Places to eat: Roka Canary Wharf

** Note – an updated post with a review of Roka, post-Covid, is available here **

Bottomless brunch that includes drinks and sushi. Book me in! Available on weekends, Roka at Canary Wharf offers a tasty selection of food and convenience for families. Although it’s not a restaurant you would visit every week, you deserve to treat yourself once in a while. And on this occasion, it was a joint birthday celebration for the wife and a friend.  

Date Visited: Sunday, 10th February 2019.

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: Three pricing options depending on the main course you select. Starting from £39, up to £79 per person. There’s a children’s menu, which allows them to access the buffet spread and soft drinks as well.

Review of Roka, Canary Wharf: 

Roka, Canary Wharf is an inviting place. From the smiling hostess upon arrival, to the waiter topping up your drinks on a regular basis. The food display and the cooking over coals is enough to make me salivate just thinking about it. 

How it works…

With the bottomless brunch, you are invited to select from three different menu options for your main course. Each comes with gyozas and edamame beans as starters and a dessert platter to finish. Drinks include Bellini, house wine or a passionfruit green tea (other soft-drink options are available). Once you have selected the main course you prefer, then it’s free-for-all as you head up to the buffet spread. 

There’s a myriad of options, including salads, noodles, soups, meat and vegetarian options, and of course, sushi and sashimi. On average, we can visit the spread about two times before the starters are served, and then another two or so times before the mains follow. By then, you’re reaching capacity. But make sure to save some space for the fruit and dessert platter! 

The menus and options available do, and have changed over the few visits we’ve made. They seem to have swapped the crab rice hot pot for a mushroom truffle version, which was slightly disappointing on this occasion. Nevertheless, it still tasted nice even though I’m not a fan of mushroom. The other mains we selected were the steak (yums!) and the black cod, a must-have. 

For children, there’s a separate kids menu. Cara’s favourite is the teriyaki salmon with rice, which she slowly devoured while going back and forth to the play area. After about five glasses of green teas each and an empty dessert platter (which included an ice cream for Cara), we had overstayed our allotted two hour timeframe and made our way out to burn it off with a walk around the Wharf. 

Tips:

1. Book ahead – It’s difficult to turn up on the day and grab a table, so be sure to book. If there’s no availability, you can try another branch of Roka. Alternatively, Nobu Shoreditch offers a similar bottomless brunch, or you can try Tom’s Kitchen in Canary Wharf which also has a kids area for brunch.
2. Choose the kids area – Roka, Canary Wharf has a kids section in the corner that has books and toys to keep them busy, allowing parents to eat. It’s also quieter and more spacious seating.
3. Walkabout – Although Canary Wharf is a financial hub and can be quite sterile, it has become more lively on weekends now. There’s more shops and restaurants, and if you visit during the summer, they hold a lot more events in the park that Roka overlooks. If visiting in winter, the restaurant has views of the ice skating rink. Additional, you can stroll over to West India Quay and visit the Docklands Museum (which includes a small play area for the kids)

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

Ratings:

Burn Time: 4 out of 5 – there’s a two hour seating slot, which flies by when you’re scoffing down salmon sashimi. However, you can make the most of the day out wandering around the shops, ice skating, or watching a movie in the park.
Value: 3 out of 5 –  not the cheapest of lunches, but when it comes with bottomless drinks and Japanese food, you’re definitely getting your money’s worth
Overall: 4 out of 5 – we tend to visit Roka, Canary Wharf a few times a year, usually when we have cravings for Japanese cuisine. Cara loves the sushi, salmon and rice, dessert platter and kids area, so a winner all-round! 

Are you a black cod fan? Smash the salmon sashimi? Add your favourite dishes in the comments below.

Photos of the food courtesy of Thomas L