Kaiseki dinner in London

I don’t know whether you all know that I’m a huge fan of Japanese food! Well, I’m a huge fan of any types of GOOD FOOD… JAPANESE especially!!! (Vietnamese food always comes first obviously!!)

A few months ago, we went to Sushi Tetsu for sushi (it just reminded myself to do a post on SUSHI TETSU!!! urgh…. I’m really lazy these days!!!!!), the chef there gave me a long list of coming restaurants in London!! Viet and I were so determined to try them all!!!

Chrysan was the first on the list!!

Jointly opened by Alan Yau and the renowned Kaiseki master Yoshihiro Murata of Kikunoi, Chrysan attracted a significant level of interest and anticipation as soon as news of its opening was released. Apparently this also meant that the expectation for what it would deliver was set very high. Having known that, it was hard to condemn our excitement ahead of this visit.

First impression: beautiful! The designer did a lovely job in creating a lovely interior scenery, subtle and warm colour tones with certain sparks, brought together by a great touch on lighting. All in all it was pleasant for the eyes to see, but, and this is quite a strange but, the ambience felt a bit too serene for my liking. I have nothing against a nice quiet dining space of our own, and in fact do prefer that most of the time, but the inside of Chrysan appeared to have tipped slightly beyond that. Maybe we came on the wrong day and it normally is not like that, but still, it was a Saturday evening…

The sushi and sashimi platters at Chrysan look absolutely gorgeous!!! The carefully plated pieces with a vibrant colour mix simply pop out right in front of your eyes. The twists on the flavour work quite well, the way I see it. Largely not the combinations we have tasted before, but really would not be uneasy on your palate. The sashimi selection includes things like yellowtail with horseradish, sea bream with sun dried tomato and parmesan(!), salmon with wasabi and tuna soy sauce jelly. The sushi plate has pieces of hakozushi, some maki with vegetable paper wrap.

Duck foie gras manju with truffle dashi soup. The soup carries a wonderful mushroom flavour, and that was the highlight of this. I am not sure about the manju with foie gras fillings, it tasted a bit too sweet, and does not really go well with the soup. I was not able to detect much of a punch from the fillings.

The smoked salmon was a bit too salty, and there was not much of a companion to bring down that saltiness on the plate. The skin, however, was crackling! I have not had salmon skin so crispy before.

Named “Scotland meets Kyoto”, this nabe pot combines Scottish lobster with scallops, mussels and salmon in a broth of Saikyo miso. The taste, as expected from its ingredients, is rich and full on your palate. It was a warm, wholesome dish, perfect for such cold weather.

After that hot put came this genmaicha sorbet, which had walnut foam on top, and pieces of nashi pear soaked inside. The gental collaboration of taste completely cleanse the palate from the lingering richness of the previous dish. Loved this one!

Roasted sweetcorn cream, mitarashi ice cream, with black sugar popcorn (it does not have fancy short name, in case you are wondering), this was a heavenly for my sweet tooth!!!

All in all, we quite like it. The food, although not all spot on on the taste, was of great quality, and the presentation was lovely! At the end of the day, we are not talking about a £200 kaiseki menu (which many were expected ahead of Chrysan’s opening) but a £85 price tag. Not too outrageous for that quality and size I must say.

Chrysan
Broadgate West
1 Snowden Street
London EC2A 2DQ

What I wore:

ASOS dress
Zara shoes
Tailor-made Fur Coat