Kokoro - MK

It is a statement of fact that The Child likes eating sushi, she likes sushi in the same way that she likes olives, and she loves olives. And yoghurt. Sushi, olives and yoghurt probably at the same time if she got half the chance. Following an outstanding week and an absolutely smashed dance exam, I asked her where she wants to eat out for a treat and after I received the initial answer of 'America', we negotiated and agreed somewhere within a 10 mile radius. Kokoru has recently opened in 'intu Milton Keynes' and so it seemed a perfect excuse to sate The Child's immediate desire for sushi. It's a kiosk type affair designed for shoppers wanting to scratch their healthy lunch itch, and it seems to serve up that requirement well enough with swift service for those who need to return to work quickly (the Council offices only being across the road).

A brief word on the 'ombi-awnce', the colour scheme is minimal with white being the apparent go-to colour of choice for their interior designer. Considering that that was clearly the extent of the ambience, we chose our rolls and sat outside in the sunshine and decided that perhaps we'll leave the hot choices for another time. It's not that the place is  clearly intended to be a soulless cave waiting to devour any glimmer of happiness from your life, it's just that because it's so devoid of any personality or in fact any kind of individuality at all, that seems to be what happens by default.

Anyway, on to the food, they serve bento boxes as well as hot food served from the canteen style stainless steel buckets but we decided to go with the following for our lunch time sushi bender:

As you will know, due to the fact that my knowledge/understanding of sushi types is, as previously stated, lacking in any resemblance of sophistication or finesse, I will refer to what we ate in the following way: the salmon ones, the tuna ones, the mysterious fishy one, the prawn one, the crab stick ones and the cucumber ones.

Firstly, box one and the salmon ones. These were... OK. A bit fishy with a slice of salmon which stood up well. The tuna on the other hand was totally lost against the rice, the texture was nice and soft, if only I could actually taste the damn thing. Next up was the mysteriously fishy one - I say mysterious because while I could perhaps have made an educated guess as to the source of the mottled white rectangle, the truth is that the only reason why I knew it was a fish was because I was in a sushi restaurant*. The prawn one simply cemented the problem - was it prawn, or was it cardboard? Your answers on a postcard please! Perhaps it was the rice, or perhaps not. Either way, I suspect the problems run deeper.

Onwards to box two and the crab stick ones, these had the additional element of having been rolled in poppy seeds. It didn't save it. The Child, while she tucked into her rolls of generic fish-and-rice happily enough, she turned her nose up at this point. She had one, leaving me with the rest of the bloody box which was a struggle I don't mind telling you. They just weren't nice - the crab sticks had some kind of seafood sauce which seemed, quite contrary to expectations, make them taste even worse.

Box three then was cracked open with limited hope. but the cucumber ones were only a relative salvation. The three elements of cucumber, rice and seaweed were in proportion and individually defined - this is all good news. Well done Kokoro. However, they still didn't have any kind of memorable characteristic that would give me any reason to say; 'mmm, that is some good cucumber, seaweed and rice'.

So suffice to say, our main impression wasn't great - perhaps we'll give the hot food a try but  I have to say that the chances are slim and until I manage to get round to seeing what Akasaka in Wolverton is like, if you want sushi, go to Yo!, at least you can amuse yourself with a mini conveyer belt while they strip your wallet of cash as you walk through the door.

kokorouk.com


*And believe me, I use the term very loosely.