Black Roe serves Hawaiian inspired food and is the sister restaurant to our favourite Chotto Matte. We definitely had to drop by to see if it matched up to our all-time fave.
The restaurant
When you step inside, its low lit with a poke bar on one side by the entrance, the bar on the opposite and main dining area in the middle. We were seated fairly central in a booth, facing the restaurant. On the walls there are black and white portraits of men and women, who we thought were fishermen/women. We were right, from their website it says that they are the farmers and fishermen they work with for their produce. Pretty cool, I like that! Around the restaurant its covered in pretty pink and white flowers – which seems to be the new thing for restaurants to be considered ‘instaworthy’.
Menu
We went for dinner, so we were given the dinner menu which is divided by Poke, Appetisers, Mains and sides. We didn’t have any poke because I don’t eat fish and Amen doesn’t do rice lol – well he picks and chooses when to have it (only with sushi *eye rolls).
What we ordered
From the appetisers we had the Katakuriko crispy squid, Pumpkin & Cavolo Nero Tempura and the Sweet & Sour Crisp Kalua Hock. For mains I had the BBQ Chicken and Amen once again had two mains, the Octopus Aioli and the Waimea’n Sticky Lamb Best End.
Just to add the Whole Lobster “Mac ‘n’ Cheese” was popular with almost everyone in the restaurant. Everyone seemed to be ordering it. I really did want it but that’s just way too much fish for me. A friend of mine told me she loved it and would definitely recommend it, so give it a go.
Drinks
I usually order a non-alcoholic cocktail and amen has water (with lemon or limes – oh and ICE! Lol). But I convinced him to have a cocktail with me because there were only two non-alcoholic cocktails available and we could write about it.
I had the berry cooler and Amen the quiet storm. Both were really good, but we swapped. The quiet storm was sweet so Amen wasn’t a fan and my berry cooler was not sweet – I didn’t mind but I would prefer it a little sweeter. They were also presented pretty cool.
Appetisers
The Crispy squid was great! It was a little bit fishy but still really good, maybe my fish tolerance is getting better? Amen loves that and I do too if I’m honest. The Sweet and Sour Crisp Kalua Hock which is the pork, was of course Amen’s. It actually looked pretty and didn’t have that pork smell. So much I forgot it was pork and thought it was beef, so I had to double check with Amen. He really enjoyed it, thought it was amazing.
The Pumpkin & Cavolo Nero Tempura was DELICIOUS. A really tasty vegetarian dish! I am literally dreaming of it as I write this. Before you even taste it, the smell hits you and it’s amazing. The extras of the salsa, onions, chillies and truffle aioli just really bought the dish together and made it perfect.
Mains
The mains are divided by Kiawe Wood Grill and Hot kitchen.
The BBQ Chicken is from the wood grill which came with tomato avocado salsa and chipotle miso, it was amazing! Probably one of the best chicken dishes I’ve had in a long time. The chicken was full of flavour and succulent with every piece.
Amen had the octopus aioli which is also from the wood grill, but to be honest I don’t think it should be considered as a “main”, it was more of a starter. Had he only ordered one main then he would have definitely been hungry. Though, he thought it was tasty but a little sweet.
The lamb is from the hot kitchen and again not a big dish – two lamb chops. Amen really enjoyed it and liked that it was little bit fatty. Like the octopus it was also sweet – but maybe that’s the Hawaiian flavour.
Desserts
I didn’t really want a dessert, not because there wasn’t anything for me, but we were going to the cinema and I’ll be having a lot of popcorn. If I had a dessert I would have had the chocolate fondant cake – love chocolate and warm cake!
Amen had the Apple & Coconut Tatin (with vanilla ice cream), the main reason he went for it was because the waiter said it was like an apple pie. Of course, Amen chose to ignore the ‘like’ and just heard apple pie lol, it was more of a tart. He didn’t enjoy it, and it wasn’t just the pastry he didn’t like, he didn’t like the apple and coconut filling either.
Overall
Black Roe is definitely a restaurant we would recommend. It did not disappoint, with the food being delicious and the great service. The restaurant is also very beautiful, perfect for a romantic date. The restaurant is also a great spot for a casual date, special occasion and small groups. We didn’t really notice how dressy people were until more people came and were looking more dressed up each time. But we were dressed super casual and most importantly wearing trainers. The dinner menu is a little bit on the pricey side. Especially for the portion size of some of the dishes.
Cuisine: Hawaiian/Japanese
Dress Code: Smart Casual
Shiima’s Star Dish: BBQ Chicken
Amen’s Star Dish: Sweet and Sour Crisp Kalua Hock
Price: £30-40
Rating: 4.8 out of 5
Black Roe
4 Mill St
Mayfair, London
W1S 2AX
Black Roe
Call to reserve 020 3794 8448 or on OpenTable
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