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Uni brings Nikkei Cuisine to Victoria

July 20, 2014 by manjirichitnis 11 Comments

The largest Japanese settlement outside of Japan is in Peru and the unique fusion cuisine that is Japanese Peruvian is called Nikkei. Fiona invited me to accompany this time to discover Nikkei, she is an award-winning freelance writer and marketing consultant who currently writes about travel and London lifestyle for a number of publications and runs her own London lifestyle blog called London Unattached.

So it was a bright summer Monday afternoon that I trooped to Uni (the Japanese word for the sea urchin, a Japanese delicacy) restaurant and sushi bar designed by Andrew Martin, in Belgravia minutes away from the travel hub that is Victoria station.

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I was shown to a cosy table downstairs.

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For starters, I got some steamed edamame with a spicy chilli and garlic sauce (£4.50) and some refreshing green tea served in a typical cast iron heavy pot which I would love to have as part of my growing food prop collection which now occupies every corner or of our tiny rental flat much to the chagrin of my hubby – I guess the last straw was trying to pass off a very heavy cast iron pot as a ‘place to keep his USB drives and hide away the many wires…. hehehee

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I had happily managed to forget my phone at home and therefore Fiona tried in vain to inform me of her delayed train. Blissfully unaware of this I sipped my tea and munched my edamame all the time trying to ignore some stuffy banker-type folks on the table next to me talking shop – how boring…

So when Fiona arrived she managed to move us to a bigger table away from the ‘big boy talk’ as she aptly called it and onto a table where I could dump my bags and lay my camera lens and other paraphernalia – I do not travel light …

To make life easier we chose to have bento boxes for our mains and mine came with the udon noodle and fish cake soup while Fiona had a light Miso soup. I was feeling ravenous by the time the soup arrived and devoured it in a flash! (£24.5 per bento box – comes with soups, salad, sushi, & maki, main dish, side, rice and dessert)

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Nabe Udon  – Noodle and Fishcake Soup with Prawn Tempura.

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Beautifully light Miso Soup

My Bento box had Kaiso Wakame  – seaweed salad, prawn and carrot tempura, main of duck tataki – seared duck breast finely sliced and dressed with mirin and soy, fried rice and sashimi selection. The duck tataki was deliciously morish, I also loved the seaweed salad and the sticky fried rice with the sashimi was very filling.

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Fiona’s bento box came with steamed rice and artichoke sauce, and black cod and was very appetising.

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We washed down our Bento lunch boxes with some chilled sake.

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The very polite manager came and urged us to experiment with some of the Nikkei range from the menu and we were served two stunning dishes.

Tiraditos of Yellowtail with kizami wasabi,Yuzu and fresh mint presented in a creative and stunning display, it was delightfully fresh, sharp in taste with a delicate balance of colour and flavour. (£15.5)

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Wildly beautiful looking salmon tartare tacos with cucumber,tomato,masago and creamy miso were crunchy and melt in your mouth creamy all at one once exploding with a light flavour in every bite – delicious! (£6)

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Stuffed to the gills now I had to walk around click a few pictures and allow for some space to be created in my tummy to fit in some dessert 😉

To my amusement the very attentive young lady on the staff showed us how the colourful lamp shade were made from bottle of campari that could be detached and well glugged , given it was a hot summer afternoon I think it was a great idea that Fiona ordered us some Pisco Sour shots instead ;).Never having tasted these before I downed them in one go much to my own peril, the sake already in my system the shot gave me quite the buzz!

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Thankfully, my cooling Matcha Gelato worked wonders and cooled me down several degrees -phew!

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Fiona managed to stay light with desserts too with a selection of fresh fruit.

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The creation of former Nobu chef Rolando Ongcoy, the menu at UNI offers a good selection of grilled meats ,fish, sushi,sashimi, selection of tempura and maki. The Peruvian influence is prevalent throughout UNI’s menu, ceviche and tiraditos peruano included.

The bar area upstairs also has plenty of seating on high stools and around the bar, perfect for knocking down Peruvian fav’s like the pisco sours or coconut-based Chilli Mojito.

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Victoria being a very office space kind of area is lucky to have Uni in its midst now, with bite-sized healthier meal options, seven-dish bento boxes for short lunch hours are on offer at a price of course. So the big banker boys and girls can have their financial pow-wow meets in the fancy cubicles or basement vaults if you please which can seat about 10 – 12 people, and if the huge ice buckets with bottles of chilled Moet and the power talk we overheard from the table next to us are anything to go by then Uni is already a haunt for these suited and well-heeled office folks!

