#KOJ CAREER FULL#

Marinated and seared sliced beef comes on a sprightly salad of ginger, shiso and daikon for extra crunch. Purple sprouting broccoli, cooked just enough to take the edge off, comes bathed in garlic, chilli oil and lots of fresh red chilli. It is April and we are not far from the Vale of Evesham so, of course, there are asparagus: crunchy thumb-thick speers, deep green and sliced on the vertical, then dressed with the high notes of lemon and the darker, warmer thud of barley miso. The kitchen’s light touch is even more pronounced with the vegetables. It’s both delicate and, for that £8 price tag, extremely good value. Three fillets of lemon sole, curled around themselves into cones, like illustrations from a Good Housekeeping cookery book circa 1978, are precisely steamed and then served with a butter punched up with ground-down seaweed. Sesame flavoured mayo sends it happily on its way.

Purple sprouting broccoli with chilli: ‘A bowl of vigour and class.’ Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The ObserverĪs we do for the Koj Fried Chicken – work out the initials yourself – which is halfway between the softness of American southern fried, and the full-on crunch of Japanese karaage. The young teens lending us their company fall in love with small bowls of buttery garlic rice at £2 a pop, the surface decorated with a tangle of spring onions, the pearly white grains sticky but separate. There’s a list of hirata buns at £4 to £6, and sides at a couple of quid each. The cultural signifiers lie in the huge image of Pikachu on one wall – ask your kids – and multiple Japanese brand logos on the other. Only now, courtesy of some crowdfunded dosh, has he opened his own place, an Asian café in Cheltenham drawing on his half-Japanese heritage.Īfter all this time, you might presume fireworks, but there’s something cheerfully low key about Koj, located in a Georgian terrace off the main shopping drag. He worked as a private chef and did pop-ups. After MasterChef he gave up the career in the city and worked his way through stints both short and less so at everywhere from the Ledbury to Le Gavroche to Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. I remember the desperate sadness of one finalist who told me they wanted to remortgage their house to do so, but that they had been vetoed by their family.Īndrew Kojima, a finalist in 2012, has played the long game, whether by necessity or design. For every Tim Anderson, who found backing for his ramen shop Nanban in Brixton, there are others who can’t get there. Obviously, most of them would like to open their own restaurant, but it takes money.

#KOJ CAREER FULL#

Some loiter at food world parties full of hidden shallows, canapéd to the gills and then simply disappear, seemingly air-kissed out of existence. Some do “consultancy”, which covers a multitude of sins. Koj Fried Chicken: ‘We send for more.’ Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Observer

Koj career