This “futuristic” Japanese yearling (“love the fish tanks”) is hailed by fans as “a welcome addition to Covent Garden”; perhaps because it’s so “expensive”, though, it’s yet to generate much buzz, and critics see it simply as a “massive disappointment”.
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I’m standing at the entrance to Kyashii as though I have the word ‘loser’ tattooed on my forehead. The place is empty – only one other table is occupied – but I’m being quite magnificently ignored. Minutes tick by.
Amol Rajan (23rd January 2011)
8/10
So comforting, warm and fun is the Scolt Head that I am compelled to return a month after my initial visit. And there, perched at the bar in a rugby shirt, just as he was on the first occasion, is a puce-faced, grey-bearded gentleman in possession of the biggest and lowest-hanging paunch I have ever seen. He drank three pints of IPA during the course of my first visit, and five this time. All have been consumed from atop the same stool, and at no time has he veered from calm civility.
Marina O’Loughlin (24th July 2008)
3/5 stars
“Food is evidently taken very seriously indeed” at this new Japanese outfit, in the West End, concludes the critic. “So why… serve it in a place as utterly ludicrous as this? From the get-go, we're hooting at Kyashii's supreme daftness and, well, blingness… If you love intricate, ambitious, Japanese-inspired food, Kyashii will have you foaming at the gills with annoyance thanks to its irony-free pretentiousness and daylight robbery pricing”.
David Sexton (12th June 2008)
1/5 stars
Restaurant criticism as social commentary, in a pretty pure form. The critic really doesn’t like this “furiously ostentatious” Japanese basement newcomer, which he finds “close to offensive just now”. “Kyashii is worth knowing about as part of what’s going on in London now, not otherwise.”
Marina O'Loughlin (25th January 2011)
Amol Rajan (23rd January 2011)
David Sexton (12th June 2008)
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