Restaurants / Reviews
Woky Ko: Kauto – restaurant review
Woky Ko already has a winning formula at its original Cargo 1 home, so it is refreshing that its second opening does not simply seek to recreate this.
It’s the first of the original Wapping Wharf businesses to branch out into a second home, with the two-storey site on Queen’s Road opposite the Wills Memorial Building now officially called Woky Ko: Kauto after record-breaking racehorse Kauto Star.
Chef-patron Larkin Cen now has the luxury of space and he has made sure to expand the offering here without losing the essence of what made the original Woky Ko so popular.
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There are plenty of similarities – and fans of baos will be pleased to hear that they take up a prominent section of the opening menu at this new restaurant.
Among the xiao (small sharing plates), the salt and pepper squid (£5.95) were crispy and liberally garnished; while the roast char siu (skewered roasted pork, £8.95) were served as sliced strips, tender and delicious.
Larkin Cen talks to customers sat overlooking the kitchen at Woky Ko: Kauto
Behind the pass, Cen, who worked as a lawyer before becoming a Masterchef finalist in 2013, had the serene look of someone who was choosing what television channel to watch rather than worrying about how this first evening’s service at his new restaurant was going.
His worries were partly taken away by an already well-drilled team, who from the open kitchen to the front of house ensured that everything ran so smoothly that Cen even had time to come and sit next to one customer and his young daughter to ask them if they were enjoying their meal.
The answer was a resounding yes, with Janelle Monae’s Make Me Feel on the stereo helping to give this restaurant a vibrantly of-the-moment feel alongside a sleek design featuring gleaming metal, polished concrete and hanging planks of wood.
Korean fried chicken, ramen noodles, soy egg and umami broth
If there is a concept here, it is based on the noodle soup cafes in China where – as Cen explains – guests need a good broth and good chilli oil, and nothing else matters.
In a similar style to Cargo Cantina at Cargo 2 which has taken tacos served on the streets of Mexico City and elevated them to a restaurant dish with the use of the best ingredients, so has Woky Ko with its da – large plates – which feature the likes of a crispy duck rice noodle salad and a chicken Thai green curry with steamed rice.
Jamon serrano bones go into making the crystal clear umami broth which features in a variety of the larger dishes including with Korean fried chicken, ramen noodles and soy egg for £13.45, with Woky Ko’s own Woky XO chilli oil served in a small ramekin and advised to handle with care.
Handle the chilli oil with care but make a mess of the broth because that’s the best way, digging deep to find the juicy chucks of chicken – accompanied on one table with a bottle of Hite, South Korean lager – as the noodles are slurped with gleeful abandon.
As the bill arrived in tins decorated in familiar Banksy stencils, it’s clear that Woky Ko has already become a familiar favourite to Bristol food lovers and has swiftly found a winning formula at its second home.
Woky Ko: Kauto, 7/9 Queen’s Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 1QE
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