Gura Gura review: diverse Asian flavours in Covent Garden

Just the premise of a “pan-Asian” restaurant can be disorientating. After all, how can any single menu truly capture the myriad cuisine of a region that covers a third of the planet?

Maybe it can’t, but in London’s Covent Garden, Gura Gura deserves credit for how it represents the diverse flavours of the continent by keeping its menu concise and flavour-first.

The location

Situated in Slingsby Place, Gura Gura isn’t a household name like many of its neighbours in hyper-competitive Covent Garden. It’s also slightly harder to find. That puts it at a disadvantage, but that also means it can’t hide behind the reliable, but short-term opportunism of the district’s relentless foot traffic. So it needs repeat customers, and that in itself should raise standards. Everything from the tone it wants to set to the quality of the food it turns out has to make a quick impression.

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The vibe

It was reassuring to feel Gura Gura fizzing with pre-theatre energy when I visited on a Wednesday. It’s a feast for the eyes too, with few corners not generously appointed with exotic plants or something else exuberant. But the layout, split across two floors, sent mixed messages.

The upper floor is a more conventional dining space while downstairs aspired for the kind of dusky glamour you might find in a Tiki bar: all leather booth seats, mirrored walls and clubby lighting. That can hit the spot if your night is just starting, but it made the high tables in the centre of the room, where I was seated, feel out of place. Even if I was technically inside it, I felt like an outsider to where all the fun was happening.

The food and drinks

I expected Gura Gura’s menu to be at least a dozen pages long, crammed with obscure dishes that would send me into a tailspin of indecision. So I was relieved to find it confidently edited.

The cocktail list was where I was spoiled for choice. I honed-in on the relative safety of its negroni section, as I often do, and chose a version with tobacco. It was well-balanced and offered just enough smokey astringence to make it an intriguing update of a classic.

My table was quickly populated with an array of nigiri and various small plates from Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia. The five-piece sushi of tuna, yellowtail, salmon, scallop and sea bream was skilfully made. The vinegared rice was firmly formed but loose enough to fall apart when necessary. It’s a consistency that’s rare in restaurants other than those specialising in sushi to an obsessive level.

A carpaccio of those same fish relied on quality, freshness and knife skills, all of which were present, if not from the very top tier. The accompanying house pickled veg was an inspired touch, dialling-up the flavour factor of what is otherwise a subtle dish.

Of all the small plates we ordered, the most impressive was essentially street food. The curried courgette and mushroom skewer is where Gura Gura came into its own. The spicing was rampant and the veg was grilled in a way that retained the perfect amount of bite. Like the best kind of street food, this was simple but seriously addictive.

Laksa – that soul-soothing noodle soup from Malaysia – is a potent mood-regulator when done well. Gura Gura’s seafood laksa was a solid effort, containing some morish plump prawns and scallops, but I’d have liked a braver assault of chilli and lemongrass to punctuate the creamy base of coconut.

Another regional classic, a Thai green curry with seasonal vegetables, king oyster mushroom and tofu, was unlikely to scratch the heat itch, but it tingled with the more approachable fragrance that a good green curry should. At this point, I had to admire the consistency: almost every plate or bowl had left our table cleaned.

It’s tempting to stick with the cocktails in a restaurant whose cuisine is the embodiment of fusion, but I was rewarded by twisting with a 2021 Domaine Combe Rouge from Picpoul de Pinet that came highly recommended. Dry, light and effortless on the palate, it was just the right match for lots of seafood and a lively atmosphere.

The verdict

Gura Gura isn’t the most subtle restaurant in Covent Garden. And it might not get fawned over by those in the more serious circles of the London food scene. But at least its approach to spice, heat and all the other wonderfully loud flavours that characterise the food of Asia comes from a place of knowledge. It clearly understands the food, which makes it easy to understand the restaurant.

Dominic Kocur was a guest of Gura Gura. The Yards Covent Garden, 19 Slingsby Place London, WC2E 9AB; guragura.co.uk