• Home
  • Cocktails
  • Culture
    • Dance
    • Opera
    • Theatre
    • Outdoor
    • London Life
      • Foodie London
      • Visiting London – Five Must Do Sights
      • Visiting London – London Travel Tips
    • Balcony Gardening
  • Featured
    • Books
    • Home Delivery
    • Recipe Kits
    • Giveaways
  • Recipes
    • Meat
    • Soups
    • Lunch
    • Starters
    • Mains
    • Sides
    • Desserts
    • Cakes and Sweets
    • 5:2 Diet Recipes
    • Fish and Shellfish
    • Meat
    • Poultry
    • Vegetarian
  • Restaurants
    • Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia
    • Bermondsey, Borough and London Bridge
    • Chelsea
    • Camden
    • City of London
    • Clerkenwell
    • Covent Garden
    • Docklands
    • East London
    • Kings Cross
    • Knightsbridge
    • Kings Cross
    • Kensington
    • Marylebone
    • Mayfair
    • Oxford Circus
    • Oxford Circus
    • Paddington
    • St James
    • Soho
    • South Bank
    • South London
    • The Strand and Embankment
    • North London
    • Victoria and Pimlico
    • West London
    • Out of London
    • Miscellaneous
  • Travel UK
  • Travel Europe
    • Belgium
    • Croatia
    • Czech Republic
    • First Visit
      • Bulgaria
      • Netherlands
      • Poland
      • Romania
      • Slovenia
    • France
    • Germany
    • Greece
    • Italy
      • Sicily
    • Ireland
    • Portugal
    • Spain
    • UK
  • Travel Other
    • Caribbean Travel
      • Antigua
      • Barbados
      • Grenada
      • St Lucia
    • Ecuador
    • Egypt
    • India
    • Qatar
    • Mexico
    • Oman
    • Rodrigues and Mauritius
    • Sri Lanka
    • USA

London Unattached - Luxury Mid-Life London Lifestyle

Luxury London Lifestyle for mid-life Metropolitans - food, travel, restaurant reviews - London Unattached

You are here: Home / Restaurant / Inko Nito Soho – Review

Inko Nito Soho – Review

May 30, 2018 by Adrian York 2 Comments

Tweet
Pin
Share
Flip
Share

Inko Nito restaurant – a hit in Soho

For any observer of the upmarket London restaurant scene, chef and restaurateur Rainer Becker is a major player. His flagship concepts such as Zuma and Roka have been rolled out internationally to locations as diverse as Hong Kong, Istanbul, Rome, Dubai and New York. So, when I was invited to review his new Soho opening Inko Nito – an unconventional spin on a Japanese Robatayaki – it was a must-do.

Inko Nito Soho Review London-Unattached was invited as part of a select team of bloggers to give the menu a spin.  I couldn’t wait to try the smokey flavours that the ‘robata’ charcoal grill, excitingly positioned in the middle of the restaurant floor, gives the food. Inko Nito Soho Hamish Brown chefChef Hamish Brown described Inko Nito as being ‘Roka’s little brother’. It’s aimed at millennials with the mission being to deliver the Roka flavour profiles at an affordable price point. The first one opened in LA fairly recently so the concept has been tested but both the feel and menu have been tweaked for a London audience. Inko Nito Restaurant ReviewThe majority of the 90 cover restaurant’s seating is at counters with only a few bookable tables. However, the space has been cleverly designed and is remarkably spacious by Soho standards. The décor & interiors are by LA-based Studio Mai. They feature natural woods and tables at different heights – not unlike being inside a benign and nourishing Escher print!

Inko Nito Soho Restaurant and Bar - cocktailsOn arrival, we were offered cocktails and some deliciously salty edamame beans spiked with soy, mirin and ginger. How civilised! The Inko Spritz was a blend of watermelon, Aperol, yuzu and sparkling wine. It was refreshing with a citric tang from the yuzu, but not too sweet. The Ichigo Negroni was a fruity take on the classically bitter Italian classic. Gin, plum sake, Merlet strawberry and Campari created a summery spin on the drink – perfect for Wimbledon.Inko Nito Romaine The menu is an exercise in clarity, split into three macro sections – kitchen, robata and drinks – with an attractive graphic section explaining some of the more unfamiliar ingredients. After moving on to a bottle of Shirataki Junmai sake with its dry fruity aroma and notes of white chocolate it was time for the feast to begin. Starting with items from the Salad section of the kitchen menu, out came bowls of Romaine lettuce slathered with a sweet and spicy cashew nut miso in a delicious exercise in crunch.

Inko Nito baby gemNext up was another lettuce dish- this time it was a grilled baby gem with a mild Korean chilli kick and a sweet onion wafu dressing sweet dressing.

