Japanese food goes global at this buzzy, brash new lounge in Soho
AQUA KYOTO is a Japan«« restau¬rant opened by a Chinese compa¬ny. sharing its space with a Spanish restaurant - and it feels like something from brash and showy U» Angeles. Tucked up on the top floor of a building overlooking Soho with sleek tapas-t Itemed Aqua Nueva and cocktail bar Aqua Spirit, it's one third of an attempt by Hong Kong restaurateur - and former Credit Suisse lawyer - David Yco to shake things up with some design- heavy glint. And in a shallow sort of way. Aqua Kyoto is rather fun.
First you have to find it though, and it doesn't help that the address says Regent Street but the entrance is on Argyll Street, halfway between Oxford Circus and Liberty. Nor does the fact that said entrance is a dark, anonymous lobby, empty save for a lift and a suave bloke to point you towards it. The lift whizzes you up to the top floor of what was once, for anybody who can remember such things, the Dickins & Jones department store. It spills you out into another shadowy reception area where an army of spectac¬ularly-sculpted robo-babes (if they're human, they don't show it) will ask you whether you're here for tapas. sushi or a cocktail, before leading you towards whichever you chose.
We decided on option "В", sushi, but not before a stop-off at option "C. The Aqua Spint bar is smart and dark (that's a bit of a theme) and loud, with booths to one side lined with patterned silk rolls, and a grand, circular black cocktail bar in the middle. It was mobbed by flashy folk in suits and lugh heels when we visited.
The centrepiece of Aqua Kyoto is a sunken kitchen where the chefs slice and dice away beneath a huge, circular Japanese lantem that dangles above them dramatically. You can eat at the bar surrounding the kitchen if you want, or head to one of the moodily-lit tables that fan outwards between walls of black lac¬quer and luminescent red panels. There are some glass-walled private dining spaces too. and at the back the door opens onto an impressively large terrace. For the time being it's the smokers who get to patronise the tables and chairs out here while enjoying the lit-up view over the West End. but this should be a peach of a spot come summer.
BIT OF HOLLYWOOD
Back inside, the menu has many options, with sections including soups and salads, hot dishes large and small, noodles, char coal grill, sushi, sashimi. tempura. rolls and mixed platters, and where to dive in can be a bit of a conundrum. We began with some thickly-cut salmon, tuna and yellow-tail sashimi which wasn't the tastiest I've had. but king crab tempura

A connoisseur's choice and favourite of hedge-flinders and wealthy Russians, there's nowhere better to people watch as you eti»oy superb sp»cy king crab and yeiow- t.vl teriyafci Tlte meat such as lamb chops furtaM and chicken yalotori is also sumptuous and Ute quaity of the sashimi is cxtiemdy high 26AJbemahe Street WIS 4HY.M 020 7495 5999

WINTER COCKTAILS AT PEARL
Cosy up with Pearl Bar's four new wintry cocktails - two hot two cold. Winter Snug is a blend of Tia Maria. Meukow liqueur, double cream, jrvara chocolate and hot milk, whie the wine is jazzed up with onfandet berry, ginger and lemongrass cordial cinna¬mon syrup, amarotto. chestnut liqueur and cloves. If you want to go coto. Snow Volcano has Calvados, dark rum. BaJey's. double cream and chilli pepper syrup, while Rudolph's Temptation combines Fonseca Bin 27. chestnut liqueur, advocat and cran¬berry juice. Available until 31 January for £1150 each 252High Hotbom WCIV 7ЕЫ. tet 020 7829 7000
QUIRINAlfS NEW CATERING SERVICE
Thrs Westminster favourite and purveyor of fine Italian dinners has launched a catering service called Quirinale Casa that will make sure your event — from a codctatl party, to a wedding, dinner party or christen¬ing - stands out with revered chef Stefano Savio's food and som- melier Valentina Cassandro's wine choice. A sure way to impress the clients this Christmas 1 Great Peter Street SW1P 3LL tet 020 7222 7080

R0KA
Roka is rightty ScJio's favourite, buzaest Japanese »id one of lite areaS best restaurants. The sushi, sashmi and goocfes from the Rofcvita qrfl arc all divine and choosetg one cfcsh over another л an eternal struggle-11« airy, colourful interior lifts the whole experience further. Co (or the tasting menu if you have time 37 Charlotte Stmt W11RR, tet 02075806464

A prawn, scal¬lop and mushroom soup, served in a lit¬tle teapot, was smoky and aromatic, and fat tranches of charcoal-seared salmon served on a steaming hot stone slab were suitably theatrical. We followed that with juicy little strips of grilled beef topped with a sweet mustard sauce, before fin¬ishing with some tuna sushi rolls dressed with a wasabi sauce that stung and satis¬fied equally.
The portions are big and chunky and the presentation imaginative, if hardly dainty. This isn't high Japanese dining in the Nobu sense, but it's enjoyable never¬theless. Normally I'd go spare trying to eat with electronic music pumping in the background, but at Aqua Kyoto it makes sense. The place isn't subtle, it may not even be tasteful, but it's a smart attempt at bringing a bit of Hollywood - or Hong Kong, or wherever - razzmatazz to London, and it deserves to do well.