It's like the last two years never happened: no banks collapsing, no tearful traders, no bust to the boom. Because here we are in Roka, on a Thursday night, and it is packed. Being where it is (in Canary Wharf in the heart of London's financial district) means it attracts a business crowd — there are big round tables full of suits — but there are also a number of good-looking couples. The buzzy atmosphere is a welcome contrast to the area's odd glass-and-steel soul vacuum. People are even drinking Champagne — imagine! It is like stepping into a parallel universe where the phrase "financial crisis" probably means deciding whether or not to buy a second house in Umbria or the Cotswolds.
This is the City offshoot of the Charlotte Street original, and the cheaper, more laid-back younger sister of chef Rainer Becker's super-glitzy Zuma. You reach the restaurant, on the first floor of a glass-fronted building, by a lift that automatically invokes a sense of occasion. Inside, the feel is low-key luxury, with honeyed lighting and walls veneered in glamorous blond wood, and an open kitchen with robata grill, a kind of Japanese barbecue. It all gives the large room an intimacy — that and the tables that are a little too cosily spaced.
The food, though, tastes as good as it looks, and it takes its looks very seriously. A beautifully presented dish of butterfish (black cod) tataki arrives on a long plate, small slivers of delicate dissolve-in-the-mouth flesh folded over tiny sticks of baby asparagus and covered with a sharp yuzu dressing. The bite-sized balls of rock shrimp tempura (£12.30) are fluffy and buttery, and come with a chilli mayonnaise — I could have happily eaten another bowlful. More black cod, this time in firm, meaty form (£22.60) has been cooked on the robata grill, is served under a banana leaf canopy held up by a stick of pickled ginger, and falls away in sweet, smoky flakes. The sushi — including favourites such as crab and avocado maki rolls and tuna sashimi — is as fresh as you would expect and is so wonderfully presented you almost feel bad for ruining it by eating it, though it feels slightly overshadowed by the other treats on the menu. Vegetable side dishes are far from dull — a bowl of edamame beans comes slathered in chilli, and a tower of grilled asparagus is dressed in a sweet soy and sesame sauce. The huge dessert platter (£55) is a thing of beauty, served on a rock of ice, with tropical fruits and a selection of puddings with Japanese influences — the ginger ice cream sticks in my mind.
None of this comes cheap, but it isn't extortionate either — though the dessert platter was perhaps a gluttonous step too far — and it feels special enough to be worth it. On the way out, we asked about the large glass jars of shochu, the Japanese distilled spirit, lining the shelves on a whole wall. Each belonged to a regular customer for dipping into every time they ate at Roka, and each one, which cost more than £200, had been sold. As I said, what downturn?
1st Floor, 40 Canada Square, London E14 5FW (+44 (0)20 7636 5228; rokarestaurant.com)
