Uni Restaurant offers discerning diners Nikkei (Japanese-Peruvian) cuisine in a sleek yet cozy Belgravia setting. I dropped by for a Friday night graze of ex-Nobu Chef Rolando Ongcoy’s menu a few weeks back and was pleased to have done so. Spread over two attractive floors with marble and leather design elements, the restaurant exuded an upscale elegance with the causal air of a beloved neighbourhood haunt, ideal for sampling the range of Ongcoy’s Pacific inspired creations.
Rosie Alittlelusciousness
+4
I'm a big fan of both Japanese and Peruvian cuisine so put the two together and I'm a very happy blogger. Nikkei cuisine - a fusion of Japanese and Peruvian cooking - seems to have become really popular in London in recently, and UNI in Victoria is a fine example of where it's done well. I was invited to review the restaurant so took the boy along with me to eat all the food!But before food comes drinks. Such pretty drinks. For me it was the sake with pineapple juice and passion fruit - I can't remember the actual name of the cocktail, but it was deliciously fruity, not too sweet and served perfectly cold on a warm day. The boy had the raspberry daiquiri, which was so cold he got brain freeze!! But left it for a few minutes to de ice, and really enjoyed the rest of the drink.
After the sushi, we also watched Oscar create what turned out to be my favourite dish of the day: sea bass cured in a salty mixture of chilli, amarilla, red onion and yuca. I’ve tried ceviche in a few places in London – Bob Bob Ricard, Senor Ceviche and the brand new Pachamama in Marylebone – but this was the best....For me, the Peruvian dishes were my favourite; the flavours were much bolder. There’s lots of chili, garlic and zesty citrus. (I do love sushi, but there’s no denying it is designed for the more sophisticated palate. In fact, in Japan sushi is always served early on in the meal before the tongue gets muddled with stronger flavours.)
Delicious Japanese Nikkei Dishes at Uni, Belgravia: Having raved about the food at Chotto Matte , it would have been churlish to turn down an invitation to visit Uni (which is apparently Japanese for Sea Urchin), in the heart of Belgravia, another restaurant offering Nikkei cuisine (Japanese/Peruvian fusion dishes). I suspect the pretty wood sculptures are reference to the name. The interior of Uni is an Andrew Martin design and has all the look of the kind of home to which I aspire. The interior of Uni is an Andrew Martin design and has all the look of the kind of home I aspire to. Of course keeping shelving so neat and tidy is a skill that I haven’t managed to acquire yet… There are quirky touches everywhere, like these lights made out of bottles (which can be removed and opened). All of this rather unexpected in Belgravia – home to the blue rinse set. What of the food though? Arriving late and in something of a panic I found Manjiri already tucking into a generous portion of spi
Why Waste Annual Leave?
+3.5
With a serious craving for sushi, I came here one lunch time to see for myself what makes this relatively new Belgravia Japanese/fusion Peruvian restaurant so fablous. I must admit that as I was craving sushi, I didn't do much 'fusing" on this particular day and will have to return to sample those flavours.
We arrived reasonably early on a weekday lunchtime at around midday but had sensibly booked, which was just as well as within half an hour, almost every table filled up with the working masses. To start with, we went for some green and jasmine tea but unfortunately, the smoothie that my companion ordered just a few minutes later took nearly an hour to arrive (and that was after prompting as it seems they had forgotten the order) and by then, we had eaetn almost all of our dishes so it ended up being more of a dessert for her.
They have a good range of non-alcoohlic drinks and cocktails but she did feel that the 7 pound price tag for what to her tasted like an ordinary blended fruit juice you could make at home was a little on the steep side.
But moving onto the food, there is a set lunch menu which seems excellent value for money, which can be enjoyed at the sushi ar upstairs. If you want to sit at the tables downstairs, you have the option to order from a la carte or a Bento box. Whilst we mots probably would have ordered a la carte anyway, it would have been nice to have been told about the difference in menu choices available to us at the different levels of th e restaurant.
The waitress who seated us was so friendly and even told us about the sushi masterclasses available if you wish to try and emulate these recipes in your own kitchen.
We ordered a portion of salmon and avocado maki ( 6 pieces) and a portion of soft shell crab rolls, both of which were light, fresh and with a delicious flavour. We also chose some spicy edamamae - there's something about ordering edamamae at a restaurant that just helps to appease my guilt for the rest of the meal :-D We also chose the tofu which came in a gentle broth and the popcorn shrimp, which was one of the more expensive dishes but was worth every penny! It came with a choice of 2 dips but we soon realised we were after the same one, which was the chilli mayo.
Dessert choices are a little more limited but there is enough to get by on, including a selection of gelatos, mochi, chocolate fondant or mousse to name a few. I find the flavour of matcha ice cream hugely refreshing so allowed myself a scoop of this and other than a few icy crystals at the bottom, this was nice though no superior to any other matcha ice cream I've tried.
