Koji Restaurant, Parsons Green
We all have those rainy weekends when all you want to do is stay and home and crash out…for the brave ones its always good to venture out, especially for a long overdue catch up with good friends. If you’re anything like me, even a little rain will not stop you. Especially when lunch means trying out another Asian fusion restaurant- sushi, dim sum and Peruvian treats count me in!
Koji is a lovely little restaurant nestled away in Parsons Green, its easily accessible via the London Underground (or if you’re like me, a black cab/ uber can also get you there relatively quickly).
Zesty lemon grass and chilli martini’s…these were far too easy to drink and yes that is a giant chilli you see at the top of the glass. This drink was fresh and tasty- mourish- dangerously good. The bloody mary- looked like a meal in itself but our friend seemed to like it 🙂
I have to take a moment and rave about the lemon grass and chilli martini’s- omg- these were mouth-wateringly good, a little too good. Very fresh and light with a chilli undertone that kicks in at the end of your first sip- let’s just say we had several of these as accompaniments to lunch. My friend had the bloody mary- the Koji staff are very generous with this drink!
Staff are very friendly in this establishment, we arrived after 1pm and left somewhere after 8pm… let’s just say it was a lunch of many courses… and drinks. As it was a Saturday afternoon, the restaurant was relatively quiet. More people arrived from 6pm onwards- there was definitely a good ambience and real mix of young professionals, young families and groups of friends grabbing a drink or bite to eat.
To the important stuff- the FOOD! We started with lovely light calamari (portion size was good too), then onto some wasabi coated prawns- delicious, not as good as PF Changs but still delicious and generous again in portion size. We also tasted the wonderful Koji Tacos- both maguro ‘big eye tuna’ and sea bass ceviche- I could have these over and over again. Deliciously flavoured, light and fish so fresh. My mouth is watering just thinking about it, anyone that’s sampled Peruvian tacos (like those served at similar places e.g. Coya will know what I am talking about)…
We then moved onto dim sum, we went for both chicken and prawn- unfortunately we were so hungry that they didn’t last for that all important insta-snap! Needless to say these were crispy on the outside and bursting with flavour inside, beautifully cooked prawns and chicken mmm lets go back for more!
For those of you that know me I can never say no to sushi and black cod! Both of these did not disappoint at koji (the black cod cooked to perfection- translucent almost and flaked away so easily… this was followed swiftly on by had spicy salmon California rolls, spicy tuna rolls, salmon and avocado and then spicy yellow tail rolls- im sure youre thinking this is a lot of food for three people… it was but then again we were there for a few hours 😊 there definitely was no room for dessert not that I am complaining.
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- Black cod- transluscent and flakey to the touch with a fragrant miso dressing
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- California rolls a-plenty (spicy yellow tail, spicy salmon, spicy tuna, salmon and avocado- sushi liciious)
Overall sophsterldn rating- 8/10 (Food 8/10, Service 9/10, Ambience 7/10 (only because it was empty when we arrived), Location- 8/10).
