The Cocochine

The Cocochine is tucked away in Bruton Place just off Berkeley Square in a former four-storey townhouse. It now has a little outside seating for drinks, and is opposite The Rex Deli, which is under the same ownership. The main dining room is on the ground floor, but tonight we ate upstairs at the chef’s counter, where you can watch the kitchen action at close quarters. Leading the kitchen is Larry Jayasekara, who was head chef at Petrus and worked at some serious kitchens in his career, such as Michel Bras and Le Manoir au Quat’ Saison, as well as with Marcus Wareing. Many of the products used here are sourced from Rowler Farm in Northamptonshire, and Tanera Island in west Scotland with a fishing port that is owned by the restaurant investors. There is an a la carte menu, but there is also a tasting menu available on request at £145, and this is what we were served tonight. I have already written about the unusually reasonably priced wine list, with markups that are much lower than usual in Mayfair. There was also a three-course set lunch available at £49. 

For the initial canapés, we began with tartlet of wild sea trout from Norway seasoned with soy and lime. The fish eggs were lightly marinated in mirin and yuzu gel, the canape being finished with mini chive batons. The tartlet had crisp pastry, and the trout eggs had good flavour. There was also a little doughnut filled with 36-month-aged Comte cheese and black truffle sauce, topped with finely grated 60-month-aged Parmesan from Bologna. The doughnut was made from wheat flour from Rowler Farm, which is then aerated with a syphon to give lightness to the doughnut. This had plenty of cheese flavour. The next canape was cheese and onion cracker with golden oscietra caviar. Mashed potatoes are spread very thin in trays and dehydrated, then cut into strips and deep-fried. Cream cheese was seasoned with home-made onion powder (the onion being from Rowler farm) topped with golden oscietra caviar. The caviar was from a private supplier in Paris. The cheese, onion and caviar was a particularly effective combination of flavours, the salinity of the high-quality caviar working nicely with the cheese, the tartness of the onion providing balance. Tartlet of tomatoes grown on Rowler farm came with burrata. The tart was again made with the farm flour, in this case also with a little malt flour. At the bottom of the tart was slow-cooked baby plum tomato fondue with garlic and curry leaves. This was topped with fresh burrata from Puglia and finished with Sicilian Datterini tomato circles and micro basil from the Rowler Farm. I particularly liked the tomato tartlet, the tomatoes having good flavour and again the tartlet being very delicate. The canapés averaged 17/20.

Two breads were offered. Onion brioche uses flour from the Rowler farm, the bread laminated four times, then layered with caramelised onions and thyme from the farm. This is baked and then is lightly steamed to have very soft, warm bread for each service. Once out of the steam, the bread is glazed with brown butter and sea salt. For the sourdough the kitchen makes a porridge from oats and barley, then add to the mother dough. The 95% hydration gives an airy texture with a thin crust. Once baked, the bread is glazed with kithul (a sap made from a palm tree flower in Sri Lanka) and sea salt. The bread was served with two butters, one being fresh Normandy butter with sea salt and second one is whipped brown butter with crème fraiche and black truffle. Onion brioche is lovely here, the brioche not too sweet, the onion has a very good flavour for the bread, which had a lovely airy texture. Sourdough was also really excellent. Next was Japanese otoro with 60-month-aged soy from Ginza in Tokyo along with golden Oscietra caviar. This was topped with thin brioche crisp and golden oscietra caviar, with white wine vinegar gel and alyssum flowers. The tuna with caviar had a pleasant blend of richness from the fatty belly tuna with the inherent saltiness of the caviar (16/20).

An exceptionally large scallop appeared next, sourced from the Scottish island owned by one of the restaurant investors. The hand-dived XXL scallop came with Alsace bacon, kombu and roast chicken jus. These scallops are 1kg to 1.2kg with shells, yielding scallop meat of 140-165g. One side is caramelised to medium-rare, topped with chives, lemon zest and dehydrated microplane roe. The scallop rested on braised kombu, crispy Alsace bacon and bacon sabayon, finished with roast chicken jus. The chicken jus involves a lot of work, using just chicken wings to make the sauce. A white stock is made and then combined with roast chicken wings and cooked for three hours. Another layer of roast wings is added along with caramelised shallots, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, white peppercorn and reduced medium-dry white wine as well as double cream. This is cooked for another two hours, sieved and reduced, then seasoned with salt, lemon juice and roast chicken fat. The scallop was naturally sweet and was very lightly cooked, the lovely sauce having considerable depth of flavour, the result of all that reduction (17/20). 

