 2 other folks if you’re a smaller group and it’s busy time.
Below are some of the udons that I like from this spot. Also check out their Koya Bar next door. The items are mostly the same, but there are some differences in just a few items.
For Udon you can order in some combination of hot and cold. Hot noodles means noodles in the broth, cold noodles means noodles on the side and you dip it in the broth yourself. I haven’t tried the cold broth yet. I generally go atsu/​atsu (hot/​hot).
The broth seems to generally be the same base broth for most of their udons. It’s delicious, subtly sweet slightly, and maybe I detect some dashi as well.
Gyushabu 11.80
Butajiru 11.80
Both solid, beef (gyu) and pork (buta). I lean towards the pork one myself as it comes with a bit more veggies and has a slightly clearer broth.
Kuro Kakuni
Flavor is pretty good. Sweeter than some might like, but it can be tempered with the spicy mustard they give you on the side. Some pieces can be tough but the tender ones are good. 3 chunks of pork belly for 6.90
Onsen Tamagotchi is an extra 2.50 or they have a small plate for 2.90. Not sure what the difference is yet. I’ve started to skip this option, but if you want an egg this is the soft boiled kind with the runny center. Yum.

I love how peaceful this place is. The design is very ‘muji’ and simple and when you step in those doors from a hectic Friday night after work drinking scene, it’s like you have gone into a different world.
There is usually be a wait which I’m fine with. They don’t offer you drinks in the line and service can be a little slow in filling the vacated spots. There are very few seats but the food is quick to come out so there is a relatively fast turn around. That being said, they time the food so you get one starter at a time then your noodles so you don’t feel rushed at any point.
The alcohol list is simple and there is two beers to choose from and a few different sized sakes and some plum wine. They do not do BYO.
We ordered off the specials board for our starters. We had the salmon tartare with a soy yoke which was spot on. Add a dash of the chilli flakes and wow. yum. We also had the tofu agedashi which texturally was spot on. Could have done with a dash more soy but that could just be because I am addicted to salt. I tried the 100ml Sake which was, on it’s own, very delicious but as a food matching Sake it was a little too caramel and not salty enough to compliment the noodles or the starters.
I had the duck and vegetable hot udon broth which was a very dry (the duck meat) and could have benefited from an egg. I think the duck may have been cooked the day before, refrigerated then ‘awoken’ in the broth only to dry it out. The broth was nice though and there wasn’t a huge amount of veg. My friend had the chicken which she said was great but, again, slightly on the dry side.
If I come back I will, again, stick to the specials board for starters and try the pork belly as that looked and sounded amazing.

If you’re a party of two, don’t expect your own table. That said, still a great place for a date if you both like udon.
Had hot udon in hot miso broth with pork and spring onions. Best meal I’ve had while eating out in London.
Get tempura batter with your meal, it’s only 60p, and delicious in the broth.
Noodles were VERY fresh, delicious.
Overall, FANTASTIC food, cozy place. Will recommend to everyone I meet who visits London.

Alerte Udon.
Ce sont parmi les meilleures udon que j’ai mangées. C’était délicieux. Et pourtant je né suis pas fan de ces nouilles japonaise assez larges (né pas confondre avec les ramens, beaucoup plus fines). Je trouve souvent cela trop pâteux. Et bien chez Koya, c’est vraiment un régal.
La viande (poulet pour ma part) était délicieuse: fondante, goûteuse et de bonne qualité. Le bouillon était également particulièrement savoureux ainsi que les légumes (carottes, bambous). Une fois tous les éléments solides terminés, j’ai fini le bouillon à la cuillère, comme une soupe — pour vous dire à quel point le bouillon avait un intérêt et un goût en soi. Alors que bien souvent, les bouillons sont fades, on se demande toujours un peu pourquoi ils sont là. J’ai tout fini jusqu’à la dernière goutte, sans dire un mot.
Vous pouvez choisir entre deux types de udon: bouillon et nouilles chauds servies ensemble, ou bien bouillon chaud et nouilles froides servies séparément. Je vous conseille l’ensemble chaud car sinon on finit par tout de même mélanger les deux et les nouilles refroidissent trop le bouillon.

This place is recommended to me by a Japanese friend, and yes the udon here is great! Would say it’s so far the best I’ve tried in London. Besides the udon, the Gyudon’s also lovely!!!

Came here for a quick bite before a show, also to carve my craving for hot-​Asian-​food after few days in London. There were already streaming of guests coming in and out!
The service was good and attentive, seems like they also have seats inside the kitchen?! That looks fun: D
Ordered a kizami udon. It was simple but I love it. The soup wasn’t very salty and warmed my belly –v– Unfortunately I wasn’t very hungry, otherwise I’ve been eyeing the other dishes like the Kamo udon or tsukemen for awhile… good and relatively cheaper eats in Soho!

