GYOZA BAR
Japanese is one of my favourite cuisines. I absolutely love sushi, ramen is my go-to dish on a cold day and can never say no to gyoza. Japan is high on my travel bucket list and until I get to cross it off, I am more than happy to try new spots that boast about serving some of the best food you can get outside the country. So, when Gyoza Bar kindly invited me to try their specialties, I knew it was a place I had to discover!
Situated in between Leicester Square and Covent Garden, Gyoza Bar sits right next door to its sister restaurant, Murakami. The space is small while the decor is an interesting mix of minimal and industrial details: patterned walls, dimly lit pendant light bulbs, exposed orange pipes and simple wooden tables that are separated from the open kitchen by a glass screen. It’s very relaxed, casual and takes no reservations, so you can pop by any time for a quick meal.
After being seated, the staff brought us a tick-sheet menu to fill in our order. As the name suggests, Gyoza Bar specialises in gyoza, i.e. savoury dumplings filled with meat, fish or vegetables, which are prepared with original equipment following a traditional recipe. There’s a wide variety to choose from and you can have them steamed, deep-fried or pan-fried. Since it was our first time and wanted to try a little bit of everything, we went for the Gyoza Moriawase (10 pieces) which we really enjoyed. The dumplings were nicely cooked, not too greasy and the fillings were generous enough.
But Gyoza Bar is not all about dumplings! The menu features ramen as well as small plates. Sadly, the ramen was sold out, so we had instead the chicken katsu bun and the pulled pork bun which were also good. The buns were soft and milky but the fillings were a little plain in flavour and didn’t blow us away. Seeing as it was late and we were already stuffed, my partner in crime and I decided to skip dessert. I was really tempted by the crispy fried ice cream but that’s probably something for next time!
| INFO |
| Address: 66 St. Martin’s Ln, London WC2N 4JS, UK |
| Telephone: +44 20 36017077 |
| Facebook page |
