Koya - noodles with everything

There are many Japanese restaurants in London serving up amazing authentic food but for a while now I've been searching for a place that serves proper tempura and udon (thick noodles) without all the fuss of booking a table months in advance (e.g. Nobu) and prices that won't give me a heart attack! Something like this:


I had this in a small restaurant in Akihabara, Tokyo. It's very simple, thick udon noodles in a hot broth (refillable) served with tempura which is normally seafood or vegetables battered and fried. After reading a lot of reviews of cheap Japanese eateries I came across Koya which is in a great location, right in the heart of soho, but it's easy to miss. This charming little Japanese eatery is tiny, plain and minimalistic.


No reservations required, in fact they don't take reservations. It's exactly what I was looking for. The staff were very friendly, the seating arrangements means you might be seating next to other diners on the same table. The menu is very simple, basically noodles with everything! Or donburi (rice bowls). I ordered green tea:



Ten Mori (2 prawns and vegetable tempura) at £11.70!!


I wouldn't call this place cheap, it's reasonable but definitely not cheap. Or maybe I'm cheap, I don't know you be the judge but tempura shouldn't cost that much, granted its the best tempura I've had in London. My main was of course udon. They serve their noodles in three ways, hot noodles in hot broth, cold noodles in cold broth and cold noodles with cold dipping sauce. I had kinoko, hot udon with mushrooms and walnut paste.






The little brown thing on the small plate is the 'walnut miso'. I wasn't too keen on the walnut paste, it was sweet and I didn't want to add it to my udon, I'm def not a fan of sweet and sour. But the udon was amazing!! Totally authentic, a bit chewy and just delicious. My friend had beef donburi served with miso soup (again the miso soup was so good!) which got rave reviews too!

















I loved this place and will definitely be going there regularly for my tempura fix. Our bill was just over £40 incl. service charge. It's worth every penny because the food is so good!

Location:49 Frith st. Soho, London

Princi - In the name of Bread!

I went to Princi again today, second time this week! Obsession or what?
The place is (almost) always packed! But one thing in particular keeps me going back.............




This little beauty! The 'Cannoncini' (£1.20) it's a delicious sugar coated sweet pastry filled with custard or something that tastes like custard.



I also had a margarita and risotto ball (that's not the name on their menu tho)
The pizza was so good, a bit cold but yummy the risotto ball was quite heavy and filling



To drink I had mint tea, they have an extensive tea menu
The place is so beautiful, a bit chaotic with the amount of people that are always there (not a bad thing!) fighting for a place to seat or if you are sitting down then fighting the urge to shoo away people standing behind you waiting for you to leave.
The decor's pretty cool!









There isn't a queuing system for ordering so if it's really busy, you have to make yourself known.


Although it's called Princi - A bakery, you can expect more than just bread




There are so many different types of deserts




















Salads






Pizza, of course!










Sandwiches


Another section serving hot food and a small bar where you take your receipt to collect your drinks.....
All in all this is a nice little restaurant filled with the cool Soho crowd, tourists and connoncini addicts like me :)



The traditional oven where they make their famous olive bread











I highly recommend paying a visit!
Bon Appetito

Location:Wardour street, Soho