I would definitely like to return again as there are many other items on the menu including Miso Black Cod, tempura prawns, prawn gyoza and king crab tacos, which appealed to me had we been hungrier. But I do feel there is some room for improvement with the service. To clarify, the staff themselves were very friendly, accommodating and kind - the issues were more due to speed of being served, forgetting our drinks, not coming to take our payment for ages even when we had expressed we were in a rush etc. Perhaps they are short staffed or perhaps there is just some room for improvement in efficiency but had it not been for this small issue, I'd have bumped up this review to a 4/5 happily.
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Smart, suave and small, with a clean, open-plan upstairs, and an intimate underground seating area, for those after a cosy experience. The staff are attentive and friendly, offering gracious service from the moment you walk through their front door. On a Thursday lunchtime, we had no problem waltzing in and getting a seat at the sushi bar, with table room. We watched the chefs relaxedly preparing dishes to the small number of customers, and who also had no problem in taking our orders or providing recommendations.The salmon tacos were delicious; a bitesize, crispy taco shell filled with light poached salmon, a sprinkling of fish roe and a flavoursome, ponzu sauce. Paired with a generous side of wasabi, these were delicious little appetizers, or a part of a light lunch. I had a very delicately presented kaiso salad, also well douzed in ponzu sauce.My lunch companion took the veggie route and ordered vegetable tempura, a modestly sized array of...well, tempurad veg. Nice enough but pretty much the same as anywhere. He also ordered an asparagus dish, which was nicely flavoursome but fundamentally, salted asparagus spears.All in all, a cosy, warm place with finesse and a novel setting. They offer take out, for those busy bodies who can't quite make it out of the office - or bed- for lunch. Being in the area it is, most of the clientele seemed to be on business; the downstairs seating area felt like the kind of place where a lot of deals have been made. Perhaps the ambience in the evening is more 'party dress'. Whichever way, the food is great, but triple the price of neighbouring Yo Sushi or Itsu!
This place is fantabulous! Great ambiance too. The ceviche was amazing!! Of course don't leave without the uni (which goes quick!)..........
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Mr Silver and I count ourselves are very lucky to live in central London, so when we fancy a last minute dinner we can simply walk out from our flat to many different wonderful restaurants. Dining Victoria and Belgravia has really improved in recent years and now it's so much more than just Pizza Express and Wagamama and it's so exciting to see more and more new places pop up.
It was Saturday night and I fancied some sushi, when do I not fancy sushi! I love Japanese food and I could easily eat it everyday. A great sushi restaurant had been seriously lacking in our local area but that was until Uni opened up in Belgravia.
The restaurant is small and intimate and they sat us in the perfect little nook for two!
With sexy low lighting made from drinks bottles...
And pretty gold leaf walls. Cool counter top dining was also available upstairs but we were very happy with a cuddly cubby hole!
Cuisine at UNI is on-trend, being Japanese-Peruvian fusion or Nikkei. I have to say this is one of my favourite food trends to hit London of late, and I love Chotto Matte, Sushi Samba, Coya and Lima who all do it so well.
As usual it was hard to make a choice with a menu of such fantastic options from former Nobu chef, Rolando Ongcoy. So we obviously had to have some edamame beans to nibble on while we made the difficult decisions.
Three salmon tartare tacos just weren't enough...
...but we ordered plenty more food.
Yellowtail sashimi salad was my favourite dish of the night! I loved the sharp, tangy dressing. My husband and I can't get enough of yellowtail so we ordered the tiraditos too, which had a explosive dab of wasabi on every slice.
Don't you just love how pretty Japanese food looks on the plate?
And in SilverSpoon style we had to have a bit of lobster...
Served the Peruvian way, as a ceviche! The dish was spicy with chilli and zesty with lemon...just totally packed with flavour.
And I can't go out for sushi without having some of my favourite spicy tuna rolls...
And as you can see, UNI piles the juicy chunks of raw tuna onto divine pillows of rice.
For our hot selection we chose more favourites:
Rock shrimp tempura served with creamy spicy sauce and ponzu dressing...
And a totally delectable black cod.
We then cooled things off with a sorbet and ice cream selection...
...including a wasabi flavoured ice cream. Mr S wasn't a fan but I loved the contrast of heat and ice in the unusually flavoured ice-cream.
Mr S and I totally loved Uni and we pronounced it our new favourite local. Watch this space as Victoria and Belgravia is continuing to grow and become a bit of a foodie hub and I hope to post some more reviews of restaurants in my local area soon.
