Restaurants

With a perch overlooking Regent Street, and a highly designed, retro space-age interior, this pan-Asian lounge and restaurant remains a fashionable destination. Cocoon may have lost some of its earlier buzz, but the cooking has kept momentum. The menu – trendy interpretations of Japanese, Thai and Chinese cooking – might seem sacrilegious to purists, yet dishes respect regional flavours and techniques. A starter of beef and foie gras gyoza was nicely rendered, the creamy foie gras giving the dumplings a lovely, musky unctuousness. Tiger prawns with chilli and sichuan sauce were also true to form: spicy enough to jolt the palate without masking the taste of the plump crustaceans. Rock shrimp tempura with yuzu aïoli was fluffy and crisp, though the dip needed an extra squeeze of citrus. One intriguing combination was wasabi lamb, a dish that risked being awful but turned out to be rather good; the meat was cooked to a tender pink, its gamey scent offset by a subtle, mustardy aftertaste. Sadly, service was careless. Two requests for the complimentary gin and tonic to be served without alcohol were blithely forgotten. Happily, the potent drinks were all that remained unconsumed at the end of our meal.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2009