Kyashii

Love this place, came here for my 40^th. Sushi was superb, cocktails expertely mixed and staff attentive and knowlegable. it’s a littel higher than average on price, but you get what you pay for. Beautiful, sleek décor and fun crowd to mingle with in the bar mixed age group which made for interesting and fun night x

The great shame of this review is I know nothing about authentic Japanese food, so there’s no way I can vouch for that side of the presentation. What I can say however is that if you’re a fan of clean, crisp, flavoursome food in a funky & modern setting, then Kyashii is worth a visit.
My girlfriend and I started with scallop carpaccio, shichimi pepper squid, and the MOST AMAZING chicken gyoza I have ever tasted. The pepper squid was visibly deep fried, but other than its crispy texture displayed no evidence of having been anywhere near a frier whether they individually pat these things dry, or what, I have no idea.
For mains we moved on to sweet potato tempura, rainbow rolls, and chicken tobanyaki again, an explosion of flavour with a very visual presentation. Rainbow rolls are 8 pieces of sushi featuring 5 different types of fish, and some of the sushi pieces have up to 3 of the fish on them superb!
Add in a few glasses from the well-​crafted wine list and our bill for the night came to about £80, so not exactly a cheap & cheerful option. However we’ll definitely be back some time.
Several of the reviews here focussed on the service if anything we found them a little over-​attentive, although unfailingly polite. The only negative point for the night really was being stuck next to a gaggle of squawking girls with immaculate hair and bright orange flesh, but being right in the thick of Covent Garden you can’t really fault that.

West-​end style.
Great date place.
Modern décor, verging on futuristic minimalism.
Larger than expected portions, and more filling than expecting.
Bad service.
Central Location.
We went here for a girly dinner. We had a voucher so it was very good value for the food.
But the service was slow and unattentive, and despite our table being at 6.45pm we were sent to the bar to wait until 7.20pm when our table was finally ready.
Drinks were very expensive, a coc-​cola was £4.50 and a beer £4.50 (small size only) and a small wine £6. There were no large glasses, only bottles at £25 upwards. However the wine was lovely and served in a large measure.
The service was slow and we were not given small plates for our entrees, it was also a bit sloppy, the waitress clumsily spilling some of our dipping sauce, and the napkins were paper rather than cloth serviettes.
However the food was delicious, and the portions larger than expected.
I probably wouldn’t come back. Only if a) someone else was paying b) I had a voucher that included drinks.
It would be good for an evening meal before going out in central London. If you have the cash :)

There are a number of outstanding things about this bar/​restaurant, the first of which is the amazing décor. Surrounded by curves, polished glass, seamless fixtures and carefully placed lighting you cannot but feel relaxed as if in a warm cocoon. Whilst the upstairs bar displays large screens, the main restaurant downstairs is lined with fishtanks down one side for a more serene atmosphere. Downstairs two private rooms display a sea of cream leather, or if you are lucky enough to sit it the fish tank room, you will find each wall an aquarium. I have been for both cocktails and food here. The cocktails are distinctive and the food is sublime! On mt last visit we tried a lemongrass and coriander cocktail and a six course meal. Whilst I wasn’t too endeared with the cocktail, which was nothibg to do with quality, but was a taate preference, I was impressed with the selection and unique offerings. The meal itself was perfectly cooked, each course was presented well, and was delicious. I have to say the salmon screwers were the best salmon I have ever tasted, the edadame had the best kick and the sushi was extremely tasty. Although each course was a small portion, we left feeling satiated and content. In my books this place should always receive a high rating just for the décor alone, I am also not too concerned about cost, the fish tanks alone must cost a fortune to upkeep, let alone their bills for glass cleaning. That said, upon leaving (in fact after sitting for about 10 minutes after we had finished and when we were on the way out of the door), although we had pre-​purchased a discount voucher, we were presented with a bill for gratuity for the full price of the meal, which I believe was in bad taste and quite rude!

Great décor, great service, great location, cool basement bathrooms, okay food and okay Groupon price — but I couldn’t see it being worth £100 for two for their set menu? I would have liked something extra, like more shrimp and beef dishes.

