20/08/25

Review of KIBOU’s new Menu

KIBOU’s latest menu is a fresh and fun celebration of Japanese cuisine, served with style. Stepping into KIBOU, you’re immediately drawn into a vibrant space where Japan-inspired street art wraps the walls in bold colour and energy. The new Spring/Summer menu reflects this mood: vibrant, flavourful, and designed for sharing.

We went to KIBOU on a particularly hot day, so we were really keen on our drinks being as refreshing as possible. We went for the iced tea pitchi, a blend of cold brew jasmine tea, peach, and lemon, and it delivered exactly what we needed. We also tried the Cucumber Saleswoman, a cocktail mixing tequila, lime, pear, and cucumber for a crisp, cooling effect.

The food arrives as it’s ready, covering the table in a variety of small, colourful plates, which gave our dinner a feast-like feel. Among the standout new dishes, the snow crab uramaki was a highlight: avocado and cucumber encased in rice and sesame, topped with a sweet, delicate snow crab mixture, tobiko, coriander, and a hint of chilli.

Bluefin tuna chutoro sashimi followed, ever the proof that the simplest things work best. It offered pure flavour and buttery richness that needed nothing else, besides another serving. For something heartier, the chicken zangi, a Hokkaido-style fried chicken, came crisp and golden, with sweet-sour heat and a tangy lift from the fresh lime.

We also had to try KIBOU’s reimagined classic, the sesame prawn toast bao: fluffy, savoury, and dressed with KIBOU’s signature sauce. Finally, we had the black pork katsu: crisp panko-coated pork with a sauce full of layered umami.

For dessert, the yuzu cheesecake delivered a creamy texture cut with bright, citrusy tang. However, we were particularly impressed by the sesame tiramisu and how well the bitterness of the coffee paired with the rich flavours and soft feel of the sesame-infused airy mascarpone.

KIBOU’s new Spring/Summer menu brings together bold flavours and playful presentation. With a focus on sharing and variety, it offers a relaxed yet elevated way to explore Japanese cuisine through crisp street food, delicate sashimi, or inventive desserts.

Written by Alexandra Herlaut Reinhardt

Photography courtesy of KIBOU

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New Plant-Based Restaurant mallow opens in Borough Market this November

Nyla Sammons
Nov 3, 2021
1 min read

Updated: May 23, 2024

It may be a surprise for some to learn that London has not always been the veggie-friendly hub that it is today. Mildreds one of the first veggie favourites in London has been a beacon of light for anyone who is vegetarian and those wanting to cut down on their meat consumption but also be excited by the premise of plant-based cuisine.

With its flagship restaurant opening in Soho in 1988 (moving to larger premises in 2000) Mildreds has since built a reputation for producing exciting and flavoursome veggie food and has gone on to open three more restaurants in recent years. Now the team behind Mildreds is trying something different by launching a brand-new restaurant concept in Borough Market called mallow.

mallow promises to offer an elevated plant-based food model serving fresh, colourful and internationally inspired food with a strong focus on sustainability, seasonality, and provenance. Exclusive to Borough Market, mallow aims to minimise waste wherever possible, with ingredients sourced from small, sustainable businesses, including those stalls within the market itself.

Hero dishes will include small plates of Cauliflower chaatt with coriander yoghurt and Porcini truffle croquettes, leeks and aioli. Large plates will feature Shiitake dashi, udon, mushroom sesame tempeh and daikon, Banana blossom tacos with smashed peas, pistachio mole and pink grapefruit and a flavoursome Plum plant chicken burger.

Sweet tooth lover? you’ll be happy to see Kumquat lemon meringue pie, Chocolate hazelnut financier and white chocolate mousse and a Campfire marshmallow on the dessert menu.

Mark your diaries guys and gals, mallow will be opening on 8th November.

Website: https://www.mallowlondon.com

Written by Claire Coveney

#boroughmarket #mallow #vegetarian