CHOTTO MATTE REVIEW

Do you remember when I won that £100 meal at Chotto Matte following a Zomato event? Well the long awaited meal finally arrived before my trip to Dubai in March. With mother’s day being right around the corner, it was the perfect reason to treat my precious mom.

We arrived a little early and were seated straight away with a warm welcome from the staff. At 8PM on a Saturday night, the restaurant was already buzzing, especially the downstairs bar area which is full of young and trendy people (hint hint, wink wink). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I just love the interior of the whole place! Its different and very colourful like Peru, my favourite travel destination.

There is so much to choose from on the menu, we literally didn’t know where to start. This means there is something for everyone. All dishes are made for sharing and are a fusion between Peruvian and Japanese. We got there in the end with a selection of 8 dishes in total plus a dessert. All starters were flawless! I loved the fusion of flavours and presentation of each dish. Let’s get cracking.

Nikkei sashimi – Yellowtail, cherry tomatoes, jalape–o,coriander, yuzu truffle soy

Seabass ceviche – Seabass sashimi, sweet potato, Peruvian corn, coriander, chive oil, citrus sauce. This was one of the best ceviches I’ve had in London.

Nikkei gyoza – Pork, prawn and cassava dumplings served on aji amarillo, sweet potato puree

4 Piece aburi – Tuna yuzu, aubergine miso, turbot, salmon. The dish is flamed in front of you, leaving the pieces so soft and warm, bringing out the flavour of the fish. I much more preferred this than cold Nigiri.

Lomo a la parrilla with spicy teriyaki and pomegranate salsa. I knew when I saw this on the menu that it was going to be cooked to perfection. Any Lomo I’ve tried so far has been juicy and tender, just how its supposed to be. 

The two dishes which were still nice, but not as great as the others were the Grilled Baby Chicken marinated in coriander and the Barbecue lambchops. The chicken was somewhat plain and lacking in flavour. Whilst the lamb had plenty of flavour I just didn’t think the barbecue sauce went well with the lamb, it would suit better with ribs in my opinion.

We chose a passionfruit mousse for dessert which was flavoursome and relatively light.

My mom and I literally got excited over every dish. They’ve pulled off the mix between my two favourite cuisines very nicely. As the restaurant is split between two floors and is very big, the service can suffer a bit but this wasn’t anything that bothered our meal. Someone asked me the other day what my favourite restaurant has been this year and I’d say its Chotto Matte.

The whole meal came up to £121 but they’ve got a £25 Pre-Theatre Menu. It seems well worth it and the options looked good to me. My only comment is that the portions are quite light and you’d need a few at least to fill you up.

5/5