Upon turning into Upper St Martin’s Lane, I immediately recognised Kyashii from its earlier incarnation as ‘Denim’ — a style bar that came straight out of a 90s *Wallpaper mag shoot. Maintaining the clinical feel of its predecessor, Kyashii is a paean to white pleather, glass and chrome. It feels very self-​conscious and dated already, style-​wise, but I try not to hold that against a place if the food’s good.
And it is.
Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near as good as pretty much any other Japanese eatery in Soho you’d care to mention. I’ve been to many but I’ve never eaten such tiny portions for such an exorbitant price.
Starters are teeny — four gyoza were enough to fill my back tooth, and the salmon yakitori barely registered on my taste buds. A tummy-​growlingly long wait for mains to be delivered (1 hour, due to our ticket being «lost») ensured we were ravenous when the food finally did arrive.
What a disappointment. Rack of lamb came as three lonely, yet artfully arranged, lamb chops. How I was meant to tackle them with chopsticks was anyone’s guess.
Service was polite and efficient, but I felt a little patronised by the question: «have you ever eaten here before?» and subsequent explanation of the restaurant’s mission to serve modern Japanese food (and to, presumably, fleece out-​of-​towners while they’re at it) .
If this is the modern stuff, I’ll stick with the traditional.

My partner book us a table using a discount voucher we got from a life style site. It included a 9 course meal and a bottle of wine. She rang to book a table on a thursday with a week left on the voucher. The person taking the booking said that we should book on friday instead. So we did and specifically said that was one vegetarian coming.
when we got there they told us the wine special had finish the night before and that they had no vegetarian options on the 9 course menu. and we had to convince them to change the menu for the vegetarian option.
overall the food was very tasty, but the fact they told us to book for friday knowing full well we were using a voucher and that the wine deal finished on thursday is questionable to say the least. and that we specifically told them a week in advance that we needed vegetarian options a week in advance which they totally forgot about.
the service is very hit and miss, again food itself was great. but the price of the food on the normal menu was a lot to pay for what it is. i can see what they are trying to do, going to that next level of restaurant experience. but for that price and the below satisfactory service, good food cannot save them alone.

For photos see Greedy Diva @

Kyashii is like a space ship. A space ship with fish tanks. It’s ultra modern and white and smooth and shiny and bright. You would be forgiven for wearing sunglasses at the table — and it’s the kind of place where people probably do. Some will love the design, others will hate it. It’s not really my thing, but it might be yours.
Marina O’Loughlin was scathing about the service last month. And her report clearly did the job — someone at Kyashii has issued some seriously stern orders to get the troops into line. As soon as I enter (2 hours ahead of when I am expected due to a mix up about the booking time) I am greeted by big smiles and warm welcomes. This is a different planet from the treatment Marina received earlier.
As invited guests, The London Foodie and I are given excellent, knowledgeable service all night — as you would expect. However, everyone seems to get a friendly greeting and waiters are evenly stationed around the place to watch for attention needing moments. There’s still a weak link or two among the assortment of service staff, but things have clearly stepped up quite a few notches. The barman upstairs is genuinely friendly and fun — and makes a mighty fine lychee martini (and yes, I can also vouch for the watermelon and raspberry champagne cocktail), if you’re in the market for a frilly drink on your way in.
Down in the restaurant, minced pork gyoza (4 pcs, £4.80) are plump and juicy, and the enticing smell of the truffle oil on a mixed seafood tartare (£9) wafts gloriously towards us before we see it coming. I am wary that the truffleyness might overpower the seafood, but the silky texture and creamy luxuriousness of the fish works well with the sensual pleasures of the heady truffle oil.
Next up, the scallop carpaccio with fresh mango and strawberry and yuzu dressing (£11) — it looks like Jackson Pollack has been at work, but I love fresh, raw scallops and these beauties are hard to criticise. The dish works well with the tangy yuzu.
A selection of kushiyaki skewers (ranging from £4 — £5.50 for 2) includes salmon, unagi eel, yakitori chicken and, my favourite, the shiitake mushrooms. Most are fairly average, but the smoky shiitake mushrooms are the highlight.
The long 8 piece dragon roll (£13.50) contains a tempura prawn wrapped in thinly sliced avocado. I have been disappointed by dragon roll before (everywhere that has it always recommends it as their «must have» dish, and Kyashii is no different, but they usually leave me wondering what all the fuss was about). This one, however, hits the mark — it’s elegant with a lovely deep savouriness that reminds me of a smoky green tea. It does have a bit of an X factor. The spicy tuna roll (8pcs, £11) with minced tuna, spring onion and spicy mayonnaise is also good.
The Kyashii tempura (£16) is a bountiful selection of light and crispy king prawn, squid, white fish, aubergine, shiitake mushroom and sweet potato. It’s light and crisp, with good quality fillings cooked adeptly. Same goes for the luxurious lobster tail tempura with green tea powder (£18.50).
From the main course selection, we share the grilled black cod fillet with saikyo miso marinade (£22) and the pan fried beef fillet steak strips with «dynamite» mustard sauce, served with shredded dried chilli and lotus root chips (£18). I really enjoy the cod, but find the steak completely overpowered by the blast of dense, hot mustard sauce.
For dessert, the banana and chocolate spring roll is disappointing — doesn’t ring my bell at all, despite reading like the perfect combo of sake-​soaking fare. But the zingy, creamy passionfruit cheesecake is absolutely lovely. I didn’t really peruse the wine list, sticking to some excellent sakes (including a cloudy, unfermented one) which, from memory, seemed reasonably priced.
Make no mistake — Kyashii is not cheap. However, you could eat amply for around £40-£50 per head plus drinks/​service. Some of the more fru fru embellishments don’t always work out, but other dishes are right on the money. Just don’t forget your shades.

