London Eating: Koya, Soho, Japanese udon noodle restaurant

January 2019

I don’t mean to boast, but my udon credentials are good

Update August 2020

My subsequent visit to Koya was somewhat disappointing. The broth was good, but the noodles lost their silkiness and umami they had before, and service was really sloppy. Back in 2019, I have initially given Koya 5/5 for the food, 4/5 for value and 5/5 for ‘would I visit again?’, but after the 2020 visit I just had to bring all of them down to 3. Part of me think that maybe it was just a bad day in the office and I would like to visit again, but there are too many other restaurants in London one can go, we’ll see…

Now back to the post from 2019…

Koya is a Japanese udon noodle restaurant. We went to the Soho branch on a rainy Sunday afternoon. We must have arrived at close to 2PM, and the restaurant was still very busy with people waiting in a line. We were shown to our seats after about 10-15 minutes wait. It is a small, cafe-like venue with simple décor – and counter seating only.

A bottle of (tap, I believe) water will be served as soon as you sit down.

Koya’s menu is surprisingly big for such a small restaurant. They serve varieties of hot and cold udon dishes and other Japanese essentials such as tempura or rice bowls.

I wanted to really focus on their udon noodles, so ordered kake udon (simply udon with hot broth, £6.90) and added tempura bits (60p).

The noodles had a perfect texture, and their subtle yet satisfying flavour matched completely with the beautiful broth. The tempura bits added an extra texture and dimension to the dish. I was more than satisfied with my seemingly simple choice. Udon and broth that good – that alone was pure perfection in a bowl.

C had buta-miso, hot udon in broth with minced pork miso topping (£9.90). Our friend had kitsune, hot udon in broth with sweet tofu (£9.70 + 60p for tempura bits).

I don’t mean to boast, but my udon credentials are good; slurped hundreds of bowls in different regions in Japan. Koya’s concept, udon bar in London, I believe is still relatively new and unique, but what makes this restaurant special is the quality of their udon/broth. £10 for a bowl of udon, is a little pricey, but also acceptable if you think about how good the food is and that you’re in London. I thought the service was just okay, nothing was wrong but I guess it was because nothing was there, really, in the first place. They kind of ‘leave you be’, which I like personally, it is a fast food restaurant after all. So I think 12.5% ‘service charge’ is somewhat unjustifiable.

Overall, however, I am surprised, and very excited at the same time, that we are able to have udon this good outside of Japan, in London!

Update August 2020

My subsequent visit to Koya was somewhat disappointing. The broth was good, but the noodles lost their silkiness and umami they had before, and service was really sloppy. I have initially given Koya 5/5 for the food, 4/5 for value and 5/5 for ‘would I visit again?’ in 2019, but after this visit I just had to bring all of them down to 3. Part of me think that maybe it was just a bad day and I would like to visit again, but there are too many other restaurants in London one can go, we’ll see…