It’s been two years since the original post on Roka Canary Wharf, and a lot has happened in between! The good news is that the bottomless brunch still exists. Hooray! Here’s an updated review of the restaurant post-Covid.

Date Visited: Sunday, 27th June 2021.

Location:  Park Pavillion, 4, 40 Canada Square, London E14 5FW

Getting There: A five minute walk from Canary Wharf Underground or DLR station. Also accessible by bus or car, with parking available underneath Waitrose. Remember to ask Roka to validate your parking ticket when you leave to receive three hours of free parking.

Cost: The pricing has changed with a base starting price of £43 per person. They then add on extras for the premium dishes and drinks. There’s a separate children’s menu which includes the shared plates and a dish of their choice. 

Review of Roka, Canary Wharf: 

Due to Covid and social distancing, the previous buffet spread is no more. The trade-off is that the dishes are now brought to you which saves queuing up in close proximity. It’s still a bottomless brunch or dinner, and the menu items are pretty much the same as before. You start off with the shared plates, which include nicely dressed salads, salted edamame beans, gyozas, chicken karage, maki rolls, and our favourite, sashimi. We reordered the sashimi four times . Cara enjoyed the maki rolls and demolished about eight pieces by herself. 

Roka Sashimi

Once you’re 75% full from the starters, out come the mains. On this visit, we opted for the ribs, the black cod, and chicken and mushroom rice pot. The last two dishes come with a £14 supplement on top of the £43 as mentioned above. Cara stuck with her favourite, teriyaki salmon with rice, which she worked through. Although the eating experience has changed, the actual food quality has stayed the same. The sashimi pieces were a decent cut (not too thick or thin), and the mains were seasoned well and tasty. 

Roka Ribs Roka Black Cod

Our table aren’t the biggest of drinkers, so we opted for standard soft drinks – passionfruit, matcha green teas. However, there is an all you can drink wine option for an extra £16 per person. 

For dessert, the shared platter is back, but with slightly different desserts and fresh fruit. Nice to see some more exotic fruits like dragon and star fruit added. The desserts aren’t too sweet and there fruit sorbets are great to help cleanse the palate after such a big meal. Service was okay, we’ve had better at Roka before. We had to chase a couple of items at the start. Nevertheless, we still received all the food and drinks we ordered and went home with a full belly.

Roka Dessert

Big smiles (and nostrils) from Cara at the end of the meal.

Roka Cara

More Info: https://www.rokarestaurant.com/restaurant/roka-canary-wharf/

Ratings:

Burn Time: 4 out of 5 – on our visit, we didn’t have the usual two hour time limit, but I think this still applies on the busier days.
Value: 3 out of 5 –  still not the cheapest, especially with the supplements and drinks. But it is still very delicious if you’re craving for Japanese food and sashimi.
Overall: 4 out of 5 – the dining experience isn’t the same now that the buffet spread isn’t there, but that might be a good thing. Table service all the way, with quality dishes. 

Can you top our four reorders for the sashimi? Let us know in the comments below.