Décor — definitely contributed most to the 2 stars above because I’m a sucker for modern décor with clean lines etc. The bathrooms were a little trippy…
Food — absolutely nothing memorable. I went through a real group on/​living social purchase craze and purchased the tasting menu (which is for 2 but not specified) for about 20. To their credit, I enjoyed the variety of the cooked dishes but think the sushi at Wasabi is a little better.

I was very excited about dining in this restaurant, at first glance it looked edgy, fresh and exciting. But looks can be deceiving.
Firstly, the two of us entered the place which seemed fairly unoccupied yet surprisingly noisy. I wasn’t sure if we were being led downstairs into a strip club or a nightclub, but we arrived at a little confined room surrounded by fishtanks which was very loud indeed due to a large table of fully grown ‘chavs’ drinking and barking at nearly full volume. A nice quiet couple beside us looked as distressed as ourselves at the situation. We decided that we needed to move somewhere else and the staff kindly accommodated this (otherwise we would have left). Not surprisingly, the couple beside us then followed our example. The new room (next door) was nice and spacious, not to mention quiet.
The service was nice but perhaps a little over the top and unnecessarily pretentious as we were served by two many different people including a guy in a suit. Because of this It almost seemed like some kind of surreal themed gangster experience rather than cool, slick and sophisticated.
The food was well presented and well prepared but the portion sizes were insubstantial (to be kind), especially at those prices. Our sushi roll for £12.50 was no more than a mouthful. Our main sizes were totally inadequate, probably not even the size of an equivalent (reasonably priced) starter. For £15+ each I would have expected much more. We didn’t bother with dessert and left knowing that this would be our one and only Kyashii experience. Unfortunately, this place is nothing like it could be.

Another groupon find. Unfortunately not such a good deal afterall. I forgot to take any pictures but essentially the décor is HK posh/​sleezy club/​drug dens that you see in movies. Oh except on a saturday afternoon there were only 10 covers for lunch. Including us.
The service was SLOW. Actually it was S… L…O…W. Considering they knew we were having the set menu before we even arrived (because that was the only thing you were allowed to eat on the voucher and I had to give them the voucher number on booking); waiting 45 minutes for our starters to arrive is inexcusable– actually waiting 45 minutes for the starters to arrive in any restaurant is inexcusable. Then the cocktail took another 15 minutes and several reminders to come (i.e. 1 hour by now). My sister’s tasted like gomme syrup and mine was essentially a pineapple soda. Not sure where the alcohol went there, may be they just plain forgot.
The sushi rolls– well they looked better than the £3.00 rolls I buy from Japan Center every day but it is questionable whether they actually taste better. For one; I expect the nori on my rolls to be fresh and slightly crispy still and not soggy (sign of a premade sushi alert!) Also, may be spend some more on your rice budget and get good quality rice and cook it properly so it is not mushy.
The BBQ lamb chop was delicious as were the squid tempura thing. Only saving grace at this meal and earning it a not as embarrassing 2 star rating.
£25 is all I am willing to pay for this meal and there are plenty of places in London that charges the same advertised amount (apparently our meal was worth £75, the cocktail, included, was worth £10) which serve food and drinks that is like a million times better.
I don’t think I will be coming back. Unless I need to rent location for my new HK-​movie-​filmed-​in-​london business.

