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Please note: Kojawan has now closed. Time Out Food & Drink Editors, December 2016
Sure, it’s 23 floors up the Hilton London Metropole, but you certainly can’t accuse this pricey newcomer of relying on its killer views. The designers have gone for full-Tokyo inside, peppering a vaguely sci-fi setting with typically bonkers Japanese pop-art and anime. Sounds pretty cool, right? Well, kind of. I reckon the purse strings were never let that loose, resulting in a room that’s more Buck Rogers than Blade Runner.
Still, there’s plenty of competence in the kitchen, with some genuinely impressive Asian fusion food just about justifying prices as lofty as the view. Stone bass pokē was good (the warming, fruity jalapeño and salty tobiko were great additions) as was a perfectly-cooked mackerel, despite a too-tart plum sauce. Both, though, were whacked out of the park by a stunning bit of beef cheek, big on mouth-numbing Sichuan chilli and with meat that collapsed with true enthusiasm.
Kojawan’s promoter has been wooing celebs online, so I suspect sidebar-of-shame aspirations. The Edgware Road location might make that difficult, but the food should be good enough to attract the odd famous face. And the food is why they accept the invites, right?