Kiru Restaurant

Nestled in between a double aspect building just off King’s Road in the famous Chelsea, KIRU is a modern yet elegant Japanese fine dining restaurant. The food and experience can only be described with one word – amazing.

Led under Executive Chef, Taiji Maruyama, you know your dining experience will be of high quality. With three generations of Sushi Chefs in his family, 9 years with Nobu under his belt, Maruyama is truly experienced in creating a unique and contemporary Japanese fine dining canon.

The decoration in the interior is minimalistic yet vibrant as it was decorated with creative artwork. It looks very simple as you enter the restaurant and you are almost immediately welcomed by the host who takes your coats and walks you to the table. It was very welcoming and I haven’t experienced that in a while especially after all the Michelin starred and pricy restaurants I have visited.

There was a great choice of wine and drinks, however I opted for the Genmaicha tea whilst my partner chose a beer then a sencha tea after. They have a simple but straightforward menu which was divided into Snacks, Special Appetizers, Salads, Sushi Selection, and Kiru Special Dishes.

Here are the dishes that we ordered:

Ikura Nigiri, Negi Toro, Sea Bass with Truffle Koji, Chicken Skewers and Kiru Style Pork Belly, Chocolate Fondant with Genmaicha Ice Cream.

Dining in a Japanese restaurant and not ordering sushi seems a little strange, and being a sushi fanatic, I ordered the Ikura Nigiri, which is the Salmon Roe. This is different to what you would normally expect as the Ikura is not presented in a gunkan form, in fact it looked like it was conveniently wrapped with seaweed in a way you would expect to use your fingers to pick up the piece. I really liked the presentation.

The Negi Toro is my ultimate favourite, this is a maki roll with O-Toro and spring onion in the center. As we all know, O-Toro is the fattest part of the Tuna belly and if the quality is good you can taste the delicate oil of the fish slowly melting in your mouth without the feeling of chewiness. This is an amazing dish and a must try if you have never ordered a Negi Toro Cut Roll (otherwise known as a maki in other restaurants).

The Sea Bass with Truffle Koji is new to me, I tend to prefer my Sea Bass steamed but this time having it raw introduced my taste buds to a new sensation. The texture was surprisingly soft and I could taste the distinct taste of truffle when I swallowed the nigiri.

For the hot dishes, we ordered Chicken kushiyaki skewers with an anticucho miso, the tenderness of the chicken was perfection. It was cooked just right and as my partner pointed out, there appears to be a taste of ginger lingering. I’ve not had a chicken skewer that I would like to order for seconds but at that moment, I wanted to order another plate of them.

The Kiru style Pork Belly was different, but in a positive way. It was a 12 hours cooked pork belly with balsamic miso and apple salsa, the pork belly wasn’t as ‘fatty’ as I imagined it to be but it was very tasty and despite it being cooked for 12 hours, it didn’t leave a sickening feeling.

I never leave a restaurant without ordering a dessert, especially when I notice there was a Chocolate Fondant Dish in the dessert menu. The Chocolate Fondant came with a scoop of the Genmaicha Ice Cream, and I have to say, I kept wanting to order a second one. The outer layer was slightly crispy and the chocolate melted really smoothly, it might sound a slightly sickening as the fondant was very rich, however, the Genmaicha ice cream helped calm the feeling as it created a balance with the light roasted taste. If I was back at Kiru again, I will definitely order this dessert again.

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Visit Kiru Restaurant: 2 Elystan St, Chelsea SW3 3NS

Verdict:

Food 10/10
Atmosphere 9/10
Value for money 9/10