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The largest Japanese settlement outside of Japan is in Peru and the unique fusion cuisine that is Japanese Peruvian is called Nikkei.Fiona invited me to accompany this time to discover Nikkei , she is an award winning freelance writer and marketing consultant who currently writes about travel and London lifestyle for a number of publications and runs her own London lifestyle blog called London Unattached.
So it was a bright summer Monday afternoon that I trooped in Uni (the Japanese word for the sea urchin, a Japanese delicacy) restaurant and sushi bar designed by Andrew Martin, in Belgravia minutes away from the travel hub that is Victoria station.
I was shown to a cosy table downstairs.
For starters I got some steamed edamame with a spicy chilli and garlic sauce (£4.50) and some refreshing green tea served in a typical cast iron heavy pot which I would love to have as part of my growing food prop collection which now occupies every corner or of our tiny rental flat much to the chagrin of my hubby - I guess the last straw was trying to pass off a very heavy cast iron pot as a 'place to keep his usb drives and wire hehehee
I had happily managed to forget my phone at home and therefore Fiona tried in vain to inform me of her delayed train. Blissfully unaware of this I sipped my tea and munched my edamame all the time trying to ignore some stuffy banker type folks on the table next to me talking shop - how boring...
So when Fiona arrived she managed to move us to a bigger table away from the 'big boy talk' as she aptly called it and onto a table where I could dump my bags and lay my camera lens and other paraphernalia - I do not travel light ...
To make life easier we chose to have bento boxes for our mains and mine came with the udon noodle and fish cake soup while Fiona had a light Miso soup. I was feeling ravenous by the time the soup arrived and devoured it in a flash! (£24.5 per bento box - comes with soups, salad, sushi, & maki, main dish, side, rice and dessert)
My Bento box had Kaiso Wakame - seaweed salad ,prawn and carrot tempura, main of duck tataki - seared duck breast finely sliced and dressed with mirin and soy, fried rice and sashimi selection. The duck tataki was deliciously morish, I also loved the seaweed salad and the sticky fried rice with the sashimi was very filling.
Fionas bento box came with steamed rice and anticucho sauce black cod and was very appetising , to read in her own words read her review of our lunch at Uni here.
We washed down our Bento lunch boxes with some chilled sake.
Tiraditos of Yellowtail with kizami wasabi,Yuzu and fresh mint presented in a creative and stunning display, it was delightfully fresh, sharp in taste with a delicate balance of colour and flavour. (£15.5)
Wildly beautiful looking salmon tartare tacos with cucumber,tomato,masago and creamy miso were crunchy and melt in your mouth creamy all at one once exploding with a light flavour in every bite - delicious! (£6)
Stuffed to the gills now I had to walk around click a few pictures and allow for some space to be created in my tummy to fit in some dessert ;)
To my amusement the very attentive young lady on the staff showed us how the colourful lamp shade were made from bottle of campari that could be detached and well glugged , given it was a hot summer afternoon I think it was a great idea that Fiona ordered us some Pisco Sour shots instead ;).Never having tasted these before I downed them in one go much to my own peril, the sake already in my system the shot gave me quite the buzz!
Thankfully my cooling Matcha Gelato worked wonders and cooled me down several degrees -phew!
Fiona managed to stay light with desserts too with a selection of fresh fruit.
The creation of former Nobu chef Rolando Ongcoy, the menu at UNI offers a good selection of grilled meats, fish, sushi,sashimi, selection of tempura and maki. The Peruvian influence is prevalent throughout UNI’s menu, ceviche and tiraditos peruano included.
The bar area upstairs also has plenty of seating on high stools and around the bar, perfect for knocking down Peruvian fav's like the pisco sours or coconut-based Chilli Mojito.
Victoria being a very office space kind of area is lucky to have Uni in its midst now, with bite sized healthier meal options ,seven- dish bento boxes for short lunch hours are on offer at a price of course. So the big banker boys and girls can have their financial pow-wow meets in the fancy cubicles or basement vaults if you please which can seat about 10 - 12 people, and if the huge ice buckets with bottles of chilled Moet and the power talk we overheard from the table next to us are anything to go by then Uni is already a haunt for these suited and well heeled office folks!
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Last week when the whole country was sat sour-faced in front of their TV screens, once again miserable at the woeful efforts of our national football team, we headed to Belgravia for a sumptuous meal of Nikkei cuisine. That's right, taking it's name from the Japanese word for the sea urchin, UNI restaurant and sushi bar is all about the vibrant colours, flavours and textures of Nikkei (Japanese/Peruvian cuisine).
