If its good enough for Scarlett Johansson and Nicole Kidman surely it would be good enough for Sandra and I?

The decor of Cocoon is very funky with sumptious colours (reds, pinks, purples, creams), egg-shaped seating, padded walls, and crushed silk curtains. Tables too are not without their colour with rose petals being embedded within the glass top. With the seemingly lower ceiling and wooden floor it felt quite cosy (hence the term Coocoon) without being too closed in. The restaurant itself is long and elongated and split by a bar in the middle. Overlooking Regent Street it is actually in a perfect position and, should the restaurant feel like taking advantage, could reveal big giant windows giving sweeping views of the street below.

As we were taking advantage of a special on toptable we had to get to the restaurant rather early and as a result when we first arrived it was relatively quiet and had too much attention of the staff. However saying that I was disappointed, seeing how generally attentive the staff were, that our tap waters took over 15 minutes to arrive. More so considering the room was stifling hot when we first arrived. At least we were provided a jug of water. Before many other people arrived service was almost too attentive with our water then being topped up from our jugs almost to regularly. I was so parched that this meant the waitress came to top up every few minutes. On one occasion I beat her to the punch though she was almost insistent that I let her pour.

The food at Cocoon is Pan-Asian so offers a mix of Japanese, Chinese and Thai dishes. Our set menu was seemingly dominated by Japanese dishes with three of the starters being Japanese (sushi, sashimi, gyoza) and the mains all having elements of Japanese in them. I didn’t mind though – as anyone knows I love Japanese food. I started with the sushi roll selection which included a california roll, spicy tuna roll, and cucumber roll. My palette is not so sophisticated to recognise quality sushi ingredients but I can say that the sushi was nice without being outstanding. The dish I really loved was my fillet of beef for my main. Champagne teriyaki surrounded this charred and smoky on the outside tender on the inside dish. Though it was much rarer than I requested it was still perfect. In all honest the kai lan and fried lotus seed chips served with it actually detracted from the meat! Dessert was boring in comparison – an orange sorbet and chocolate gelati (the chocolate admittedly was divine.)

Price-wise we were taking advantage of yet another toptable deal of a 3-course set meal for £25. This seemed quite a reasonable price at the time of booking but after adding cocktails (of which there is a stunningly large variety but at £10+ a pop is way over-priced) and service and a “voluntary” donation to Action Hunger we were looking at a price-tag of £40 each. This goes to show that every little thing adds up!

We had a nice time at Cocoon. We never felt pressured to leave our table (which these days is a bonus considering the large number of restaurants which enforce a 2-hour turnaround rule.) The food ws high quality and tasty. The only drawback is the price which can definitely add up – especially when you see all the delicious offerings on the menu!