Novikov

I finally visited the super popular Novikov Restaurant & Bar, right in the centre of London, near Green Park. This was Arkady Novikov’s first international project, opened back in 2011 — and it’s still going strong today.The venue is split into two parts — an Italian and an Asian restaurant.Interestingly, Novikov once shared in an interview that the opening wasn’t without drama — in particular, a negative review from The Guardian. Here are a few quotes:📌”The front half is a pan-Asian place that serves a menu of Chinese, Malaysian and Japanese dishes as if they are all the same thing (including the highly endangered bluefin tuna. Don’t look so surprised. Novikov feeds Putin. You think he’d care about a small thing like sustainability?)”📌“You don’t have to hate Novikov on principle. There’s more than enough here to make you hate it all by itself.”📌“My companion said: ‘This tastes like cheap Chinese food.’ She’s right.”You’d think that kind of review from a major publication would destroy a new restaurant — but it had quite the opposite effect. The scandal only stirred curiosity, and crowds started pouring in to check out the Russian entrepreneur’s latest spot.So one afternoon, I sat down in the Asian part of the restaurant and ordered:🥢“Crab & Truffle Soup” — an odd, jelly-like texture, almost like aspic. The overpowering ginger completely masked any other flavor.Next, I asked the waiter for a recommendation, with one condition: “Nothing spicy, please.”He suggested the:🥢“Wagyu Tacos” — minced beef tacos topped with an extremely spicy sauce. I couldn’t eat them.The manager offered to replace the dish without the sauce, which I appreciated — but I’m not usually one to take those kinds of risks, if you know what I mean.🙂And the fact that the chef who prepared the dish later messaged me on Instagram, insisting that “it wasn’t spicy at all” — well, that’s a whole other story. Let’s be honest: we’re not in a country where spicy food is considered the default. We’re in the UK — and yes, that dish was spicy.As much as it pains me to say this — I won’t be coming back to Novikov in London.