The Cocochine

I have written previously about the background of the Cocochine, its chef/owner Larry Jayasekara and its wine list. The tasting menu is currently priced at £189, with a three-course menu at £145 and a set lunch at £39. The main dining room is on the ground floor, but tonight we sat at the kitchen counter, where you can watch the chefs working. There is also a large private dining room on the top floor. The cooking style is based on classical French technique, but an increasing proportion of the dishes have Sri Lankan touches, reflecting the background of the head chef. The restaurant has some very wealthy investors, one of whom has a large farm in Northamptonshire called Rowler Farm, and also a private island off the west coast of Scotland called Tanera Island, which has its own fishing port. The restaurant gets first pick of the produce from both.     

The meal began with a sequence of canapes. There was a doughnut filled with 36-month aged Comte cheese and black truffle sauce, topped with finely grated 72 months aged Parmesan from Bologna. The doughnut was made from wheat flour from Rowler Farm, and aerated with a syphon to get air into the doughnut. This was similar to a gougere but without the choux pastry, a warm sphere filled with cheese flavour and light in texture. 

A luxury take on a cheese and onion cracker came with golden oscietra caviar. Mashed potatoes are spread very thin in trays, dehydrated and then cut into strips and deep-fried to keep their shape. Cream cheese is seasoned with home-made onion powder (onion from Rowler farm) topped with golden oscietra caviar. The caviar is from a supplier in Paris. This is a very good canape, with a nice contrast of textures. A new canape was Coronation langoustine, a variation on the well-established classic Coronation chicken, here with kaffir lime. A coronation mix was made with diced apple, curry leaves, home-made curry mayonnaise, raisins soaked in Earl Grey tea, toasted nibbed almonds and coriander. This is then mixed with langoustine claws, served on a thin crisp, dusted with toasted curry powder and a thin julienne of kaffir lime leaves. This was a trio of classy canapes (17/20).

Two breads were offered: onion brioche and sourdough, both made from scratch. Onion brioche used flour from the Rowler farm, the bread laminated four times then layered with caramelised onions and thyme, julienne of curry leaves and a touch of roasted cardamom powder. This is baked, and then at service, it is lightly steamed to produce very soft, warm bread. Once out of the steam, the bread is glazed with brown butter and sea salt. For the sourdough, a porridge from oats and barley is made and added to the mother dough. Hydration of 95% is achieved which gives an airy texture with a thin crust. Once it is baked, the bread is glazed with Kithul (a syrup made from a palm tree flower in Sri Lanka) and sea salt. The bread was served with Normandy butter. Both these breads had lovely texture.

The first formal course was Ceylon crab curry salad; before 1948, Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon, and the old name is still used locally for this crab curry. Here, Dorset crab is used along with king crab diced with natural yoghurt, curry leaves, lime zest, diced apple, apple jelly, naran (a small lime from the same family as kalamansi), coriander and flowers from Rowler farm. The dish is finished with chilled Ceylon crab consommé. The Ceylon crab curry uses blue crab from Sri Lanka (imported and sourced from a supplier in the Sri Lankan market in Wembley) then clarified to be a consommé. This is a dish that has been on the menu here for a while, and has excellent freshness, the acidity being just right. This sequence of canapes was an excellent start to the meal (17/20).

Next was a huge XXL hand-dived scallop, with pickled cloudberries, and pandan and coconut sauce. The scallop is roasted on one side only and then baked in the oven to medium rare, topped with chives, lemon zest and grated scallop roe. It is garnished with kelp (also from Tanera Island) and fresh black truffle. The sauce in Sri Lanka is called “Kiri Hodi”. It is traditionally made with onions, tomatoes, curry leaves, pandan leaves, garlic, turmeric, curry powder (made from scratch in the kitchen), coconut milk and lemon juice. The version here adds white wine and dry scallop skirts to achieve more flavour. The scallop had lovely natural sweetness and was beautifully cooked, while the mildly spiced sauce worked really well with the scallop (17/20).