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  • Website: Uni
  • Opening Times: is open for lunch and dinner, Monday to Saturday inclusive

*With thanks to Uni for the invitation. No monetary compensation was offered for a positive review. All opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Uni Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Filed Under: Featured Lifestyle, Lifestyle, Restaurant Reviews Tagged With: a guide to eating out in London, a Japanese delicacy, Andrew Martin, anticucho sauce, Belgravia, bento boxes, Black Cod, cast iron heavy pot, ceviche, chilled sake, coconut-based Chilli Mojito, creamy miso, crunchy, cucumber, delicious, designed, dessert, dressed with mirin and soy, duck tataki, eating out in London, edamame, flavour, food blog, food blogger, food writer, foodie in London, former Nobu chef Rolando Ongcoy, fresh, fried rice, fusion cuisine, garlic sauce, hubster, husband, Japan, Japanese Peruvian, Kaiso Wakame, kizami wasabi, lifestyle blogger, light Miso soup, main dish, maki, Manjiri Chitnis, Manjiri Kulkarni, masago, Matcha Gelato, melt in your mouth, mint, Nabe Udon, Nikkei, Noodle and Fishcake Soup, Peru, peruano, pisco sours, prawn and carrot tempura, Prawn Tempura, restaurant, reviews from travelsfortaste blog, rice, salad, salmon tartare tacos, sashimi selection, seared duck breast finely sliced, seaweed salad, side, slice of my life, sliceoffme, sliceoffme eats London, sliceoffme recipes, soups, spicy chilli, steamed, steamed rice, sushi, sushi bar, Tiraditos, tomato, travel blogger, travel writer, travelsfortaste, Uni, unique, urchin, usb, Victoria station, Yellowtail, Yuzu

England’s largest Vineyard – Denbie’s Wine Estate, Dorking, Surrey

February 29, 2012 by manjirichitnis 8 Comments

It’s was my parent’s first weekend at our flat in London and we wanted them to see someplace really nice. Having visited London many times earlier they had done the usual touristy places and were not too upbeat on going into the crowded central line all the way to Central London. So hubby came up with an awesome idea, to explore Surrey. So after an early breakfast, we made our way by overground rail to Dorking and walked across lovely tree-lined roads to get to Denbies Vineyard.

The air was cool and crips, it was bright, sunny and the sky looked heavenly. Even my mother’s heavily arthritic and painfull knees didn’t see, to mind the trudge upto the main entrance as most other visitors whizzed past in their cars.

My dad was smiling and racing ahead with hubby while mother and me trailed somewhere behind admiring the mountains in the background.

Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England

The grapes seemed to tempt us as we walked alng the way ,testing our self control, ummmm,ofcourse we DID not take anyyy! Though I wish we had 😉

Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England
Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England

The neatly lined,seemingly never ending rows of grape vines balanced on their equally fragile looking support structures seemed to create a horizon of sorts, there are only a handfull of employees who work in the vineyard which is the largest in England and they manage this enterprise beautifully I must say.

Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England

I saw this beautiful couple, much in love perched on a ledge cooing away secret nothings into each others ears so to speak, they looked so cute I just had to take a picture, thankfully they obliged.

Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England

After a long lovely walk we saw the roadsign telling us that we had reached our destination, an exciting day out was about to begin , I couldn’t help but wonder if we would get any free wine for sampling ,after all , a long walk through a vineyard on a weekend and a very parched throat for company I am sure it wouldn’t hurt to gulp down some free wine .

Unfortunately no free wine or wine tasting was to come our way as we had reached after all the wine tours had been booked for the day, yes ,it is a really popular destination ,it was late summer ,autummn almost actually ,September 2011 it was,so feeling terribly dejected we were about to resign to our fate when we were informed by the smiling receptionist that there was a tour of the vineyard in the jeep that we could do , so I heaved a sigh of relief as I saw the smile back on my mothers face . Ater all I didn’t want to ruin their very first weekend with us.

We still had about an hour on hand before the tour was to begin so we decided to explore our surroundings.On the topmost floor is a rather beautiful restaurant to be explored when you want to loosen your purse strings and splurge .There was a small area where a potrait club was exhibiting some stunning paintings , I managed to get some postcard size prints of the originals and so did my mum.

Some of the artists were really good with themes ramging from countryside scenary to pets and wildlife.

Then we walked back down to an amazing gift shop which was crammed ceiling to floor with the most amazing gift items from post cards and the expected wine bottles to tea sets, cake stands ,home made jellies and preserves and many, many more extreemly tempting products ,I got myself a scented soap…sighhhh !

By then my husband managed to tear me and my mum away from the shop, my dad had started to grow this extreemly serious expression bordering on a mixture of impatience ,slight anger and a sarcastic smirk which seemed to say”baah women and shopping” , I took the hint and scampered out to check on our mode of transport for the tour and this is what I saw 🙂

Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England

Whilst we waited for the tour guide cum driver to arrive, I amused myself by taking some more pics , there were some brillant potted flowering plants and some lvelky banter of a large group of women apparently a “HEN PARTY” part of a day long Bachelorette party ,what fun !

Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England
Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England

Just when  the small cowd beginning to get impatient that the lively ,energetic and extreemly well informed guide arrived and ensured we were all seated properly,rattled off some basic safety instructions and we took off on what was to be a tour with breathtakingly spectaluar views and laods of snippets of local history and ofcourse tons of information of how the grapes are grown, the types of grape varities grown, how popular the wine is and history about the owners of the land and the vineyard both past and present . I shall leave these details out as it would be a kill joy for those that want to go do the tour and mostly because since I had been there months ago most of it had been wiped off from the slate in my mind, strange though because even now if I close my eyes and imagine the tour guides voice I can sort of do most of the tours and see the same things as I have photographed in my mind’s ,it’s quite refreshing doing that especially on a dull winter evening . It’s early March and cant really call this Winter but heck it isn’t getting warmer yet is it now ?

This is the first picture I took while in the jeep train as I like to call it .What clear skies I say, beautiful !

Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England

And thus here we were a group of strangers on a fine Autummn day about to have a shared experience of delightfull visual impact and create a pleasant memory that will last for a long time to come!

Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England

We stopped at a spot high up on the hill we were on and I got the perfect photo opportunity I’d been waiting for …

Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England
Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England
Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England
Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England
Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England
Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England
Denbie's Wine Estate, Surrey, England

Further ahead we came to a plateau like area where part of the massive old house inhabited by the original owners used to stand , some tiny portion has been resurected and is still in use , and by tiny I mean massive for us urabn folks living in matchbox houses , this is like 4 bog country houses put together but tiny in contrast to what used to be a grand residence of the yesteryears.

That’s our cheerfull guide holding some images of original plans of the structures back then , there was small quiz and I got a chocolate for getting some answers correct Yipeeeee !!!

Then I just took few snaps before the tour came to an end. Here they are :

After that tour we walked over to a rather quaint Kitchen Garden Centre in the premises.It has the most wonderfull things to add to ones garden and ofcourse a large amount of saplings,wind chimes,garden ornaments,pots and plants and an area selling cold sandwiches for famished souls as well,which can be consumed sitting at one of the wodden tree stump table and stools. It is a delight to stroll around the place and see the colourfull display of flora mixed with artistic and stylish garden ornaments.

By the time we were done with our stroll , it was time to adress the serious hunger pangs we all were having.

Surrey is beautiful there is so much to explore in the county, some off beat places, great places to trek or simply walk and ofcourse a vineyard to visit.

Aren’t the hedgehogs adorable 🙂 ?

Are you thinking of booking yourself in for a wine-tasting? Then you definitely check out my post about my visit to a wine tasting ‘school’ in London here. And if you are going to be in Amsterdam then definitely check out this great wine and cheese tasting experience which my husband and I were invited to and enjoyed thoroughly.

I love planning day trips and outdoor activities apart from our family holidays and trips abroad. If you are looking for travel inspiration do have a look at my other blog posts:

  • Plan your visit to the Tulip Gardens at Keukenhof
  • Top 5 fun things to do in Amsterdam
  • Steigenberger Hotel, Schipol – a review of my stay
  • Best local wine bar in Venice
  • Hotel Al Ponte Mocenigo, Venice – a review
  • Fantastic Finland – Top 10 – To-Do list while Akaslompolo, Lapland
  • Helsinki Plus Apartment Kallio in Finland – Overnight stay review
  • Stay in a private log cabin in Finnish Lapland at an Eco-friendly backpacker’s hostel called the 7 Fells
  • How to plan a short break to Prague and Vienna
  • Eco-camping in Panchgani, Maharashtra, India
  • Washington D.C – U.S.A – Air BnB Stay review
  • A week in North Wales – Part 1 – in and around Holyhead
  • A week in North Wales – Part 2 – Southstack Lighthouse and Cemaes Bay
  • Family days out – Top 5 spots around London
  • Summer trek along River Wey, Surrey, England

When I was in India, I went eco-camping with my girfriends to a beautiful hill-station called Lonavla, read all about it here:

Eco-camping in Panchgani

Also, if you are looking for some great camping trips when heading out with your family in the U.K do check out this blog post by blogger Collette

Let me know your thoughts in my comments section. It can be anything right from sharing your own experiences at Denbie’s Vineyard or about your travek wishlist. I also want to hear from you about what would you like to read about next on my blog? I love hearing from my readers!

Filed Under: London and rest of U.K, Travel Tagged With: admiring, air, arthritis, background, beautiful, breakfast, car, chimes, cold, dad, denbies, Dorking, famished, farm, flat, flora, garden, gft, grapes, history, hubby, hungry, jeep, kitchen, knees, london, mom, mountains, ornaments, owners, paintings, photos, pictures, plants, plateau, post cards, pots, prints, rail, rental, restaurant, sandwiches, sceneary, scented, shop, sky, soaps, sun, surrey, tour, train, vineyard, wind

Food,travel and lifestyle writer. Photographer.

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