My friends and I were looking forward to a tasty Japanese meal sans-​maggots last night, but it wasn’t to be.
The waitress’s explanation was that «the daikon radish was organic». Not sure whether this was a defense of the maggot’s healthy food choice but it seemed more likely that the original source was the nearby herring.
After consultation with the boss, the waitress advised that we don’t have to pay for the dish. Inexplicably, the staff did not originally offer a full discount. It required further explanation that five people had eaten a dish with maggots in it and had their appetites ruined, before they finally conceded not to charge for the meal.
I think the straw that broke the camel’s back and motivated me to write this warning is that the waitress insisted we still had to pay for the cheap bottle of sake. At no stage did any of the staff truly recognise the gravity of dishing up a maggot infused meal to their patrons.
We’ve had a good laugh about the whole experience but 24 hours later I’m still feeling a little bit queasy around certain foods.

Random find thru Unilocal.After a day’s worth of walking, we were starving and hoping to find some grub at a noodle house. We tried to order 3 different things, but the waitress informed us that they were out of beef, pork and chicken. So… not exactly sure what else to order, we went somewhere else. Better luck next time?

This is a fantastic little restaurant which we have visited 4 or 5 times over the course of the last two years. Each visit has been as good as the last.
I simply love the Kamo, which is duck udon noodle soup. Contrary to some of the other reviews, I think the broth is plenty flavorful. I especially like getting a side of the tempura bits and adding it to the soup too.
For a starter the pork belly is a must try. It’s tender, crispy, packed full of flavor. The tempura vegetables are also delicious though a little on the greasy side depending on the veg.
I know the items seem a tad expensive but once you’ve tasted the food it always seems worth it!
I also like the general feel of the place. They have a mixture of smaller and larger tables and occasionally you will be sharing one with your fellow patrons, which I personally like, mostly because I like eaves dropping on other peoples conversations!
As the place is a little on the small side they don’t have anywhere inside for their waiting customers which is a little unfortunate. They have little benches outside though, which is generally fine as the turn around is pretty quick and the wait has never seemed too outrageous.
Despite the cost and the outside waiting, this is still one of my favorite restaurants in London and definitely worth a visit.

I am not usually one to grasp on to the tail light bars of a speeding bandwagon, but seeing that I am the 146^th person to make comment on Koya, hell I’m holding on whilst it hurtles past so fast you may just miss it.
If you blink to stop and read this, good luck at Koya.
Koya means home in Japanese I believe, but you know when you go back home and it’s not what you remember: there is no grandeur, there is no warm nostalgia, it’s just a little empty and your friends aren’t around any more and the ones that are, well you’ve fallen a little bit out of love with them? Well…
On the off chance of getting an early dinner for four, yes thats four seats! Two more than two people needing hunger fulfilled, and NO LINE outside of Koya. I gave a look past each shoulder to double check I wasn’t about to be stampeded by an army of media people filtering out of edit suites on the streets of soho to race me to the free table clearly visible from the street. I rubbed my eyes and squinted like they do in westerns to make sure that there wasn’t a mirage-​like line-​free no– bookings restaurant before me, hold on there was.
I’ve only ever been able to make it to Koya Bar before, alone, perched up against the bar for an early lunch by myself, yes alone, me– sans date.
It was the only way I was ever going to get a chance at either Koyas. I couldn’t believe my luck this time around. About to score major kudos with my group I summonsed my party having drinks from over the road and demanded we ate early as I’d nabbed the best table on the street.
As I waited, I took in the concrete surroundings of Koya and began to asses the menu.
I ordered a cold barley tea, delicious and refreshing, I couldn’t help but notice that this place had lost it’s somewhat fresh vibe.
Waitstaff were perfunctorily perfectly nice but had lost their edge of welcoming sheen, of newness, niceness. Then seeing the kitchen staff out back tossing udon into their mouths whilst we were sat waiting for food was also slightly off-​putting to say the least too.
When I first tried Koya bar’s, what I thought then, precise fine simple dining, I found that this time it was simple, borderline on boring.
I had some hot soup, confusing cold side combo, but really– is it that hard to serve hot water and sliced mushrooms over Udon? For £15 Quid?
And Udon: Is the new thing that now Udon stands for UnderDONe? Noodles were an oodle al dente for my liking, that with them being served cold made for disappointed dining.
The saving grace for me, however was the walnut paste that accompanied the udon; sticky, sweet and salty. It not only saved the dish but saved the day otherwise I’d have been really, Really pissed. Not much else was satisfactory.
Served opposite was my dish again, but this time with a slice of salmon and I could tell was underwhelming, but worst of all was the beef.
I have not only dined at Koya before and know what standards they can achieve, but I have also eaten in some really cheap homely eateries in Japan and have been served The Most delicious, again CHEAP homely food, served by a Mama-​san, in a forest café alongside a bar, with tough looking men with no pinkie fingers.
Koya served up cheap beef offcuts. now I love a fatty marbled piece of meat as much as the next person, it adds flavour! However the SHABBY SHABBY, or what they called shabu shabu beef was a disgrace. Over 70% fat, the dish was not tasty (how can meat with boiled water and undercooked noodles possibly be edible), but to save face it was eaten with dignity minus the fat that was set aside.
Gladly so, here’s a picture.
Perhaps there are no queues as Koya have lost their grandeur. If you want home cooked Japanese food, you might as well get some ramen from the Japan Centre, get on the bus and go to your actual home.
I brought dishonour to myself and lost the girl about town Kudos I’d gained from knowing where to take people to eat. I did complain to a waitress, but she unsympathetically said «that’s how it was supposed to be».
Made me feel like I’d committed social Seppuku suicide.

