I had a wonderful catch up this weekend with some friends, one of them is getting married soon, so we decided to have a mini celebration and hit up the bottomless brunch at Roka in Canary Wharf. Delicious Japanese food, flowing wine and great company, you don't get better than that on a Saturday!
Canary Wharf is heaving with business workers in the week so it was a calm escape visiting on the weekend. The diners at Roka are a classy and well dressed mix of young families and professionals. The restaurant decor is stylish and inviting with wood panels, concrete bathrooms and glass fronted windows overlooking the ice rink at Canada Square. It's fine dining yet in an informal setting, all very Zen feeling despite being very busy with diners. The girls and I settled into the lounge area, which has a play area for kids, great to bring your little ones along on the weekend.
Roka have 3 brunch menus ranging from £45 - £65 all including a drink on arrival, followed by edamame, squid rings and dumplings, the buffet starters, main dish from the robata (slowed grilled cooking) and finishing off with the dessert platter. If you love the idea of a boozy brunch, then you're in for a treat with the unlimited wine!
The buffet station was mouth-watering good, I felt like I was in heaven with so many tasty dishes! There's a wide range of hot and cold dishes, vegetables, salads, sushi and sashimi, soups, noodles and even chicken wings.
I've been to some poor sushi buffets, where the tempura's are left out all dry and chewy and the sushi not stocked up. The level of service and quality of food at Roka is high class, well presented and very civilised affair. The chefs are constantly cooking up fresh dishes to keep the buffet topped up and the staff keep the food area clean and tidy.
I went for the salmon and tuna sashimi, selection of sushi rolls, chicken wings, prawn tempura and miso soup. All very fresh and tasty. For our robata dishes, we went for the salmon teriyaki, baby chicken and glazed rack of ribs. The main dishes take around 45 minutes, which is perfect timing to get stuck into the buffet!
Last but not least was the dessert platter presented in a giant bowl of ice, definitely had the wow factor! The desserts included chocolate slice with salted caramel peanuts and ice cream, as well as passion fruit, coffee and raspberry pudding. Each dessert was so tasty, I could of eaten more! The fruits was also a refreshing touch.
Roka is a modern and classy venue with delicious food to match, it is very expensive but for a special occasion you definitely get your moneys worth. We all left suitably full and I didn't have any dinner! It was great to try out their weekend brunch menu, I would recommend Roka for the attentive service, good quality and variety of food, in a stylish setting.
You can find Roka at 4, Park Pavilion, 40 Canada Square, London E14 5FW.
Where's your favourite place for brunch?
Follow me on