The next course was essentially a luxury version of kedgeree. Native lobster was wrapped in a banana leaf and barbecued, served with tomato and tamarind rice pot and soft poached quail egg. The lobster was caught in the waters around Tanera Island, typically 400-500g in weight. The lobster is blanched briefly in seaweed and water, the meat removed from the shell and then wrapped in Sri Lankan banana leaf. This is barbecued over Japanese charcoal and glazed with ginger and lobster sauce, then garnished with micro-planed fresh lime zest and citrus gel. The dish is finished with tomato, lobster, fresh tamarind sauce and rice pot. The rice used is Samba rice from Sri Lanka that is cooked in spiced lobster stock and butter. This is mixed with lobster claw meat, topped with soft poached quail egg, garnished with micro coriander from Rowler farm, and a lobster and citrus emulsion (17/20). 

The fish course was roasted wild turbot with spiced coconut and wild tiger prawn sauce. The fish was from a huge 9.6kg turbot caught in the waters around Tanera Island. This was aged for about four days then seasoned with home-made curry spice and seaweed powder, garnished with Sri Lankan coconut sambal, lime juice, thin potato crisps and garden herbs. The dish was finished with wild tiger prawn sauce and lemon verbena oil. The kick of spice was interesting and may be a little much for some people, but I liked it, and I think the turbot has enough flavour to cope with it (17/20). 

The final savoury course was beef from Rowler farm. This was 40-day dry aged sirloin of beef, served with parsley puree, caramelised cipollini onion, parsley and pickled Biquinho chilli (a mild red chilli from Brazil) and black pepper gastric. The red wine jus used veal knuckles roasted until golden in colour. Then several elements are added to the stock pot: caramelised onions, carrots, leeks, celery and garlic. Additionally, white peppercorns, bay leaves, thyme and fresh tomatoes are added, covered with white chicken stock and cooked for 24 hours. The stock is sieved and reduced to the desired consistency. In a separate pot, the kitchen reduces six bottles of pinot noir to a syrup, then adds this to a red wine reduction made from another six bottles. This is reduced by half, and then added to the veal stock, along with caramelised shallots, caramelised mushrooms and roasted beef trimmings. This is infused for an hour, then passed through a sieve, seasoned with cherry vinegar, black pepper and finished with a little roasted beef fat. The beef had superb flavour and was carefully cooked, with the chilli-based accompaniment cutting nicely through the richness of the sauce (18/20).

Pre-dessert was inspired by the chef’s memories of travelling on public transport in Sri Lanka people, where vendors sell mangoes or pineapple with salt and chilli to bus and train passengers. In the version here, Sri Lankan pineapple is served with lime and lemongrass sorbet, coriander oil, sea salt, finger lime and topped with Sri Lankan long red chilli flakes. On the bottom of the cup was fresh diced pineapple and lime segments. This was an enjoyable pre-dessert, refreshing and nicely balanced, the hint of chilli an interesting touch (16/20). 

A new dessert was Kirsch parfait, dark chocolate and black cherry ganache with black cherry sorbet. A kirch mousse is made with white chocolate, whipped cream and Miclo Kirsch then frozen. Afterwards, this is completed with chocolate and cocoa butter spray. There was also a dark chocolate and black cherry ganache, cherry gel, a chocolate tuile, and black cherry sorbet. This dessert, reminiscent of Black Forest gateau, was quite rich but very enjoyable (15/20). It was good, but didn’t seem to fit seamlessly into the general theme of the cooking, which is based on French classical technique but with Sri Lankan touches. Petit fours were chocolate cremeux glazed in mirror glaze, and potato crisp with sea salt and gold leaf. Coffee was from Difference Coffee. 

Service was excellent, with a particularly good Canadian sommelier (Antoine), who holds the WSET Diploma and so is very knowledgeable indeed. This evening I was being treated to a meal and didn’t see a bill. However, a typical price per person might be £215, or obviously much less if you opted for the three-course set lunch menu, which currently includes canapes as well as dishes such as lobster ravioli and beef pie. This was another excellent meal here, which continues to show originality by blending classical French cooking skills with touches of Sri Lankan elements. The kitchen uses impeccable ingredients and is serving some of the most enjoyable food in London right now. 

Further reviews: 11th Dec 2025 | 18th Nov 2025 | 09th Sep 2025 | 15th May 2025 | 22nd Mar 2025 | 05th Apr 2024