A restaurant I have wanted to try for a while is Koya, I have heard lots of good things about their udon noodles which are rolled by feet. Plus they have adopted the latest restaurant trend of not being able to book a table and the thought of not being able to get in usually makes a place even more trendy and therefore good, right?
After queuing for about 20 minutes (not bad for a Friday night in Soho) we entered through a fabric curtain and were seated on one of the communal tables. All the menu is printed on wooden panels around the room and you immediately realise that it is udon and not much else, good job I love the fat noodle. These ones are a bit special though, the wheat flour is imported from Japan and then kneaded by feet to make them extra chewy.
When it comes to how you have them it starts to get complicated - hot or cold udon in a hot or cold broth, then with lots of toppings from duck to vegetable tempura and extras such as poached egg or seaweed.
We started with vegetable tempura and braised pork belly in cider, for smaller plates they were huge and more than enough for four to share. The pork belly was amazing, the meat tender and just flaked from the bone, the hot wasabi style sauce it was served with was delicious but too much and it would blow your head off!
The staff were lovely and even though they were busy and the queue outside was growing we never felt rushed whilst we wait for our friend to arrive. I went for the hot udon in hot broth (known as Atsu-Atsu) with beef for my main. The fat, slippery noodles were great, still chewy but they absorbed the flavour from the broth and even though the meat looks unappetising (not just in the photo but in real life too) is was tender and full of flavour with very little fat.
I loved this place and will definitely be coming back!
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