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Shochu Lounge & Roka Restaurant London Review
Shochu Lounge exceeds all expectations, both as a bar and a dining venue. Part of Roka restaurant, you’ll find it in its basement – and what a find it is. Taking its name from the ancient Japanese spirit (which is not a million miles away from vodka), Shochu Lounge offers a drinking and eating experience like no other.
Shochu cocktails are the house speciality and include the Tanuki Peach, the Lavender and Honey Goblet and the Hallo Kitty punch. We started off with a couple of Plum Plums and liked them so much, we stayed on those all night. Containing plum shochu, plum vodka and a Japanese flavoured water called tzu, the drink is nothing short of bliss. Fellow imbibers assured us that every shochu cocktail is just as special. Shochu Lounge also does a great line in whisky, rum and martini-based cocktails and offers a fine selection of wines and bottled beers.
Food is ordered straight from the Roka menu. Same bill of fare, but the dining experiences are completely different. Upstairs, it’s all big windows and streamlined seating; down below patrons savour their victuals at the bar or low tables, surrounded by cushions and dimmed lighting. As for the menu, well, you’re spoilt for choice. We asked our excellent waitress to recommend dishes and were delighted with the results.
We feasted on rock shrimp and napa cabbage in garlic and chilli (baechu kim chi), swiftly followed by softshell crab (age watari gani). After which, the three-sashimi selection was extremely refreshing. Next, and hot off the traditional robata grill, was the sensational sea bream fillet with ryatei miso and red onion (taio miso-yaki), complemented by plates of chilli okra and sweet soy asparagus. Stuffed to the gills, we faced our final challenge: the kama meshi, a rice hotpot packed with Japanese mushrooms and lots of flavour. Delicious.
If lip-smackingly good cocktails and luscious, scrumptious Japanese food are your idea of a great night out, do not delay in making Shochu Lounge your next port of call. You couldn’t do better for service, style or atmosphere either.
Fiona Lawrie (18 07 2006)
Shochu Lounge & Roka Restaurant London Description
Roka is a Japanese restaurant and the second project by Rainer Becker, the man behind Zuma, and his business partner Arjun Waney. The restaurant seats eighty people inside and twenty people out, with a Robata grill being the central feature of the dining room. Robata means 'with open flames' and that's what most of Roka's menu focusses on. Dishes, such as Tempura, Sashimi, Maki, Kushiage, and Robata Niku are on the menu and set lunches start from around £9. The restaurant is positioned on a corner and has floor to ceiling windows, allowing those eating a view of people walking by.
Below Roka is Shochu, a stylish cocktail & lounge bar that takes its name from the Japanese distilled spirit. Both traditional and contemporary cocktails are available, some made using fruit liqueurs based on Shochu. Distilling barrels and jars of friut-steeped shochu help make up the warm atmosphere created in this bar.
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Average Customer Rating (12 Votes)
What can I say, Roka is amazing. The food is second to none - dreamy, melt in your mouth fish, loved the big windows on the corner and the big woonden benches surrounding the open kitchen. The service was impeccable, we're talking about waiters who actually know what they are talking about and who know the correct way to serve at a table, attentive yet discreet. Presentation of the food was great, carved ice chunks to hold the sashimi and the wine list was extensive and of course a wine recommended for each dish. Roka is definitely one of the best Japanese restaurants I have ever eaten at and would go back again. If you're looking to impress - choose Roka.”
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Emma, Battersea (10 08 2009)
Believe the pictures, this is a really picturesque bar. Everything is always perfect. These guys define the meaning of standards. The cocktails are meticulously mixed, the presentation of the food always stunning. and everything always runs smoothly when I come here. I'm sure you've guessed I'm a regular, and will continue to be so.”
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Nicole Tim, london (06 09 2008)
This place has it all, great food, great cocktails, trendy people and atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere. If you like trendy places this is the place to be. Everything is amazing here you definitely have to see it to believe it.”
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Judy Janice, london (03 09 2008)
I came here for my birthday two weeks ago and had a ball. We had a corner table and had the most spectacular japanese meal, our waitress was japanese as well and made a great job of explaining the food and the concept. I loved it and am begging my boyfriend to take me back!”
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Samantha Schnyder, london (30 08 2008)
I would like to:
Extra Info
- Cocktails
- Food
- Non-Smoking Area
- DJ