Aqua Kyoto Japanese restaurant Regent Street: Review

Aqua Kyoto sits on Regent Street and is a place for atmosphere, romance, fun and good food.

It’s contemporary, the food is delicious, and it’s got that up-market feeling as well as being fun.

I went to Aqua Kyoto on a Friday night with my boyfriend – when all I wanted was something to tickle my taste buds and a good old cocktail to take the edge of the week away.

This restaurant did just that, and it was busy with other diners and drinkers clearly wanting to do the same as the bar got more and more full as the night went on.

The menu is extensive with anything from starters to tempura, robata, mains, salads, maki and sashimi and nigiri.

It was one of those where you could pretty much have ordered everything, and we were grateful for some recommendations from our waiter Frederico to ensure we ordered correctly.

I started with a signature cocktail the Kyoto Panchi which was pretty much a light pina colada, and once I’d had one it was hard not to order another, and another…

I paired this with the tuna tataki and Japanese aubergine with fig and sesame miso.

(credit: Johnny Stephens Photography) (Image: Johnny Stephens Photography)

That aubergine really was as good as it sounds, and it was absolutely bursting with flavour.

The two paired well together, and made for the perfect beginning to what it quickly became obvious was going to be an extremely tasty meal.

We didn’t go for any salads or tempura dishes, but instead chose the marinated Chilean sea bass with Champagne yuzu miso.

This was divine, and one of my favourite dishes, with fish that melted-in-the-mouth and flavours that were perfectly sweet without being overwhelming.

The maki we chose was an Otoro tataki with cucumber and yellow takuwan hosomaki, mango and mushroom.

The presentation of this dish made it almost look to good to eat, but I’m glad I did because it was another winner and something like I’d never tried before.

We had a sashimi platter with different tunas, seabass, yellowtail and salmon, and you could really tell how high-quality the fish was.

My favourite was the fatty tuna, and I think I could have just eaten this all night.

Our last dish, and I must add that this is by no means least, was the black cod rice dish.

I’ve had black cod before and it’s one of my favourites, and I was expecting it to come presented as a piece of fish with rice on the side as in other restaurants.

Aqua Kyoto outdid itself here though, with a boiling hot dish of rice, fish and seaweed, which the waiter said we should mix altogether to create rice and fish bowls.

It was nothing short of incredible, both in presentation, taste and originality, and I’ll be dreaming of this dish for a while.

Aqua Kyoto made the perfect date night spot with good food, vibes and drinks, and I can’t wait to go back in the summer months to enjoy the terrace.