A Little Piece of Kyoto in Bayswater London

30 Jan 2014: A little more than a week ago in London, I was treated to a magnificent Kaiseiki meal at a little gem of a restaurant called The Shiori (45 Moscow Road, Bayswater, London W2  4AH ; Tel: +44 (0)20 7221 9790). 

This is a husband and wife team: the omnipresent Hitomi-san who excels in her role as maître d’ and her husband Takagi-san who prepares such wonderful dishes with such flair and attention. The restaurant sits a total of 16 people, doubling its capacity from its previous self as a sushi bar near Euston Station. The Shiori opened in its current location about a year and a half ago, far away from the hustle and bustle of Queensway. If you’re not paying attention, you could easily have missed the unassuming entrance - it’s a white façade, almost like paper, with the name of The Shiori in Japanese subtly signposted on one side. We went on a Tuesday night and all the tables in the restaurant were filled, except one. 

There are only 2 menu choices at The Shiori: an 8-course menu at GBP 70 per person or a 10-course menu at GBP 85 per person. The menu is printed on a small piece of paper and neatly folded to fit into an envelope for each diner. We took the 8-course menu and as we’re still in the New Year period, the menu had a New Year theme to it (Kaiseiki Hana), starting with traditional New Year black beans, boiled in a light syrup, still retaining some firmness, and festively topped with specks of gold leaf. The sweetness was very delicate – and interestingly made a very good start to our meal.

New Year's Black Beans

The next course was a platter of a few items, including herring roe, eel bo-zushi, crispy baby shrimp and some extremely tiny baby potatoes (from Mount Fuji), that were the tiniest root vegetable I had ever seen….I loved the baby shrimp – the crispy shell was so translucent that you could see through……the flavours were so intense. The eel atop the almost creamy rice was so soft, almost melting in the mouth, contrasting with the way the yellow herring roe popped when chewed into! There’s something wickedly childish about this sensation….almost like those fizzy candies that explode in your mouth! I occasionally took a bite of the chrysanthemum leaf to refresh the palate, when switching from one flavour to the next.

An Array of Textures and Flavours!

The third course was a beautifully prepared miso group. White miso soup that was slightly creamier than the normal miso soup, almost velvety……and it coated the palate beautifully. Again the chef introduced some contrasting texture into the dish, in the form of a yam ball, cooked a point and a thick slice of lightly grilled Awa wheat cake (Awa-fu)….the best way to describe this would be a firm slice of polenta or a piece of Shanghainese New Year cake with a grainy texture! Gorgeous!

White miso soup with Awa-fu

Hitomi-san told us that the miso soup would always be followed by sashimi. Our next course was a delicate platter of sashimi, elegantly presented, with well-sized pieces of raw fish and seafood, including some small pink prawns and a couple of pieces of Cornish mackerel, lightly seared to charcoal the top…..this was heavenly…….with the homemade wasabi.

Beautiful sashim, especially the Cornish mackerel!!

After the cold dish, came a hot dish again. This time it was the nabe (hotpot) of cod and vegetables in a clear and light vegetable broth. This came in a silver-coloured hotpot, with a burner underneath. There were a few shreds of shirataki inside (noodles made with yam). I agreed with my host that it was probably not necessary to keep the burner going for a long time, as it rather overcooked the cod and made the broth a little scalding to the mouth.

Codfish and vegetable nabe

The next course was again a cold dish – Salmon & Seabass Hakata - pickled fish carefully and artistically assembled like a slice of millefeuille, consisting of thinly sliced pickled seabass, alternating with an even more thinly sliced pickled salmon and seaweed. Not your usual pickled herring! It was really refreshing after the nabe!

Salmon and Seabass Hakata

We finished with the kani (crab) rice with pickles and a clear soup with Ao-nori. The pickles and clear soup felt so cleansing after the plethora of flavours that had come our way through the entire meal. The crab rice was cooked to perfection, garnished with a few edamame adding texture to the rice.

Kani rice

We finished with our own choice of ice-cream. I loved my sesame ice-cream….easily the creamiest, richest, most intensely flavoured black sesame ice-cream I’d ever had. My host had the green tea ice-cream, served on red bean puree. This was delicious too, but the sesame ice-cream was the real highlight for me! Hitomi-san told me that this ice-cream was homemade by her husband. I have such a soft spot for good sesame ice-cream that this alone would be enough reason to go back to The Shiori.

For an optional GBP 50 per person, the chef would propose different sake to pair with different dishes, but we just went for 2 different sakes: a Dassai Junmai Daiginjo 50 from Yamaguchi prefecture, served cold and a Yamatoshizuku Yamahai Junmai-shu from Akita prefecture, served hot. The cold sake was aromatic and floral scented, and it served an adequate job pairing with the assorted sashimi and an even better job pairing with the salmon and sea bass hakata. The Yamahai Junmai-shu worked rather well with the kani rice. We were given a complimentary glass of Ninki-Ichi Sparkling Junmai Daiginjo from Fukushima prefecture to finish…..it was refreshing and fruity, with fine bubbles. Just a perfect way to finish this fabulous meal.

The Shiori is a wonderful little restaurant, encompassing an understatedly elegant and cosy ambiance, professional service, attention to detail, highly skilled cuisine and fresh ingredients. I was so engrossed in the entire dining experience: the quality of every course and the way each course was presented like a picture, that the eight courses went by rather rapidly (of course, the company of my host was absolutely essential!). Next time, if you are looking for an alternative venue in London for an intimate dinner or a chic venue to treat someone special (I would say best for 2 – 4 people), consider The Shiori…..the experience will be an unforgettable one for you and your guests!