Koya is known for it’s udon noodles and they do not disappoint, but I am still not sure about this place because of various other things. For one thing, I went on a weekday afternoon and they were already completely out of beef. Normally this is not an issue, but as a lot of their noodle menu is pork (which I can’t have), it limited my options. I like my meat so I settled on duck instead of going vegetarian. The duck was good, but not worth the price tag. it also had something else in the broth other than the duck, which seemed like a meat dumpling of some sort and I’m not even sure what it was.
We weren’t that hungry so we only got the salmon sashimi special of the day, which was seared sashimi served with elderberries. On arrival, we were told to use the elderberries instead of soy sauce (none was given) and frankly it wasn’t good, although it’s hard to improve the taste of sashimi that was already not good at all. I love salmon and I really had a hard time getting it down, it was very fishy and almost pungent. The searing didn’t help either.
I do love noodles though and the udon noodles were authentic and proper. I might go back on a day when they have beef udon or even try the beef shabu shabu to see what it’s like, but otherwise I wouldn’t pay £30 for two things in small portions that we didn’t love (one was decent and the other really bad, I’m averaging it out).

So I went to Koya a while back and I’m finally getting to write my review on it. Let’s see… when I was in London one of my friends knew that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE UDON so he brought me to eat at Koya. Like most delicious places in London you have to queue especially if the place is tiny. After waiting not TOO long we went in. We were seated and looked over the menu. It was good. NOT AMAZING but good. The udon was a great texture but seriously… everything was an ADD on. I did NOT like that.
I ordered one of the specials which was roasted garlic and a big piece of fish over the noodles. It was good don’t get me wrong… but I wasn’t FLOORED by it. Plus using the conversion factor… i was crying at how much a bowl of Udon costs…
Overall if I were still living in London, I would probably take people here but NEVER a huge group because it would take FOREVER to get seated.

I am incredibly confused by the hype associated by this place, not least the constant queues out the door. I was expecting something as awesome as the ramen+egg+soft shell crab in Bonedaddies. Boy was I wrong.
Someone will have to tell me what the difference is between eating hot udon and hot broth, cold udon and hot broth, and cold udon and cold broth. Does the menu have to confuse a person so much by putting the same dishes into the menu 3 times but with hot and cold options? Why not just list it once and put at the side — available with hot and cold udon/​broth?
We ordered for starters an Onsen Tamago, and 3x Kuro Kakuni. The egg came in a sort of hot broth but the egg itself is super chilled, so chilled that my teeth felt that sort of sensitivity you associate with eating ice cream, except much worse! From wikipedia «Onsen Tamago is a traditional Japanese low temperature egg which is originally slow cooked in the water of onsen hot springs in Japan. The egg has a unique texture that the white tastes like a delicate custard (milky and soft) and the yolk comes out firm, but retains the color and creamy texture of an uncooked yolk» Yes, low temperature, it was pretty much just above freezing point I would say, but indeed they are correct as this egg was very delicate indeed. I would love to eat this again if it didn’t hurt the nerves in my teeth :/​
The kuko kakuni reminds me of chinese honey braised pork? This is the stuff my mum makes! Also it really confuses me that they all looked like ribs. They were sweet and tasty, but slightly too fatty.
2 of us ordered Gyushabu Hiya-​Atsu (beef shabu shabu). This was erm, disappointing. Now, udon I can make at home myself. The texture is pretty normal, nothing special. The hot broth was almost tasteless. What really irritated me was that the beef looked like the thinly sliced beef that I can buy in packets from chinese supermarkets that we use for hot pots!!! So I basically paid £11.80 for something I can make by buying two ingredients and chucking in hot water!!! NOOOO! This is not what I expected.
My friend ordered Kamo HIya-​Atsu (duck). It looked as unimpressive as mine, normal duck pieces in the broth…
The last person on the table ordered from the special menu. Sorry didn’t catch the name of their dish but it was some sort of special Japanese mushrooms (not enoki). This one looked the most impressive but I didn’t get to taste it, so no comments.
Having spoken to my learned blogger friend, it is better to order only from the special menu if you want something more impressive. Not sure I want to risk it by coming back here though, since there are so many more restaurants to try.
The ginger tea is very good though, especially if you have a cough or sore throat etc.

