Sunday 27 November 2011

Kumo

11 Beauchamp Place, Knightsbridge, London SW3 1NQ

Overall I would say that Kumo is a trendy cocktail bar that serves sushi. When you first walk down the stairs into the restaurant (its in the basement) the first thing that strikes you is red. Red everywhere. I can bearly see where I'm going in the dimly lit red and black room. At the waiting area, you see a nice looking cocktail bar.

Kumo: inside. The picture is actually decieving - it's actually
 much darker in real life.

We had a deal from groupon, £20 for a sushi platter and dessert for two. We thought wow, what a great deal. But  note that there is a 15% service charge and alcoholic cocktails cost ~£11 each and virgins £6.50. With the deal, we ordered two virgin cocktails. Together the service charge and the drinks- cost £20 on its own! So on average, the minimum price per person is £20 and thats if you have a small appetite!

We were sat in a nice little corner, so the both of us (me and the boyfriend) could both sit on the relatively comfy black sofa. In front of us was a very small black metal table. You pretty much had to bend down to eat your food - not ideal ergonomics.

We ordered two virgin cocktails (pretty much because we thought the alcoholic cocktails were a rip off! and we were not willing to pay double the price of a regular cocktail).

The Coco Yoko was nice. I loved the coconut cream - but it was just a tad too sweet for my liking.

Coko Yoko: fresh blackberries, coconut cream, pineapple juice, vanilla syrup

Initally we wanted to order Special Green (pineapple juice, kiwi syrup, lemonade) but they didn't have all the ingredients to make it. So we ordered the Roxy Moon, which looked fab. But it tasted pretty much like standard juice. Nothing particularly special about it.

Roxy Moon: Strawberry puree, tangy orange, pineapple juice tempered
with cooling lemonade.


Next the sushi platter. The most dissappointing sushi platter ever. We both couldn't believe how basic this was. Everything tasted regular - nice but again nothing special. You can go to the sushi shop in China Town and get something similar for half the price or something more substantial! If we didn't get the groupon deal, this platter would have cost an equivalent of £40! I don't see how it could really have been valued to £40 to be honest!


Sushi platter: tempura prawn sushi (x6), california roll (x6), asparagus sushi (x6), edamame beans and chicken yakitori (thought we were meant to have 6.. but we only had 3, maybe misheard...)


Next thankgoodness there was dessert after, our tummies were still rumbling! When the dessert arrived, it was chocolate cake with a blackberry sauce. The cake was ok, nothing to shout home about. Infact without the icing on the top of the cake, the actual cake itself was dry. The blackberry sauce just did not compliment the cake - it would have been nicer itself, without the sauce.. maybe they themselves also thought the cake was dry! So needed a sauce with it... not good choice of sauce...

Dessert: chocolate cake with a blackberry sauce
 We were ALMOST finished with the dessert and the waitress came up to us and asked if we would like the bill and speedly gave us the reciept. We had bearly digested the cake.

Overall. I would say it was rather a disappointment. The sushi was standard, with hiked up prices for I suppose being located in Knightsbridge. The drinks were overpriced. The service, standard. I guess we were expecting this to be a nice place for good food. If you're earning a good wage and looking to have a chat in a cocktail bar, this is the place to go - if you also like sushi as a snack, but then again there are better posher cocktail bars in London with better service with classier decor.

Food = 4.5/10
Atmopshere = 5.5/10
Service = 6/10
Recommend? nope (well definitely not with the groupon deal)

Kumo on Urbanspoon