Chotto Matte, Soho.

September marked twenty years since I met my best friend. Twenty years of memories, twenty years of sharing life’s moments; both happy and heartbreaking. Naturally it seemed only right to celebrate like you would any other anniversary or birthday, so we decided to go to Nikkei cuisine restaurant, Chotto Matte, in Soho. I’d previously been for the launch of their tostaditas menu, but had never eaten an actual meal there, so was super excited to try it!

 

Emma works just round the corner from me, and we often have lunch together, so we met after work and walked down to Soho from Oxford Circus. We sat down at our table and after perusing the menu decided to go all out. If you can’t do it on your 20-year-friendversary when can you!?
So we started with a cocktail each. I chose the Flor de Manza, which was really sweet and very tasty! I do love passionfruit cocktails – the mask the taste of the alcohol 😉
I can’t for the life of me remember what cocktail Emma had, but it looked fabulous and she really enjoyed it!
Finally our food arrived – we were absolutely starving and so excited for everything we’d chosen! We decided to go with a big mix of dishes and share them all.
We started with an 8 piece sashimi of tuna, sea bass, salmon, yellowtail. The sashimi was really fresh and I could have easily eaten all of it (bar the salmon – Emma had my salmon) all by myself.
Maki Rolls with seabass was up next. I actually really enjoyed having Maki rolls with seabass instead of the usual crab, it made a nice change and I think I may have even preferred it!
One of my favourite dishes of the night was the sea bass ceviche (sea bass sashimi, sweet potato, Peruvian corn, coriander, chive oil, citrus sauce), if you hadn’t guessed by now I really bloody love sea bass. Especially when it’s raw. I find it really refreshing and I loved how the dish was so zesty and there was so much flavour!
Ughh this dish. It was incredible. Tentáculos de pulpo (Octopus, yuzu, purple potato), Emma and I both agreed it was exceptionally good.
I found the Cangrejos de concha blanda (soft shell crab, yellow chili, yuzu) a bit too spicy, I’m not great with spicy foods and this was just a little bit too intense for me. However, it still disappeared into my belly as it really did taste delicious.
The Bacalao negro aji miso (black cod, yellow chili miso) melted in my mouth. I really adore black cod, and so far my favourites have been at Roka and Salmontini, and now the Chotto Matte black cod is definitely up there with those two!
For dessert we went all out. And I mean all out. We couldn’t decide which desserts to have, so we decided to have them all and shared the Dessert Platter, aka, the Dessert Platter of Dreams, as we now fondly call it. Oh my days. For anyone with a sweet tooth it is literally the perfect dish. Just look at it!!
The dessert platter was supposed to be shared between 3-4 people, but we happily polished off everything, despite all of the food we’d just eaten. And at just £14.50 we think it was an absolute bargain considering the desserts you got on it! You essentially get the three main desserts (including that salted chocolate fondant), as well as ice-cream, fruit, little madeline cakes, and a selection of mochi.

 

Every single dish we had was incredible. I didn’t have a single complaint or a single one that I didn’t like. Even the soft shell crab which was a bit too spicy, I still ate it because it was too tasty to not eat!
Chotto Matte really exceeded my expectations, and it was the perfect place for our celebratory dinner. It’s such a fun place and the atmosphere is always electric! It feels very cool and fun, and we absolutely loved it.
Also, the toilets there are pretty epic.
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Catherine Lux
Catherine Lux

Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of SEO at Havas Media Group by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.

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11 Comments

  1. Angie SilverSpoon
    November 20, 2015 / 10:20 am

    Delicious! I love Chotto Matte 🙂 That night of the tostaditos was the second time we met.
    Lots of love,
    Angie

    SilverSpoon London

  2. Unknown
    November 20, 2015 / 12:19 pm

    Oh wow! Another blog post heaving with delicious food I'm not allowed to eat at the moment!! Will have to save Chotto Matte for post-baby I think. What a lovely occasion and looks like the perfect place to celebrate 🙂

    Polly xx
    Follow Your Sunshine

  3. Andrea Petersen
    November 20, 2015 / 2:10 pm

    Ahhh I really need to go!!! Think I would love it! Never had seabass maki but sounds delicious, am always keen for a good black cod and that dessert platter does look INSANE! Happy 20-year anniversary 🙂 Lots of love, Andrea xxx

    Andrea's Passions

  4. Honey @ The Girl Next Shore
    November 20, 2015 / 5:18 pm

    I need to give Chotto Matte a second chance, I think!

    And how wonderful it is to have a best friend for 20 years – now that is even more epic than those toilets!!

    Honey x The Girl Next Shore

  5. The Mayfairy
    November 20, 2015 / 8:39 pm

    I love how you demolished that dessert platter that was meant for 3-4 people. I salute you.

  6. LuxuryColumnist
    November 20, 2015 / 10:13 pm

    So you must have met your friend when you were very young – how lovely that she works so close to you. That dessert platter is so pretty

    Suze | LuxuryColumnist

  7. Unknown
    November 21, 2015 / 11:34 pm

    A 20-year-friendversary is the BEST excuse for anything!

  8. Ayushi
    November 25, 2015 / 3:00 pm

    I went to Chotto Matte a couple of times when it first opened but haven't been back in over a year… this post is a tasty reminder of what I'm missing out on, especially by way of desserts – that platter looks incredible!! x

  9. Shikha (whywasteannualleave)
    November 25, 2015 / 11:09 pm

    I absolutely love this restaurant and it was such a random lucky fluke that my husband and I managed to get a table facing the chefs on a Friday night with no booking – never happens anymore! I felt even luckier when the food started coming out and was just so fabulous! I might have to drag my friend here for our 22 year best friendiversary next year 😀

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