London Review: Koya

8/10

49 Frith St, London, W1D 4SG

According to my friends from the land of the rising sun, Koya represents one of London’s few truly authentic Japanese eateries. And having acted on their advice, I can understand why. The restaurant is based on the Japanese ‘Udon-Ya’ concept; essentially a place which focuses on the art of creating those thick, silky noodles known as udon. And the noodles can be served in three ways: hot udon in hot broth (atsu-atsu); cold udon with hot broth (hiya-atsu) and cold udon with cold sauce (hiya-hiya).

I think I’m right in saying that the noodles are hand-made, a trait which is definitely in abundance upon savouring of these slippery, chewy, silky, slurpy and truly moreish delights.  Add the additional cold-hot temperature sensation and the beautiful crispness of accompanying tempura of the ten hiya-atsu dish, and you have a meal worth coming back for again and again.

What’s more, the noodles are deceptively filling, meaning your every penny spent here not only brings quality but also quantity. Combine this with the efficient service and simple yet pleasant surroundings, this makes for one of my new favourite restaurants.

Melbourne Review: Laksa King

8/10

12 Pin Oak Crescent, Flemington

I never went to the original locale of this Flemington favourite, but I've heard in moving to new surrounds it lost a bit of its hawker ambience. Now it's clean cut, spacious and has a slightly japanese noodle bar feel to it, which I guess isn't so bad. But the main thing is that the quality and value of their grub hasn't changed. Myself and my fellow diner had a feast of combination curry laksa, sambal king prawns and twice cooked pork belly.

The laksa was tasty; rich coconut and lemongrass tones were everpresent. And the portion size was pretty damn big. My one criticism is that it lacked that bit of chilli kick, but nonetheless this was still a good rendition of this malaysian classic.

The sambal chilli prawns were packed with prawn-punch; the prawns themselves were big and juicy, and the sambal sauce was packed with crustacean flavours without overpowering the pallette. I felt it could've done with a tad more sambal sauce, but that's just me.

Last but by no means least, the twice cooked pork belly. Firstly the aniseed flavour hits the pallette, followed by fatty, indulgent pork belly notes and finishes with a swansong of rich, soothing caramel-soy hits. Proper comfort food.

Adding rice to this, our final bill came up to about $24 each - which is fairly expensive for Malaysian, but good value considering we ate about 4 persons worth of food (with the exception of the laksa, the dishes were probably meant for sharing for 3 people). And with pretty efficient service and friendly staff, I'd be pretty confident in saying that this is Melbourne's best Malaysian offering. 

Seafood fit for a king

Feasting on  top-quality seafood for $10 might seem too good to be true. And in most cases, it is. But at Quan Phu'ong Nguyen in Hanoi, I found that these dreams can become a delicous reality. Below is a deep fried snake-head fish. Crispy on the outside, meaty in the middle, and when wrapped in a paper roll with dill, salad, starfruit and herbs and immersed in fermented prawn dip (pungent yet indulgent), it can make in the fullest of stomachs rumble at least once.

This place also did the simple dishes to perfection. Stir fried squid with chilli and viet basil ticked all of the right boxes.Tender flesh without a trace of rubberyness, chilli kick and the occasional note of aniseed were all in evidence. 

On the slightly more indulgent side, myself and fellow diners opted for prawns deep-fried with a salty egg batter. The sweetness of the sea-dwellers' interior married perfectly with the crispy, salty and unctuously rich egg exterior.

The only slight let-down were the fried soft shell crabs with tamarind sauce. The soft shell crabs did possess the usual sweet-from-the-sea overtones, but the tamarind sauce wasn't quite the right partner for these crustaceans.

This restaurant combined pretty decent service with a great view over the West Lake, and whilst it's a bit further from the usual attractions of the Old Quarter, it was certainly worth the taxi ride across town.