Humble udon place in an accessible location with a wonderful range of udon — hot, cold, soup, dry.
I’ve had the prawn tempura udon, mixed veggie tempura, and a friend had the saba udon which was a dry cold udon which was DELISH!!!
Tempura udon had one piece of prawn tempura so I topped it up with more veggie tempura, so be prepared if you order that. I would order the saba udon; they do cold udon very well here as the udon is chewy and smooth. Hot udon is more comforting but wow I’m amazed at how their cold udon tastes.
One word: YUM! And I would most definitely come back.

I feel a little like Grant and his experience with Japanese Ramen. Ramen I get. Udon, I don’t get.
When you get Ramen right like at Shoryu, you forget about anything else and lose yourself if your warm yummy bowl of tonkotsu broth. It’s possible to do at home. But it’s time consuming one to make the noodles and two, to make the broth which needs to boil for pretty much 12 hours of the day!
On the other hand. Udon. Easy to buy. Miso/​soy mix. Very easy to make. Smoked mackarel (easy to buy). Greens, easy to buy and shred over your noodles. Done!
So to pay upward of £10 for cold Udon noodles (cold is actually a style, not a complaint!) is a little difficult to stomach. The pork belly starter was good if a little fatty.
We waited about 5 minutes as the placed was packed on a Friday evening. That was alright. Service was awfully slow. You had to flag somebody to take your order. Paying was even longer. Only one card reader, and it took about 2 minutes from putting in your pin, to giving back your card…
Straight afterward I had one of those strange stomach aches which you can’t tell is because you’re full or because you’re still quite hungry. I’m thinking the latter as I still managed to fit in 3 scoops of gelato afterward.
Shoryu. Always.

The first thing that I can say to all of you is probably the most important: Koya only takes cash.
This is a lovely little restaurant with very passionate people in the kitchen which is wildly evident when you ask for advise on what is best to order.
The noodles are spectacular, and if you order the duck and noodle (around £15) you will leave with a full belly without feeling the guilt. Quite a nice venue to meet at lunch, although it does get busy quick and they do not take reservations so get in early.

Holy S^!% balls that was delicious.
Japanese tea for two please! Was lovely and ricey and the perfect accompaniment to an udon meal.
I had the pork (because everything tastes better with pork) and veggie udon noodle bowl and it sort of blew my mind. I warmed me up so much my face looked a cherry popsicle on a stick. PINK! But with a very happy tum tum.
I didn’t take a pic of it because i pretty much devoured it straight away and was starving. I can’t wait to go back.

Let me start off saying: I don’t like udon. I prefer ramen :) I guess I just never had good udon, only good ramen.
Udon is not my thang and has never been thang. I still came here nevertheless because I went to London with my brother, and my brother absolutely loves udon. He used to make it himself when my dad isn’t home. Now to think of it, I think it is THE first thing he ever learned to make so that he can cook it for himself to eat it when needed.
Anyways — I met up with a college friend who now works in London and she told me about Koya over tea time. She said it is delicious and she has never had better udon than the ones at Koya.
I’m glad to say I don’t regret coming at all! I came for my brother, but it was a win win for both of us when we left. I’m not upset that I ate udon instead of ramen ;)
Be ware that there is a line, you will need to wait outside. But don’t worry, it is well worth the wait.
The seaweed udon had tons of different types of seaweed. I don’t think I have ever had so different kinds of seaweed in one dish. The hot udon is so soft, but still chewy. Cold udon with the sesame sauce, deliciousssss. Love the sesame sauce. We ordered seconds for that one, lol.
This was the best restaurant out of the whole weekend I was in London, and I would say it’s the best restaurant I’ve ever been to in London — it even beats the Michelin star and Gordon Ramey’s Best Restaurant show restaurants I’ve eaten at in the past.
I plan to come back :) I’m glad that it is close to the SPG hotels so that I can just walk back here again next time.
Lastly, the staff is nice. I gave them compliments on the food, expressing that I truly enjoyed it, and they were super thankful and very graceful about it. Love.

Volle Punktzahl für die handgemachten Udonnudeln, Suppenvariationen und Vorspeisen von Koya!
Überaus nette Bedienungen.
Es werden keine Reservierungen angenommen, und man muß anstehen. Lasst Euch nicht abschrecken das Warten ist es allemal wert, dort zu essen!