Kurobuta Restaurant Review: Dude Food Weekend Brunch Feasting in Chelsea

Believe it or not, I can still remember a time not so long ago (though maybe I’m now showing my age too much) that I really didn’t enjoy sushi. I’m not quite sure what it was back then, but 10 years ago or so the foodie scene in London was still just taking off and us Londoner’s had really only started to educate our palate better.

These were still the days when customers didn’t know that much about wine and when street food was still a new thing, only just replacing the greasy burger van. I then started to realise quickly that the reason I didn’t like sushi, was simply because I hadn’t had any that was of good enough quality and when I did – the love affair started and I still can’t get enough of it.

With my current obsession of all things Japanese, we recently found ourselves at Kurobuta on the King’s Road in Chelsea. It’s stumbling distance from my house and so when I found out they had a bottomless style brunch EVERY Saturday – I couldn’t resist. We started with a rather epic Bloody Mary (another obsession of mine) which was laced with wasabi giving it a nice spice. They’ve opened up the windows here too and so on a sunny day, the restaurant pours out onto the King’s Road.

For a bargain £35 you can feast on unlimited sushi, buns, hot and cold dishes and for just an extra £10 – enjoy unlimited wine, Prosecco and Asahi beer. There’s live music too. Once your cocktail arrives, expect snacks to follow. Sea salt edamame are served slightly charred and smothered in what tasted like butter. They’re some of the best edamame you’ll ever come across. We also loved the rice crackers topped with an avocado and spicy jalapeño salsa.

After enjoying the snacks, we delved into the menu and starting by order dishes from the cold section of the menu. Yellowtail with green chilli & coriander hosomaki was stunning, whilst the spicy tuna rolls wrapped in tempura crunchies were so incredibly addictive that you’ll only want more.

My favourite dish from the cold selection of dishes and one which seems to be a signature of Kurobuta was the salmon sashimi pizza with truffle ponzu and wasabi tobiko. The fish tasted so fresh, the flavours spot on and the sushi rice was excellent. I had this pizza dish once before when I dined in the sky with Kurobuta and so it brought back some really great memories.

I’ve been to Kurobuta many of times and so I couldn’t have been happier to see one of my favourite dishes on the menu. Golden batter coated baby shrimp tempura smothered in kimchee mayo, lots of fresh chilli, spring onions and chives. If there was one dish you need to order multiple portions of – it’s this. We also loved the squid kara-age with a jalapeño dipping sauce. It was expertly cooked, the batter packed with more flavour and that dipping sauce really won us over – meaning a second portion didn’t take long to arrive at the table.

There was only one dish I didn’t quite fall in love with during our brunch and it was this pumpkin tempura with honey, chilli, lime and sea salt. The flavours were excellent, but the pumpkin was just a little too hard and the batter could have been slightly thicker and more puffed to really soak everything up. Perhaps sweet potato as a substitute would have been better?

We actually felt rather full by this point, but in the name of research we couldn’t leave before trying the selection of buns and I’m so glad we did because I think they were some of the best things we ate. BBQ pork belly with peanut soy was a dream, but the star was the Singapore fried chicken buns with pickled cucumber and kimchee mayo. Juicy, full of flavour and those buns were soft & fluffy like a cloud.

With no room left, we somehow still managed to practically inhale our dessert platter to finish. An excellent selection of mochi ice creams, matcha flavoured Mr Whippy, frozen fruits and chunks of thick chocolate fudge cake slices, the latter of which was far too dense for even the fork.

We had a really lovely time here at Kurobuta and it was great to be back at one of my favourites. While the restaurant is always good value in terms of quality and portions, this brunch makes the restaurant even more accessible to those wanting to experience Izakayas style food. Some of your favourite drinks free-flowing for the duration of your meal & unlimited portions of your favourite dishes – what’s not to love? All I know is I’ll most certainly be coming back, ensuring I order many many more of those delicious fluffy buns.

NB: Our 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.