UNI is a quaint little restaurant residing just off the main street near Victoria station and was, as expected, quiet and peaceful, with the rest of the public's attention on a giant screen in the nearest pub. We were shown to one of the basement vaults, which offered a great sense of privacy, where we would be sampling some of the finest dishes that UNI’s menu has to offer. Created by former Nobu chef Rolando Ongcoy, the menu offers a selection of grilled meats and fish such as succulent Wagyu beef and juicy black cod, the highest quality sushi and sashimi. There's even an inventive selection of tempura and maki with perfectly balanced sharp flavours and an accent on colour – showcasing the very best of Japanese/Peruvian cuisine.
The service was faultless throughout the evening with an emphasis on making diner's feel as comfortable as possible. Our waiter even took us through every dish as it was delivered, explaining each ingredient and theme.
Stand out dishes from the evening were the Salmon Tartare Tacos with Cucumber, Tomato, Masago & Creamy Miso. Delicately prepared, packing great flavour and being put away by myself in far less delicate fashion. Definitely get your fingers involved if you're not a pro with the chopsticks. A Kaiso Seaweed Salad with Goma Dressing, that was as pleasant to look at as it was to devour.
A certain crowd pleaser is the Tiger Prawn Tempura, which I loved but the dish of the night for me was the Sea Bass with a Yuzu Dressing & Black Truffle. It was cooked to perfection with a beautifully crisp skin that was slightly charred, giving the fish a smokey flavour, which coupled with the yuzu dressing was a delicious mouthful for sure.
Finally the perfect way to finish the night was with a selection of mochi ice creams, a popular Japanese dessert. They came in some delicious flavours, such as Yuzu and Lemon and they were covered in a jelly like case, which we were told is actually a punted sticky rice! Whatever it was, it worked for us and was a refreshing end to a brilliant meal.
If you like the sound of the dishes you'll be happy to know that the wine list are just as impressive plus a selection of creative cocktails such as a coconut-based Chili Mojito and of course the Peruvian favourite, Pisco Sour.
Sushi-lovers this is definitely one for you, so head on down to Ebury Street in Belgravia now and sample the delights of the Nikkei scene now!
Enjoy!
We The Food Snobs x
Small and cosy restaurant. Rather minimalistic. Excellent service. However in terms of Japanese food, nothing special. Matcha ice cream was rather nice though. Best to book.
I went on a saturday to have dinner with my family (children 5 & 7yo) we were allocated in a lovely private space and we had an amazing culinary experience. We ordered starters, sushi, Robata, desserts and cocktails. The most we enjoyed was EVERYTHING quality goes according to price anda servers were very friendly. Super recomendable 👌
What a lovely restaurant. Perfect word of mouth recommendation. The dishes are beautifully presented and served piping hot. I felt as if I was eating art. The serving staff are very professional and attentive. The music is played not to loudly. The atmosphere is intimate and romantic. The restaurant is warm, and you barely hear the kitchen from the seated tables. The prices of each dishes are moderate.
I visited London in our holidays and we had a wonderful night visiting this London foodie hidden spot.
They have a great Nikkei food menu.
The peruvian section of the side is short but well selected, we enjoyed also the Japanese Robata section with the traditional Miso black cod and the wagyu fillet which to me were of premium quality and balance with the Naso Miso Aubergine and the chargrilled asparagus.
We had some cocktails and they were beautiful in look and flavor, my wife was impressed with the pisco sour.
Service was great, the staff was attentive overall experience 9 out of 10. The only con is that the toilets are so small so its difficult to use the wc facilities for big people. Definitively we will come back!
wow😍😛🍣... FAULTLESS contemporary Japanese cuisine... traditional in portion and flavour yet innovative.... perfected. So much respect for the chefs. Would have given 5 stars but the waiters/waitresses were disinterested and unprofessional. Very much worth a visit though. Honestly the sushi is the best I have EVER had... and that's my fav food.
This is a very good sushi spot, we had crispy squid and prawn gyoza for starters. Be warned portions are very small. We then had tacos and sushi for mains. All very tasty but again the tacos were really tiny. The quality is top notch, prices are reasonable, staff were friendly.
Lovely atmosphere, presentation and flavours. On the expensive side, perfect place for a special date or occasion with a small group in one of their cozy booths. Definitely recommend
Food was excellent. Service good. Had the place all to ourselves. Fatty tuna and Eel sashimi were awesome as was the black cod. Tacos were too small to bother with. Beware though. The music was straight from 30 years ago. Celine Dion, Country and Western, Macarena, Spice Girls
I had dinner with my wife and some friends on Saturday. We sat in a comfortable and private alcove, which was charming. We ordered a selection of several small plates to share, along with a couple of bottles of an excellent Malbec. We had a selection of the mochi to end the meal, all of which were delicious. The food was all perfectly prepared and the staff were pleasant, accommodating and available when we wanted them. The food was all delicious and the four of us all had a great time. We’ll be back on our next visit to London.
Can you say AWESOME pre-show cocktails and food? This should not be missed! Book early and often!!!!
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