Lobster was wrapped in a banana leaf and then grilled in front of us over Japanese binchotan charcoal. The native lobster was from the waters around Tanera Island, each weighing 400-500g. The lobster was blanched briefly in seaweed and ice water. The meat was removed from the shells and wrapped in a Sri Lankan banana leaf. These parcels are barbecued over Japanese binchotan charcoal at the table and glazed with ginger and lobster sauce, microplaned fresh lime zest and citrus gel. The dish was finished with tomato, lobster and fresh tamarind sauce. On the side was fresh crème fraiche and basil, lemon balm, lemon verbena, mustard and pea shoots from Rowler Farm. This is a really lovely dish, the lobster tender and having absorbed a very subtle hint of smokiness from the char grill. Glorious (18/20).

Next was fillet of Scottish wild turbot from a massive 9.2 kg fish, with morel mushroom, white asparagus, rhubarb, cloudberries and pandan leaf sauce.  The turbot from around Tanera island was aged for three to five days, then seasoned with a curry spice and seaweed powder and roasted. On the side was XXL white asparagus from the Loire valley that had been cooked in almond milk and cloudberry from northern Norway, with steamed baby courgettes from the Rowler garden, vinegar gel and golden oscietra caviar. For the pandan leaf sauce, some shallots, bay leaves, thyme, garlic and fennel were lightly cooked in butter. To this was added some reduced dry white wine and fish stock, which was all then cooked before some roasted aged turbot bones are added to the sauce. These were infused and combined with coconut milk and thinly sliced pandan leaves. These were cooked further then sieved and reduced, finished with butter and lemon juice. The fish was cooked carefully and had lovely flavour. The asparagus was exceptional, having the level of flavour that you only see from very large specimens of high-quality asparagus. The sauce was rich and complex, and nicely brought together the other elements (17/20).

The final savoury course was 40-day dry-aged Rowler farm sirloin of beef with garden rocket puree, coconut sambal, miso hollandaise finished with red wine jus, green peppercorns and braised diced kombu. The red wine jus used veal knuckles roasted until golden, then added to the stock pot with caramelised onions, carrots, leeks, celery and garlic. To this was added white peppercorns, bay leaves, thyme and fresh tomatoes covered with white chicken stock and slow-cooked for 24 hours. The stock is then sieved and reduced. In a separate pot, six bottles of point noir are reduced to a syrup. This is added to a red wine reduction made from another six bottles and reduce by half. This is added to the veal stock with caramelised shallots and cooked for half an hour. At this stage, the kitchen adds beurre noisette and red wine vinegar and the mix is cooked further and then passed through a sieve. The final creation is seasoned with salt, black pepper and roast beef fat. As can be seen, a great deal of effort is involved in achieving a sauce of this level of intensity. The beef itself had very good flavour and I really liked the touch of coconut sambal, which worked well to balance the richness of the beef (17/20).

Pre-dessert was Alphonso mango (the king of mangoes) mousse filled with and garnished with lemon balm. This dish is inspired by a southeast Asian dish that is sold at roadsides. Fruits are seasoned with salt and chilli and sold to travellers. This more sophisticated version used fresh Alphonso mango, green cardamom sorbet, chillie, lime and mango brunoise, and a garnish of angelica oil, lemon balm leaf and finger lime, finished with a few chilli flake and a touch of salt. This was pretty much the peak of the season for these mangoes, which had lovely flavour, the texture of the mousse being silky. The gentle touch of savoury flavour from the chilli and salt was subtle but worked very well (17/20).

The final dessert was raspberry, yuzu and lime with strawberry and Java pepper sorbet. This comprised a yuzu, lime and lemon mousse, with a raspberry, lime and mint jelly, fresh raspberries and a strawberry and java pepper sorbet. My dining companion had a separate and pretty looking savarin of exotic fruits involving Sri Lankan arrack, pineapple diplomat, wild green cardamom from Sri Lanka and Alphonso mango sorbet. The savarin was soaked in citrus and Premium VSOA arrack syrup, and there was a brunoise of exotic fruit, here a mix of Alphonso mango, jack fruit, banana, lime zest and lime segments, with a pineapple diplomat and caramelised biscuit tuile.

Coffee was from Difference Coffee and came with some petit fours. There was a hazelnut financier with dark chocolate ganache and 60% hazelnut praline. Separately, there was a tart with strawberry jelly, lime and lemon curd, basil panna cotta with lime zest, micro basil and shortbread. There was a particularly nice lemon madeleine as a parting gift. 

Service was excellent throughout the evening, and I was impressed with the knowledge of the Japanese sommelier. I was being treated to this meal so I did not see a bill tonight. If you ordered a la carte, then a typical cost per person, sharing a modest bottle of wine, might be £210 per person. The cooking at Cocochine continues to develop and is of a significantly higher standard than when it opened. The quality of ingredients used here is exceptionally high, and the culinary technique on show throughout the meal was of a high standard. It is pleasing to see the occasional Sri Lankan touches in the dishes, reflecting the heritage of the head chef.

Further reviews: 22nd Mar 2025 | 05th Apr 2024