‘Did you go to Uni?’ No I didn’t actually, I went to University, but if you mean the restaurant UNI then yes I did go and very nice it was too.
Surprisingly close to Victoria Station, you don’t usually find good restaurants near mainline stations, usually the opposite in fact, it looks like it was once one of the very nice houses in Ebury street.
Inside some steps lead up to a compact area with a few tables and a sushi bar to eat at while staring at the chefs, if that’s your thing. A lot of mirrors makes it seem bigger though, as well as confusing anyone who, like me, hasn’t put their glasses on. “Who’s the ugly fat bloke over there? Oh, it’s me.’
I had a peek downstairs as well, which is far bigger but in some ways more intimate and atmospheric with some alcove private areas. As it was early evening and still a bit quiet we decided to stay upstairs where there were already other couples and a loud (is there any other kind?) group of Americans. I am actually not complaining about their noise, it’s a relaxed Izakaya kind of restaurant and I like a bit of a buzz, but one of them was also drenched in scent which was very offensive to my olfactory. I could actually taste the stuff.
UNI has had a bit of a rethink and redesign and a changed menu. It is still essentially a fusion menu, but now Indian has been added to the multi tasting mix which explains our first dish (we let the restaurant decide for us omakase style) of Chu Toro Tartare with Panipuri.
Panipuri is an Indian street snack, a deep fried puri shell, ready for a filling which in this case was the Chu Toro Tartare, bluefin tuna belly, diced and served raw. I liked the self-service aspect as I piled in the tuna and then blobbed it off with a kind of mayo plus some chili oil. . A messy eat, if you don’t pop the whole assembly in your mouth at once, but delicious. That tuna was the very buttery best of its kind.
Grilled baby sweetcorn (they aren’t actually baby, they’re bred to be tiny), with a Tajin wasabi mayo were rather charming, the sweetness of the corn balanced by the bite of that wasabi and the Tajin, a Mexican spicy condiment. More cross-fertilisation in action.
This was again evident in the Wasabi Caesar Salad with truffled gnocchi and pecan nuts. I like a Caesar salad, and this was properly fresh and crunchy, but I am not sure Wasabi improved it and the gnocchi were a bit weird with their truffle note. The pecan sweetness was very good, though. We ate it all very happily, but with a side order of mild bemusement.
Still we knew where we were with the sushi from a large selection, sparkling fresh fish – sea bass, salmon and yellowtail tuna – with vinegared rice that was perfectly cooked, just the right amount of sticky to hold up to being dunked in soy sauce. Lovely stuff. Also lovely were the various rolls, perfect texture with bright fillings. Some had a dusting of Tajin though which was a bit too hot, and I’m saying that as someone who eats chilis like sweets.
Mains are called Parilla, Argentinian for ‘grill’. Secreto Iberico with Teriyaki butter and padron peppers sounded interesting, but we had Chilean Seabass with a basil miso. This resembled the famous black cod with miso, now ubiquitous across town, but the seabass I actually preferred.
Perfectly grilled and thick, but I wasn’t sure about the basil miso. It wasn’t an attractive colour, a drab green, and was slightly bitter. Plenty of rice, slightly burned in places so a bit crunchy, but nothing to really worry about.
All very good and topped off with a rather pretty chocolate fondant with violet ice cream for dessert.
Japanese cuisine purists might be a little dismayed at UNI’s rather UNIque menu (tacos anyone?) but it’s all very good and tasty and I daresay exactly what locals like, and despite its proximity to Victoria, this is a local restaurant.
As a result there’s a much warmer welcome and atmosphere than one usually gets in Japanese fine dining places and the clientele all seem to be familiar with each other and the charming staff.
Prices aren’t bad, fresh fish is never cheap, and if I lived locally (fat chance) I’d be a regular.
18a Ebury St, London SW1W 0LU