Another restaurant I flippantly suggested to my boyfriend that I wanted to go to after passing it. To my surprise a couple of months later I found myself being taken for a late supper, location undisclosed. Boys if you’re looking to impress a date bring them here!
Über cool décor, everything looks flawless. Slick glass and mirrored surfaces, wall length fish tank, white furnishings and flashes of yellow. The staff are very helpful with quite a discrete air to them. There was a private party upstairs which gave the restaurant quite a buzz (if not a little rowdy at times), which made a slight delay in the drinks orders but the staff were very apologetic.
I haven’t seen a full menu as we were booked in for the taster menu, which was divided into 3 sort of courses accompanied by a cocktail or drink under £10. First course consisted of edamame beans, warm mushroom salad, crispy spicy squid, ribs, yakitori chicken and shitake mushrooms. The food just kept coming! Next came the sushi which was a nice plate cleanser. The little sushi rolls had this lush coating on the rice which was AMAZING! Then came miso soup, sticky rice, marinated salom (think it was teriyaki) and the most tender lamb chop coated in spices YUM. As a couple we’re greedy eaters and we were stuffed and we had to decline when offered the desert menu.
The evening was a great surprise and a fantastic experience!

Annapear has summed up Kayashii very well — it’s definitely a case of «style over substance». The interior is what you’d expect in a top end cocktail bar or nightclub, with a large fish tank, neon lighting and everything either laquered black or ivory white.
Unfortunately, the food is a massive let down. My dining companion and I purcahsed the 7 course taster menu via a special offer online (£25+service for a supposedly £70 menu).
There’s no way the food served could have been priced at £70, as the portions were small and of average quality. For example, the shiitake mushroom skewer contained only two miserable mushrooms. Considering its Covent Garden location, I’d say about £30 at full price is more realistic for what was offered.
If you’re familiar with Japanese cuisine, you’ll almost certainly feel disappointed with Kayashii. If you’re paying the full menu prices, you’ll also feel ripped off.
On a positive note, the service was very good and they did make a nice cocktail. Maybe they’d be better off doing away with the restaurant idea and turning themselves into a Asian themed cocktail bar?

I made a reservation for 5:30pm with an understanding from the restaurant that the Sushi bar will be opened. Mel Alblas from the restaurant added that she’s been told they will serve the full menu from 5:30pm also. But of course, when I arrived to the restaurant; staffs were taken back by my arrival and repeatedly said our kitchen is not opened. Bad start already. On to ordering (only after I said that «uhmm, I think your sushi bar is opened right?), I ordered the dragon roll, Rainbow roll and california roll with no mayo. I placed my order in at 5:30pm, there were no other tables ordering food at the moment; and my food did not arrive until 6:15pm. It was a bit ridiculous, I had to ask about the food repeatedly and the waitress disappeared to check on food for over 10 minutes and never came back. I was hoping — at least maybe the food is worth waiting for. NOPE — food was worst than Feng sushi or local Wasabi quality and I couldn’t believe the price they dare to charge for the tiniest Dragon roll (tempura shrimp roll bascially) I’ve ever seen! Shrimp was completely cold (I thought the long wait was so that they could get tempura shrimp done) — and it’s not a waited for the tempura shrimp to cool down cold, it’s straight out from last night left over cold! Roll itself was no bigger than a 10p coin for £12.50! Rainbow roll looked sad period — it wasn’t bad, but it’s no £12.50 quality — not even £7.50 quality! California roll was the best, but I don’t think it takes much skills to get California roll right. Everything about this restaurant is what I would call «fake nice» — they try to be hip and trendy with cool decors and wanna be Hakkasan; but service is sub-​par and overall, a bunch of pretencious waiters/​waitresses trying to be an upscale restaurant w/​o the attire, look, and most importantly training. Sad that this restaurant has the perfect location and potential to do so much more!

yum, yum and yum again, i absolutely adore the food here — dragon roll platter has to be my favourire dish! i’m a sucker for avocado and prawns!
i’ve been lucky enough to try lots of dishes! the black cod is second to none i have to say and it’s one of the friendliest restaurants too which is a real plus!
start telling your friends as it’s going to be hot! x