Friday 21 January 2011

Kopapa - Monmouth St WC2

There are two reference points for Kopapa - one or both of which you may relate to dear reader, depending on how you roll.  The first is that it is the latest venture from the mighty Peter Gordon (along with his partners Michael McGrath, Adam Wills and Brandon Allen) of Providores fame.  The second is that it occupies the site of what was one of central London's most well known "A-Gay" bars The Box - site of many a gym-honed pec and skin-tight t-shirt.  My friend Ryan and I had a hilarious time sitting in the window at Kopapa and spotting those passing who obviously were expecting Box to still be there.  Anyway, on to Kopapa.  I loved this place - anyone who has been to The Providores will know how innovative Peter is and the menu at Kopapa reflects this.  We shared some small plates/tapas - I can't lie and say I absolutely loved all of them but they were all super interesting and one of them was really amazing.  The one slight let down for me was the cassava chips, which I found a bit bland, but I think that's probably more to do with the cassava itself as the chips were presented beautifully, with avocado, sriracha chilli sauce and crème frâiche on the side.  The coconut sticky pork ribs and the pork, chilli, coconut & gapi salad on endive with crispy shallots were really both good but the stand out winner for me was the parmesan and bone marrow sauce on toast with chrain (beetroot relish).  This was a truly delicious dish and the contrast of the rich bone marrow and parmesan mix and the vinegary beetroot was just perfect.  We finished off with a top notch flat white(they do take away coffee in the morning - I had one today and it was great) and left contented.  The new owners have completely re-done the interior (which is probably a good thing) and it looks really good - I particularly like the inverted tulip shaped lights.  I can't wait to go back here for weekend brunch and also work my way through the rest of the tapas menu.

Kopapa on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

  1. A.A. Gill doesn't share your opinion...check out his Sunday Times review.

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  2. You know what - as much as I enjoy reading AA Gill's reviews I found this one really unfair and just...wrong! He also got it wrong (in my humble opinion) with his review of Chez Bruce.

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