Miyako Japanese Restaurant  – Review

Last Updated on November 26, 2019 by Fiona Maclean

Japanese food made with passion at Miyako

Miyako Japanese restaurant feels as if it has been around forever. For those of us with long memories, it is the only one of the restaurants in Terence Conran’s Great Eastern Hotel to survive the change of ownership when the site was bought up by Hyatt and relaunched as the flagship of its Andaz brand – so it must be doing something right! Just tucked away off the hustle and bustle of Liverpool Street, Andaz has 267 spacious rooms (including 15 suites) and as well as Miyako also hosts the Rake’s Café and Bar and East End-style brasserie Eastway. Miyako’s Head Chef Kosei Sakamoto comes from Kyushu in South Japan, moving to Tokyo and then to London and at Miyako, he oversees the preparation of hand-made sushi including maki and temaki rolls, sashimi, teriyaki as well as a range of soups, tempura, chirashi rice bowls and a wide range of bento boxes. On a cold and rainy winter night, the first thing I wanted was a couple of glasses of warm sake. Schochikubai Gokai was light, fragrant and dry-just the job! We decided not to go down the Bento Box complete meal route, instead opting for the a la carte, starting with three types of sashimi; sea bass, tuna and salmon.  The fish was very fresh, full of flavour and spiked with a touch of wasabi and a few drops of soy sauce really came alive on the tongue. Next up was a generous selection of sushi including sea bass, prawn, salmon, octopus and squid. The rice was appropriately sticky with a slight vinegar tang. After the seafood, the warm, salty, umami flavours of a bowl of tofu miso soup provided the perfect transition to the main dishes. Chicken teriyaki was delicious slathered with the sweet teriyaki glaze creating a great mouthfeel for the meat. Crisp prawn gyoza were hot balls of crustacean pleasure, not a sentence I use very often. And a seaweed salad was wonderful, perked up by the citrus notes of a yuzu and soy dressing. I always choose Mochi ice-cream if I see it on a menu.  Chocolate, vanilla and coconut balls of ice-cream covered in glutinous rice – what’s not to like? A glass of the plum-flavoured liqueur Umeshu on the rocks was the perfect end to the meal.  Miyako is the perfect place for informal Japanese dining in the city. It’s a big step up from the Japanese chains and serves food that is fresh, authentic and good value especially if you go down the Bento Box route. The dining room is small and for some might feel a little cramped and so it’s not the place to go with a large party. They have a thriving take away business no doubt supplying the local office trade, offer a daily bottomless Japanese late lunch deal from 14:30 to 17:30 and on Saturday a bottomless sumo lunch buffet. There are also four set menus including a vegetarian option. Next time I’m in the Liverpool St area I will be back to try a Bento Box!

Miyako

Andaz London Liverpool Street
40 Liverpool Street,
London,
United Kingdom,
EC2M 7QN

020 7618 7100

Looking for something different?  This part of London has a few great places to eat.  We are big fans of the Galvin Brothers restaurants – we love Galvin la Chapelle for a formal dining experience and little brother Galvin Hop for more casual eating out.  For a good brunch, we loved Eastway, also at Andaz.  And, for classy Indian food, Cinnamon Kitchen never fails.