Some places are particularly gifted in making everything just right. Delicious, innovative dishes certainly help, but a great restaurant experience is so much more than the food on the plate.
The look and the layout should be inviting, and Kibou Oxford is packed with pleasing design detail (in fact, each time I go, I notice something new to adopt for my own interiors). The ambience has to feel special but also relaxing – another big tick. This is somewhere to head for date nights, family lunches, with your gal pals or even on business if you want to impress colleagues. Moreover, great wait-staff have to balance a fine line between attentive and discreet: at Kibou you won’t be waiting too long for your water glass to be topped up, and nor will you feel self-conscious, like you’re being stalked.
Years ago, there was a reality TV show on the beeb, judged by Oxfordshire’s adopted son, Raymond Blanc OBE. It was called The Restaurant and prospective restaurateurs competed each week in the hope of going into business with Raymond. His instruction to them each week was to ‘surprise and delight’, something which has stuck with me, and now forms the basis of much of my own ‘judging’.
Does Kibou surprise and delight? Yes, it does and in abundance. I went to try out the new Spring/Summer menu and found a whole host of new and instant favourites, like the utterly filthy and perfectly judged Prawn Toast Bao Bun; everyone’s favourite classic starter made new by being encased in a pillowy bao bun. Salty, sweet, doughy and crunchy all at once and served with a dipping bowl of creamy sriracha mayonnaise for those craving more heat. It also has enoki mushrooms prettily draped over the side of the plate and these are, arguably, worth a starring role in their own right. My plus-one was my mushroom-loathing daughter, and she couldn’t get enough of them.
As well as a distaste for mushroom she has also historically resisted all my attempts to convince her of the delights of aubergine and so I thought my choice of Tataki Kyuri Salad with Toasted Aubergine would be mine and mine alone to enjoy, but no chance. As soon as she tried a mouthful of the half-moons of cucumber bathed in mouth-tingling gochajung sauce she was back for more, scooping up mounds of the soft smoky flesh of her once-hated vegetable. Kibou now has my undying gratitude although it should be said that at 18 it’s about bloody time she developed her tastebuds.
Last time we visited she had yet to cross the threshold into adulthood, and so we enjoyed exploring the mocktail menu. This time, we delved into the Kibou Signature cocktail menu, opting for the Hanabi – spicy tequila with bursts of lychee and lime and laced with tabasco (hot, hot, hot!) and the Yukake which blended cachaça with passionfruit liqueur, zesty yuzu and pineapple: think of something fruity, like a can of Lilt, but all grown up. Both of which were boozy enough to hit the spot without leaving anyone silly.
We happily nibbled our way through a few of the small plates and sharers (including a memorable Wagyu Crisp – a deliciously fatty mouthful of wagyu tartar served on top of a wafer-thin crispbread). However, the main event was always going to be the Tokujo Moriawase, the premium platter, hand-picked by the chef to reflect the best of the best of the restaurant’s sushi and sashimi.
It should have had its own walk-on music when it arrived at our table. Sorry for the cliché but this is a feast for the eyes as much as for the belly. The ceramic serving dish is lined in banana leaf on which sat the seared salmon-topped maki rolls; a perfect scallop shell filled with melt-in-the-mouth sashimi; an oval dish for the rich, buttery oval nigiri; a bamboo matt to elevate the sea urchin and a further plate for the wagyu tataki.
It feels so clean in the mouth – the only way to eat fresher fish, I reckon, would be to make like a basking shark and roam the ocean, open-mouthed. The scallop sashimi was almost heart-breaking in its purity and sweet flavour, and blue fin tuna was cut from the belly: the best of the best. Sea urchin was new to me, but… What. A. Flavour. Mousse-like in texture, this delicacy is a briny treat which tastes of the sea but feels like creamy fois gras in the mouth. This, and the luxurious unctuousness of lightly seared wagyu with its sweet, soy dipping sauce are arguably the stars of the show, but in all honesty each component plays its part magnificently making the premium platter a true ensemble piece.
We firmly believed ourselves to be full the brim and so decided that we’d forgo dessert. We scanned the menu obviously, just to be polite. A fatal mistake, because I don’t know who could resist the concept of Sesame Tiramisu, but we certainly couldn’t. In fact, the only thing we couldn’t agree on was whether the addition of sesame made the Italian classic better than, or simply different to, the original. My vote was ‘better’. I loved the rich nuttiness and the teensy morsels of toasted sesame seeds giving a new textural quality to the indulgent richness of mascarpone, coffee and chocolate.
When she was a wee thing, my daughter always assured me that her ‘pudding tummy’ could still manage something sweet after declaring herself full. At Kibou I dearly wished for a pudding tummy of my own, as I would have loved the chance to hoover up the Miso Basque Cheesecake. Ah well, next time…
On the last Friday of each month until the end of September, Kibou Oxford are bringing soulful vibes to their courtyard garden, with a live DJ, Japanese-inspired cocktails and al fresco sushi. Happy hour from 9pm and booking is essential. kibou.co.uk
