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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
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Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Fay Maschler's rating
Reader rating
Description:
Phone: 020 7478 0540
Open: Open Mon-Sat noon-2.30pm and 6-11pm.
Rainforest Café for grown-ups: Alberto Hernandez, head chef of aqua nueva in the old Dickins & Jones building in Regent Street, the biggest restaurant opening of the year
Opposite The London Palladium in Argyll Street is a dark doorway with a canopy bearing one word, “aqua”, in diminutive lower-case type. The q is fashioned to resemble the female symbol for Venus. There are presently no menus displayed or anything else to indicate that the lifts inside will whisk you up to a restaurant, in fact two restaurants, on the fifth floor of the building.
We are at the back of what was, until three years ago, the department store Dickins & Jones. Various retail outlets have found a home here and at the top there is now a newly built Spanish restaurant called aqua nueva (lower case continues to be the graphic style), a Japanese restaurant, aqua kyoto, which opens next Monday, and three deep terraces, one with a bar called aqua spirit. This is perhaps the biggest restaurant launch of the year (17,000sq ft), with a capacity for 250 customers and one you might be right in classifying as
P-LB (pre-Lehman Brothers).
The 10-strong “aqua” restaurant group based in Hong Kong also has restaurants in Beijing. They can do you regional Chinese, Japanese, Italian and Spanish food and a Moroccan bar. The look, style and feel of their London entry brings to mind the malls of Singapore and Hong Kong, where shopping and eating, in other words all-round consumption, have coalesced into general entertainment. In New York, at the Time Warner Centre at Columbus Circle, high-end restaurant users are also happy to select favourite “brands” of restaurant in a mixed-use skyscraper, but will Londoners find the habit congenial?
Walking down the long glazed corridor that separates Aqua Nueva and Aqua Kyoto (to hell with those old-hat graphics) towards a carved charging bull, I thought to myself, here is the Rainforest Café for grown-ups. A chirpy welcome from hapless staff whose job description must have included John Milton’s observation that “they also serve who only stand and wait” reinforced the sensation.
We took a look at the terrace with its herb-fringed view of Regent Street but the weather was too nippy to stay there long. Our table inside was adjacent to a long tapas bar hung with a dense fringe of wooden spindles, which, with a push, you could set into motion like a giant executive toy.
Head chef Alberto Hernandez has that possibly heart-sinking detail on his CV of a stint at El Bulli. However, he apparently went on to set up his own restaurant in Salamanca and the Aqua Nueva menu is relatively conservative in style and, at the moment anyway, quite restrained in price. In fact, the main course of bogavante con garbanzos y jeta (lobster with chickpeas and crispy pork) at £12 must surely be a misprint — one of which to take advantage.
A skimpy selection of brown, nut and raisin breads was enhanced by notably wonderful olive oil. Scottish mussels, cockles, crab and clams imprisoned in seawater jelly, served as three rectangular blocks topped with frizzy salad leaves, were engaging in a briny sort of way. Baby squid with squid ink and a broth poured from a dinky little white porcelain jug was sweet and gentle. Roasted foie gras with mango, melon and black tea sauce would have been much more agreeable had it been served hot and crisp from its searing rather than tepid and mushy.
Main courses chosen by the three of us were all meaty; 24-hour marinated and braised oxtail, roasted Iberian neck of pork with mixed peppercorn sauce and partridge Alcantara style. It was explained that the partridge was served with sausage meat although, I later discovered, the traditional garnish, as stipulated by the Benedictine monastery at Alcantara, is the infinitely more alluring whole truffles and chopped duck livers.
A sticky, dark, over-reduced sauce covering meat cooked too long was a common factor in all three dishes. “It’s early Gary Rhodes isn’t it?” said the recipient of the oxtail. The gesture made towards a green presence — a scattering of identical almost raw mixed vegetables with the oxtail and the tough cubes of pork — did nothing to redress the lack of balance. Spanish cooking is the cuisine of the moment but it is tricky to get right and also, when correct, more alien than you might suppose.
I went back the following day to try the tapas, the aspect of Spanish food that flourishes most obviously in London, and to enjoy the terrace — a definite lure — in the autumn sunshine. Like everything else the tapas is served slowly and with ceremony, managing completely to miss the point about tapas, which is that it is a stomach-lining bite or three to have with a drink.
Iberico ham stood head and shoulders above items like poached egg (mis-timed) with pisto manchego, a mixture that Heinz might be tempted to bottle, and piquillo peppers stuffed with spinach and prawns in a bitter-edged red pepper sauce. “Our” chicken wings turns out to mean lollipop-style wings in a hefty breadcrumb coating.