Inko Nito Soho Restaurant - veggie nigakiInko Nito Soho has created its own take on sushi creating the “Nigaki”  – roasted nori seaweed with sushi rice and a variety of toppings with the nori gives a solid umami flavour base to these tasty morsels. We tried three;  The cali – a blend of tasty Portland crab, avocado, and wasabi tobiko with a yuzu mayo adding a citrus note to the crab. The veggie – avocado, yuzu, garlic, crispy rice which also had a yuzu citrus tang – and The chirashi with the natural oiliness of salmon and yellowtail balanced by the minty spice of wasabi shiso.Inko Nito Tofu We had three terrific dishes from the ‘hot’ kitchen menu. Tofu Kara-age with a miso mayo and nori had an amazingly melting interior but a surprisingly crisp exterior – I loved this dish!Inko Nito Panko chicken Crisp and tender Panko fried chicken was lifted by a chilli garlic yoghurt…Inko Nito fried shrimpand The hottie; fried shrimp with a Korean miso was like a sophisticated sesame seed coated, spicy, popcorn shrimp.Inko Nito Soho - chicken wings Our next step on this wonderful journey through the Inko Nito Soho menu was to sample dishes from the robata grill. Chicken wings were given a salt-sour flavour from ume-boshi (pickled ume fruit), spice from green chilli, coolness from mint, and a tangy citrus pepper hit from sansho.

Inko Nito scallopsPerfectly cooked scallops were cooked with shiso, sweet soy, shichimi yoghurt and lemon giving a hot spicy afterburn but not compromising the bivalve’s flavour.Inko Nito bone marrow Unctuous bone marrow with smoked soy, some moreish garlic toast and shallots was not overly smoky or fatty.Inko Nito beef cheek Tender beef cheek with a sweet and smokey spice flavour came with a hot Korean miso, pickled Daikon, and butter lettuce.Inko Nito Cobia Another favourite of mine was the Cobia collar cooked in brown butter ponzu. With a great char flavour, it was perfect for picking up and gnawing.Inko Nito pork belly A spicy tender slab of pork belly was caramelised with a chilli, Japanese whisky glaze.

Inko Nito Soho cauliflowerVegetable dishes from the robata grill were something of a revelation. Grilled aubergine, with garlic, lemon miso and spring onion melted in the mouth. Crisp, garlicky cauliflower,  was served with a soy aioli and came in a salty Parmesan panko. And tender stem broccolini covered in an onion wafu dressing was classic.Inko Nito potato But my favourite was the baked potato blended with a yuzu koshu sour cream and spring onions. It was like a Joel Robuchon mash but with added yuzu!Inko Nito dessert There is only one dessert on the menu but when it’s this good who cares! Charred coconut soft serve cooked in the charcoal, soy, pocky and Japanese granola had a wonderfully smokey crunch.Inko Nito Soho chefs Taking contemporary Japanese flavours and applying them to ‘less premium’ ingredients has allowed Rainer Becker and his team to create a much more democratic and affordable offer that still has the quality that is associated with his restaurants. As the trend against fine dining grows Inko Nito Soho shows he still has his finger on the pulse of the contemporary food scene. It’s a great addition to Soho and it will be a huge hit.

Inko Nito
55 Broadwick Street,
Soho
London.Tel: 020 3959 2650

Filed Under: Restaurant, Soho Tagged With: Japanese, Soho, Soho Restaurant

About Adrian York

Musician, academic and writer Adrian York is a keen observer of restaurant culture and the gastronomic scene. His spiritual home is Soho where he is mostly to be found playing the piano, propping up a bar or holding forth about politics, art and culture from behind a restaurant table with a linen napkin on his lap and a glass of champagne in his hand.

Comments

  1. Rachael stray says

    June 3, 2018 at 9:25 am

    This place looks so cool and the food looks delicious.

    Reply
  2. Narain Tours India says

    June 2, 2018 at 3:22 pm

    Nice article looking tasty food in nice serve in good restaurant beautiful pitchers.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Follow Us

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter

About London-Unattached

  • About Fiona Maclean
    • Writing for Other Publications
  • Enquiries/PR
  • Links to Other Sites
  • London Unattached Contributors
  • London Unattached Privacy Policy
  • Media Pack
  • Newsletter
  • Travel Bloggers Influencer Network

Recently Published

  • Celebrate Chinese New Year with Lu Ban Kitchen
  • Best Date Night Meal Kit Deliveries
  • Japanified – the latest in Japanese and Latin American fusion food
Looking for more recipes? Check out my new site, The Frugal Flexitarian, for easy, cost effective recipes to enjoy at home.
Find My 5:2 Diet Recipes quickly and easily

London Unattached Newsletter

Sign up for our newsletter here. We promise not to spam - and you can unsubscribe at any time

Search London Unattached


Find Us

blogl
VuelioTop10Badge2020

Copyright © 2021 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in