Aqua Kyoto Restaurant Review: Celebrating the ‘Reason for Being” with the New Ikigai Menu

I probably sound like a broken record saying this, but Japanese food really is my guilty pleasure. The quality of the seafood is some of the best in the world, you can indulge till your hearts content and still feel like you’ve eaten healthy and then of course you’re spoilt with some incredible tasting sakes. Japanese dining for me is always exciting and so I was glad to be enjoying my favourite cuisine once again at the rather gorgeous Aqua Kyoto.

We stepped through the main doors of Aqua Kyoto just behind Oxford Street, took the lift up to the very top floor, passed through the sumptuous bar and sat down to our table. It’s such a gorgeous space and in fact all of the restaurants under the Aqua group are always so stunning and always come with views – this was no exception. While we settled in the staff kindly treated us to a pre-glass of bubbles which went down a treat.

Our reason for visiting Aqua Kyoto was to sample one of its newest additions – the new ikigai menu. This menu is all about helping its diners find balance by celebrating the age-old Japanese concept of ikigai. Hailed as the alternative to 2017’s trend hygge which was all about finding contentment in cosines and slowing down – Ikigai instead encourages one to strive towards a more purposeful lifestyle. For just £30pp you can expect to dine on 3 courses, petit fours and a delicious cocktail. Ours was a refreshing mojito style cocktail.

Portion wise the dishes on this menu aren’t particularly large, however you still leave feeling very satisfied and almost energised by the experience. For those on their first steps to finding Ikigai (like me), Aqua Kyoto’s executive chef Paul Greening, has created a perfectly balanced, nutritious menu, incorporating a ‘root to leaf’ cooking method – so no ingredient goes to waste. For my starter I enjoyed a mouth-wateringly good miso cured seat trout with kombu, asazuke vegetables and ikura (red caviar). While my partner delved into a small selection of excellent quality sashimi.

Star dish of our evening was the main course of suckling pork belly, served in a clay style pot. The pork belly was incredibly juicy and the crackling so crisp and light. Making up the rest of the dish was eel, root vegetables and jade oil. A fantastic dish and it paired perfectly with our rich and full-bodied white Viognier wine.

Our other main dish was the heavenly plate of cobia cubes which had been filleted and cooked in a sticky soy mustard glaze, along with little servings of avocado sancho puree. The accompanying rice didn’t quite go with this dish but the fish was gorgeous and I’d happily return to eat more of this.

We finished up on a selection of lovely petit fours and with what seems to be one of the restaurants signature desserts. Aqua Kyoto’s “forest floor” creation was meticulously made up of cherry sorbet on a bed of azuki chocolate, almond praline and yuzu shisho cream. The dessert represents the forest floor, where the majority of a wild ecosystem lives. Signifying balance and purpose, this dessert provides the perfect ending to aqua kyoto’s ikigai menu and made for a very satisfying end to our evening.

We had a lovely time at Aqua Kyoto sampling this new Ikigai menu and I highly recommend to anyone, especially for lovers of the Aqua group. The freshest of sashimi, satisfying main courses and indulgent desserts. There are so many reasons to love this menu and why I’ll always come back.

NB: My meal was complimentary. All views are as always, my own. My views are not influenced by anyone other than my own palate and slightly poor eyesight.