Coya City - The City, London

When Coya first touched down in Mayfair it was on the rising tide of the Peruvian trend. You couldn't shake a stick at all of the South American buzzwords popping up across the capital: leche de tigre, lucuma, tiraditos, anticuchos, choclo, Chifa, Nikkei. However, the entire city seemed surprised when Zuma co-owner Arjun Waney decided to put some skin in the game and make Peruvian posh at his Piccadilly members' club, bar and restaurant. He did good, and now, after openings in Miami and Dubai, he's bringing another location to the overworked EC2 neighbourhood. 

The design of the restaurant shares common DNA with its elder sibling. Dark and sultry, it's the type of spot where you want to take a while with your pisco sour. A funky copper gantry descends from the ceilings above the cocktail and ceviche bars, occasionally holding aloft ancient, giant clay pisco urns. The kitchen plan is open so that diners spy chefs toiling away at the robata grills, and many of the same South American design conceits are sprinkled throughout. You don't need to look very hard to find funky hand sewn throw pillows or black and white photography of Peru's dramatic landscape. 

Sanjay Dwivedi helms the kitchens and while many of the dishes from Piccadilly have been carried over, they've added some brand new flavours to the Angel Court site. We were particularly smitten with the new cuttlefish ceviche, bathed in squid ink cut with ginger and yuzu. Contrary to its pitch black appearance, it's a light and zingy mouthful. For anyone who hasn't visited before, the atun chifa ceviche is an instant classic - the yellowfin tuna given a spicy Chinese treatment with soy, sesame and shrimp crackers for a textural foil. The Pez Limon tiraditos were a delight to both the eyes and the tongue, with opalescent slivers of yellowtail fanned out across a bed of bright green emulsified chilli, then garnished with small crowns of day-glo tobiko.

Cangrejo de concha blanca tacos were plated theatrically, the soft-shelled crab reaching almost plaintively skyward, topped with a colourful yuzu aioli. However, one of our favourite dishes was easily the traditional ox heart anticuchos, Skewered with aji panca and parsley, the meat evinced a titanic depth of flavour. Make sure you save room for the main. Lubina chilena was sumptuously  glazed with aji Amarillo, the sea bass's peeled off deliquescently with minimal pressure from the fork. We were thoroughly sated by the time we'd finished the fish. 

Coya City does a fine job of continuing the work of its sibling restaurants. Unlike anything in its area, you can expect this to be a big hit, and with two large private dining it's perfect for a working meal. 

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