Cocoro Bayswater — Restaurant in London

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

While exploring Bayswater, we stumbled upon Cocokoro Japanese Restaurant, a charming little spot that exudes authenticity. Excited by its inviting appearance, we decided to give it a try despite the limited seating. The service was friendly and the lady who attended to us was very polite, though she seemed in need of more help.

We ordered the tonkatsu ramen, anticipating a delicious meal. However, our excitement quickly turned to disappointment when we found a hard-boiled egg in the ramen instead of the traditional soft-boiled egg. This was a major letdown as it did not meet our expectations. Additionally, the broth lacked the rich flavor we were hoping for.

On a brighter note, the takoyaki was delightful, a definite highlight of our meal. The chashu pork in the ramen was also exceptional, tender and flavorful, earning it our highest praise.

One point of confusion was when we requested chili and were given gochujang (a chili paste) instead. While this was a minor issue, no prob at all.

For a meal of ramen and takoyaki for four people, we paid £21 each, which felt steep given the quality and experience. We hope to see improvements, especially with the egg preparation and broth flavor, as we'd love to give Cocokoro another chance in the future.

Overall, Cocokoro has potential, but for now, it's a two-star experience due to these key...

Came here with a group of friends. The young waitress was the only one serving customers that day and she was incredibly busy. The 3 hours we were there, there was a constant flood of delivery drivers collecting food for delivery. The service that evening was very slow but it was understandable as she was extremely busy! the poor young lady didnt even have time to stop and take a breath!

I felt a bit bad as the waitress kept apologising for the slow service but I know this wasnt exactly her fault as they were short staffed. She even had to deal with 2 very fussy and unreasonable customers at the end which even I thought must've been painful.

Food was nice, the unagi donburi was really nice but there are some small/thin bones in the unagi so if you dont like your bones, I wiuld try avoiding it. The sashimi was not the best as it was cut in the wrong direction or something as they were a bit tough. But portion sizes were decent and the sashimi was thick pieces.

I ordered the purple sweet potatoe tart and it wasnt...

[Update] The menu changed, and became super high end. The prices more than doubled. We don't go there anymore but the food should still excellent.

TLDR; don’t miss this wonderful restaurant!

I am a regular of Cocoro Bayswater as I live just in front of the restaurant. I have now tried a significant amount of items on the menu. I am always left with a happiness feeling once I leave because of the food being so tasty, fresh and original. Everything is good basically. I have tried many Japanese places both in the UK and France and I can say that this one is a hidden gem, considering the quality to price ratio.

The place in itself feels cosy with its few tables and subtle Japanese decoration. The service is always amazing, so polite and nice. They would remember you and make suggestions based on what you...