Wines are priced in a friendly way, although the short list does no justice to the Spanish wine industry. With the bland verging on bleak, shopping mall interior (the Japanese option is much better) the hopeless ergonomics of the space and the unnecessary formality, I can sum it up no better than one of my daughters when young who pronounced a disappointing outing “none fun”.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
I have been to Aqua at the Japanese bar last night for the first time and I have been delighted not only with the decor which is amazing (spectular vue from the terasse), but also with the quality of the food itself and presentation without forgeting the brilliant service of our waitress.
Chefs cooking with professionalism and attention to details !
From the reservations to the service you can feel a warm and friendly attidute. The restaurant was almost full with a really nice ambiance music. The barman has recommanded some very nice wine.... in fact everything was really lovely. I will return soon and recommand it to everyone I know.
D. Smith
- D Smith, London, london
As a Hong Konger living in London I rushed along to Aqua when it opened. I had a wonderful evening......service was approachable (not starchy like you get in some places), music and ambience lively, and the food was fab. I had the oxtail and couldn't believe how it melted in the mouth. Next day I saw Fay's review and couldn't believe I'd been to the same place. Guess her taste is just different from mine!
- John Chan, London
After having just eaten at Aqua Neuva (8th October) I have to say that the food was a big disappointment. They stopped serving at 10:45 and we were seated at 10:40. We were therefore asked to place our order quickly, which is fair enough.
All the tapas dishes were extremely underwhelming. My spanish omelette was underseasoned and if they can't get something so basic right you know it is downhill from there. The chicken wings were exactly as Fay described them very lollipop in appearance and unmemorable. The piquillo peppers had a nice filling but as the dish was whisked away from me before I had a chance to taste the sauce, I couldn't comment on the rest.
Which leads onto my biggest gripe, the lady at the bar kept taking away our dishes before we were finished. Is there a point in having last orders at a certain time, only for them to then hurry you through your meal? It would be far easier if they just said restaurant closes at 11, therefore make sure you are done by then.
The good thing about Aqua was Aqua Spirit. The bar staff were extremely good and produced gorgeous cocktails, recommending new ones for me to try which I loved. The bar is circular with a few booths on one side. There's plenty of space, which works well and it is great to watch the chefs at work in Aqua Kyoto. I would definitely go back for the drinks and to try Aqua Kyoto but can't say I have been inspired to go back to Aqua Neuva. Considering the tapas competition it will have to do much better.
- Alex Taylor, London, UK
Fay Maschler is a fine writer and a legendary reviewer, but I think she's got it wrong here. During our visit to Aqua Nueva, it was definitely not slow, ceremonial or bleak. Nobody in our group had any negative feelings about the restaurant. The food was fresh and hot, and we couldn't fault the service. We had a great night, and we certainly had plenty of fun. I suggest you try the place for yourself...
- Phil Ward, UK
With very fond memories of dining in Aqua Hong Kong I was very excited when my trip to London allowed me to dine at aqua nueva. I tried the braised oxtail and it was AMAZING the flavour was rich and the meat moist. It was also a pleasent surprise to find vegetables coming out of a UK kitchen that didn't resemble the kind of mush served to oldies with denture issues. My husbands neck of pork dish was devoured so quickly I didn't get a chance to try it but it was give a definate thumbs up. Had we been in London a day longer I would have been tempted to go back and and eat the same meal all over again.
The decor like the HK Aqua restaurant was breathtakingly stylish, and how nice to be able to sit out in central london without having to scream to you partner over traffic noise and taxi horns. The service was fabulous even though the restaurant had only been open a few days. I am looking forward to my next trip to the UK and a visit to aqua kyoto, only after I've been to aqua nuevo again......
- Janet Wertli, Singapore
i dined in Aqua on Saturday all i can say is amazing the restaurant is incrediable the staff very attentive and the terrace bar's have the most specatular views with cocktails are to die for, i had the hake which was beutifully cooked........cant wait to go back for the Tapa's and the japanese or just for a drink on the terrace,
- David Doyle, london
Lucky enough to eat at Lunch time at Aqua Nueva on Day 2 - I accept early days - but Glazed Oxtail for main course was excellent and also really enjoyed the outdoor Terrace Bar. I thought this aspect of the design worked well and I imagine that when lights turned on in the evening it will become a real 'destination'. Worth going for this early evening ambience and wil try the Sushi when it opens next week.
- Matthew Battle, UK
