ROKA Mayfair Review – Robata Grill & Japanese Classics

Written by Martin Seymour | Editor, The Mayfair Foodie | About Me

Travelling into town on a balmy Thursday evening in September, after a long day in front of the laptop, I was filled with a mixture of joy and excitement. This was a long-awaited visit to ROKA Mayfair – and, I have to admit, my first visit to ROKA full stop. It has been on my hit list for years, yet for some inexplicable reason I had never actually been.

Mayfair was heaving that evening, especially North Audley Street. Just off Oxford Street, it is home to many popular haunts, several of which we have featured on this website. Grabbing a pre-dinner drink was almost impossible (the key word being almost), as the local hostelries were doing a roaring trade – Thursday being a popular night for an after-work drink and something to eat. So it was no surprise to arrive at ROKA and find much the same: a restaurant alive with the excited chatter that only a full house can deliver. First tip of the review: make sure you book.

As we were shown to our table, my excitement ramped up a notch when I realised that sitting at the next table was a musical hero of mine: Marc Almond, singer, songwriter and frontman of Soft Cell, with two UK number ones to his name. Now, I’m not one to bother celebrities – they should be free to enjoy their evenings in peace – but I’ll secretly admit I did want to say the briefest of words. Luckily, my guest Dan spoke to Marc on my behalf as he was leaving, which gave me the chance to mumble something incomprehensible, as is so often the way when you meet a hero. Anyhow, I’m very happy to report that Marc was kind and charming.

All this before we had eaten a morsel. ROKA had overdelivered already.

1 About ROKA

Before we get stuck into the food, a little background. ROKA is part of the Azumi group, founded in 2001 by German-born chef Rainer Becker and restaurateur Arjun Waney. So the story goes, Waney backed Becker because he was fed up with not being able to get a table at Nobu – and if that isn’t a good reason to open a restaurant, I don’t know what is. Their first opening, Zuma in Knightsbridge, arrived in 2002, and ROKA followed on Charlotte Street in Fitzrovia in 2004, conceived as a more relaxed, neighbourhood-style sibling to its glamorous big sister.

Becker fell for Japanese food while launching the restaurants at the Park Hyatt Tokyo – the hotel made famous by Lost in Translation – although, by his own admission, it took his palate a couple of months to come round. He describes his cooking as “authentic but not traditional”, turning up the seasoning for Western palates, and it’s a formula that has clearly worked.

Today there are four ROKAs in London – Charlotte Street (with the Shochu Lounge below), Canary Wharf, Mayfair and Aldwych – and the brand has gone global, with restaurants in destinations including Mykonos, Santorini, Dubai, Istanbul, Bodrum, Mallorca and Riyadh. The wider Azumi family also includes Oblix at The Shard and INKO NITO.

2 What Is Robatayaki?

The name ROKA combines two Japanese ideas: RO, a meeting place where friends share food and drink, and KA, meaning heat and warmth. Both sit at the heart of robatayaki, the style of cooking ROKA is built around. Often shortened to robata and meaning ‘fireside cooking’, it involves grilling meat, fish and vegetables over hot charcoal. Its origins lie with fishermen in Japan’s northern coastal waters, who grilled their catch over charcoal on their boats and passed the food around on the ends of their oars. Thankfully, at ROKA your dinner arrives on a plate.

3 ROKA Mayfair

ROKA Mayfair opened on 17 February 2014, the third of the London restaurants, on a site previously home to a short-lived Italian restaurant, Banca. More than a decade on – in a neighbourhood where restaurants come and go with alarming regularity – it is still packing them in, as I had just witnessed first-hand. Which brings us to the building itself.

4 The Decor

You can’t miss ROKA Mayfair. It occupies a handsome stone-fronted corner of North Audley Street, its name picked out in brass on panels of rust-brown oxidised steel. In fine weather, the large terrace out front, with its black awnings, red cushions and potted Japanese maples, is buzzing with al fresco diners. Step through the door, with its chunky timber handles, and the mood turns warmer and moodier. The interior is the work of Tokyo-based designer Noriyoshi Muramatsu of Studio Glitt, the man behind the look of Zuma. His palette is all about natural materials: reclaimed wood, raw steel and cast concrete, with a ceiling of slatted timber panels angled overhead like a giant parquet floor turned upside down.

The star of the show is the robata grill, which sits at the heart of the room in an open kitchen, its steel shelves stacked high with ceramics. Wrapped around it is a long timber counter, and these are usually the best seats in the house if you enjoy watching chefs at work (and who doesn’t?). That said, on this particular evening, I’d argue I already had the best seat in the house. The bar runs along the right-hand side of the room, its backlit shelves lined with sake and spirits, while round timber tables with red leather-seated chairs fill the rest of the space. For more intimate occasions, there’s a private dining room where a single long table seats up to 24 guests.

5 The Menu and Our Meal

The menu at ROKA is resolutely Japanese, with sections for snacks, dumplings, salads, tempura, maki, sashimi and nigiri, dishes from the robata grill and a selection of ROKA signatures. There is a lot to digest, visually speaking, so although Dan had been before and had already sung the praises of the black cod, we sought counsel from our waiter, who was very knowledgeable and soon put together a menu for us.

yellowtail sashimi with a yuzu-truffle dressing on plate

To kick things off, we went for one of ROKA’s signature dishes: yellowtail sashimi with a yuzu-truffle dressing. As we have come to expect from Japanese cuisine, it arrived beautifully presented. Yellowtail needs very little accompaniment, and the dressing was perfectly judged, never overshadowing the fresh, clean-tasting fish. A stunning dish to start.

Next up from the sushi counter came a pair of maki rolls: the piripiri maguro, spicy yellowfin tuna with chives and cucumber, finished with a dot of chilli mayo, and the ebi furai to avocado maki, with crispy panko prawn poking playfully out of the roll, topped with avocado and a scattering of marigold petals.

Picture from the sushi counter came a pair of maki rolls delivered to our table

Then it was time for the main event: the black cod, marinated in yuzu miso and cooked on the robata. Alongside it, we ordered another ROKA favourite from the grill, lamb cutlets with Korean spices, plus a side of asparagus with sweet soy and sesame. This was my first black cod experience, and it certainly won’t be my last – the cod was sensational. Not to be outdone, the lamb cutlets were packed with flavour and beautifully tender, while the asparagus was cooked to perfection, with just enough bite, and lightly dressed in the sweet soy and sesame.

Three rounds of savoury dishes left just enough room to share a dessert, and we were unanimous in our choice: the dark chocolate and green tea pudding with crunchy Jivara (Valrhona’s milk chocolate) and pear ice cream. It did not disappoint – apart from leaving us secretly wishing we had ordered one each.

Pictures of dark chocolate and green tea pudding with crunchy Jivara (Valrhona’s milk chocolate) and pear ice cream

6 Verdict

Unless you’ve skipped straight to the bottom, you’ll already have gathered that I’m now a fan of ROKA – and the good news is that we have only scratched the surface of the menu. There is so much more to discover. The restaurant has a buzzy vibe and delivers not only on the food but on the service too. There is a lot to like about ROKA Mayfair, and I look forward to returning soon – ideally without waiting another few years.