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You are here: Home / Restaurant / Nikkei Food Trends in London – Chotto Matte, Soho Review

Nikkei Food Trends in London – Chotto Matte, Soho Review

June 5, 2014 by Fiona Maclean 6 Comments

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Last Updated on February 2, 2020 by Fiona Maclean

Chotto Matte Soho – Nikkei Cuisine for the Made in Chelsea set.

Chotto Matte - funky interior If Nikkei cuisine has one potentially flaw it may be that the menu options are not simple.  Most Brits have at best a vague understanding of Japanese food and might not generally wander further into the realms of Peruvian dishes than ceviche and quinoa.  So what hope do we have of navigating a menu of dishes that are a fusion of the two as we are asked to do at places like Chotto Matte?  Although the term Nikkei simply means ‘Japanese immigrant’ in Japanese, Nikkei cuisine in London refers to the fusion of Japanese and Peruvian dishes created from a history of around 120 years of Japanese immigrants in certain coastal areas of Peru.  If you’ve eaten at any of London’s Peruvian restaurants (Coya, Lima and Ceviche for example) you’ve probably already tried Nikkei dishes like tiraditos, though you might not have picked up the Japanese influence. Chotto Matte Cocktails At Chotto Matte, it’s made obvious because the menu is set up in sections including ‘sushi and sashimi’ and ‘tempura’.  It does result in four pages of options – and although the faint-hearted can pick Nikkei sharing menus, on my recent visit I was with The Hedonist – who doesn’t eat meat so generally finds set menus challenging.  So, we picked a whole range of sharing dishes with the help of our waiter.  And while we waited, enjoyed a cocktail each, some Padron peppers and cassava and sweet potato chips with yellow tomato salsa and guacamole. Chotto Matte - Sweet Potato Crisps None of this particularly challenging, although the Padron peppers came with a miso dressing that looked slightly strange but tasted delicious. Chotto Matte - Padron Peppers Chotto Matte does have something of a Made in Chelsea out in Soho for a night feel.  Full of beautiful young things drinking champagne and sharing delicate plates of sushi, the decor is urban chic with anime ‘graffiti’ and the music is a level that I’d have loved in my twenties.  But, in my experience, the food makes it worth a visit, even if you are not an itinerant people watcher like me. For appetisers, we picked two cold dishes – Nikkei Sashimi and Scallop Tiradito. Chotto Matte Nikkei Scallops tiradito The scallops were delicious and I wanted more.  At £7.95 for a tiny portion, this isn’t a cheap option, but a fragrant and delicate treat.  Scallop sashimi, coriander, jalepeno, black salt, lemon and lime juice.  Lovely flavour combinations. Chotto Matte Nikkei Sashimi 2 Like the scallop tiradito, the nikkei sashimi was a perfect fusion of cuisines.  The Peruvian influence is in the heat, the addition of chilli to the sashimi. And, the result is in many ways easier to eat than a Japanese sashimi.  At least for a fire-head like me. Black cod is becoming a mandatory order for me when I spot it on the menu.  Here it was served with yellow chilli miso.  A generous portion, perfectly cooked, the yellow chilli miso was a good accompaniment. Black Cod nikkei style at Chotto Matte I rather liked the tentaculos de pulpo too.  A very pretty presentation of a dish that can look rather unappetising; in fact the plates used to serve the dishes throughout were a pleasant mix of stylish pottery.  The lighting was quite low and as it got darker, my photography suffered a bit.  The octopus was one of the dishes from the Anticucheria Barbecue, with a traditional Peruvian marinade chargrilled over hot coals.    At £8.95, this particular option is a good example of how you could order selectively and end up with a reasonable bill. Chotto Matte - Octopus Nikkei style By comparison, Tiger prawn teriyaki (camaron tigre nipon), seemed expensive at £11.75 for three admittedly good-sized prawns in a delicious Asian sweet barbecue sauce Chotto Matte Prawns Now, as it happens I was quite full by this stage.  We’d had a quinoa salad and I really didn’t need dessert.  The-Hedonist indulged in a Pisco baba, which for £6.50 was quite a substantial dish with poached nashi pear and dulce de leche ice cream.  Instead, I chose the petit fours – which were lovely, tiny morsels that perhaps suffered just a little from having been kept in a chiller for a few hours. Chotto Matte - Pettit Fours The Hedonist, who has been on a sake tasting event recently, decided to try The Cloudy One Sakura Nigori Sake.  I think he was secretly hoping I wouldn’t like it, but while it was like no other sake I’ve tried before, it worked very well with the meal Chotto Matte - Sake All in, I had a splendid evening eating Nikkei food and drinking sake and rather wanted to be in my twenties again so I’d have a good excuse to keep hanging out at Chotto Matte.  Of course, it’s NOT just for a young clientele, it’s the sort of place that I’d have wanted to take all my friends in the days before they got married, had kids and settled down to cosy suburban life.  Now I’m resigned to borrowing my friends’ children.  And my wallet always suffers the consequences of a visit to this type of place on the pretext of treating impecunious students.  Perhaps I’ll just have to try a solo lunch.

Chotto Matte
11–13 Frith Street,
Soho,
London, W1D 4RB

Telephone: 020 7042 7171

Filed Under: Restaurant, Soho Tagged With: Japanese, london, Nikkei, peruvian, Soho

About Fiona Maclean

London based freelance writer and marketing consultant. I edit London-Unattached.com and write for a number of other publications. With a music degree and a background in marketing across many sectors, my passions include all types of music, food, restaurants, wine and travel

Comments

  1. May @ Eat Cook Explore says

    June 13, 2014 at 12:34 pm

    I am so out of the loop. Didn’t know that this had opened.

    Reply
  2. Pamela Morse says

    June 7, 2014 at 7:05 pm

    Very nice combo. I know some Japanese Peruvians, but I never thought about the cuisine. I think I would like it better than straight Japanese.

    Reply
  3. naomi says

    June 7, 2014 at 12:27 pm

    The food looks amazing, I love London and it is nice to try new restaurants.

    Reply
  4. Amy says

    June 7, 2014 at 12:01 pm

    Wow what an amazing place! This place looks fresh, edgy and cool – will definitely be checking out this little gem next time I hit London!

    Reply
  5. Stevie Wilson says

    June 6, 2014 at 6:09 pm

    Talk about a spectacular meal- this is looks delish. I love the detail in the photos. You have great photos. What do you use: cell phone camera or a regular point & shoot?

    Reply
    • Fiona Maclean says

      June 7, 2014 at 7:35 am

      Neither, I have a handbag sized micro 3/4 format with a prime lens.

      Reply

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