Updated 20/8 with more details and the final name.
A few months ago, we caught up with Koya's John Devitt to find out more about the restaurant - now confirmed as Koya Bar - being created right next door to the original Koya.
"Yes, we are opening up next door," he confirmed. That's right - the new place will open right next door to Koya where Mooli's was at 50 Frith Street.
At the time, he weren't sure what it was going to end up like. "You could say it's going to be stripped back", he told us, "although given Koya's stripped back already, I don't know how much that will help. It'll be a noodle bar, like a little sister restaurant of what we are." Now more details have surfaced and Devitt has added "Shuko gets to embrace a more typical Udon bar offering, whilst Junya continues to challenge our customers at Koya."
The name's changed from the work in progress Koya Ko to Koya Bar. The menu has also been revealed, created by Shuko Oda and overseen by Koya's Junya Yamasaki. It will be an all-day affair, starting with breakfast which includes:
- Kama Tama – hot udon, raw egg and soy sauce
- English Breakfast Udon – egg, bacon and shitake with udon
- Kinoko Okayu – rice porridge, thickened dashi with mixed mushrooms and pickle, tsukudani, and egg
- Kedgeree – rice porridge, smoked haddock, poached egg and curry
- Yakizakana – grilled fish of the day, rice, miso and pickle
The lunch and dinner menu will see the return of some Koya classics as well as a few new additions, including:
- ‘Fish & Chips’ - cod tempura and lotus root chips
- Ten-Toji don – two prawn tempura cooked in ten dashi, onion and scrambled eggs on rice
- Atsu-Age – fried and grilled tofu, spring onion oil, soy sauce, topped with shiraga-negi
- Kinoko Nametake – marinated mushrooms, grated daikon and shiso
The site is certainly petite - just 800 square feet - and the new noodle bar will have bar seating for just 25 folk.
Koya Bar opens on September 2 at 50 Frith Street, Soho. For more - follow them on Twitter @KoyaBar
