This culinary pop-up brings Izakaya flavours to Kolkata

Perched high above the city on the 31st floor of The Westin Kolkata Rajarhat, Nori sets a breathtaking backdrop for an exclusive culinary crossover as it hosts Tokyo Diner for a limited-time food pop-up. Merging Nori’s signature floor-to-ceiling skyline views with Tokyo Diner’s mastery of authentic, soul-soothing Japanese flavours, this collaboration promises an immersive journey into the heart of Japan's bustling food culture.

From meticulously hand-rolled sushi to elements of global cuisine blended with Japanese flavours on your plate, the pop-up offers Kolkata’s food connoisseurs a rare taste of traditional Izakaya warmth blended with elevated fine dining. It is not merely a meal, but a sensory celebration of precision, craft, and seasonal artistry brought to life high above the city lights.

The 8-course non-vegetarian tasting menu at Nori X Tokyo Diner pop-up in Kolkata

We started our 8-course non-vegetarian menu tasting with a refreshing welcome drink that had a blend of Earl Grey and jasmine teas, sweetened with a bit of honey and elderflower syrup, not so sweet and quietly refreshing. 

Our first dish was warm Toasted Shokupan with whipped sweet miso butter, topped with togarashi. Expect a simple opening bite of soft butter, caramelised toast and Japanese umami. Up next was a Spicy Salmon Tart, and it was definitely one of our favourites. Crisp fried spring-roll tart shell filled with spicy salmon, avocado and cucumber for a bite of freshness, a small dollop of cream cheese, and a creamy miso-yuzu dressing, finished with subtle chilli and sesame.

The Hamachi crudo with green aguachile & jalapeño is what arrived on our table next. The delicate hamachi, or yellowtail tuna, dressed in an Italian-Spanish 'crudo' style, was served on a bed of a tangy, spicy, bright green aguachile, fresh jalapeño and aromatic herbs. A lot of freshness in every bite. 

Another favourite was surely the sushi platter comprising Octopus Nigiri, Big Eye Tuna Temaki and Prawn Cocktail Oshizushi. We suggest you start tasting the same in this order so that you can move from the most subtle tasting to the spicy creamy one. Also, we never knew octopus could be this tender; it didn't even have any chewy bite to it. Chef Alagu told us molluscs need to be cooked either for a minute or for an hour, and never anything in between, and the buttery octopus on this nigiri was slow-cooked for two hours straight!

For the mains, we tasted a Grilled Duck, paired with edamame, a rich mandarin-scented duck jus and sweet chilli jam, and Carbonara À La Tokyo, an interesting fusion of Japanese ramen cooked the Italian carbonara way, with the bonito and ikura (salmon roe) adding the right texture to the umami, cheesy ramen. 

The sweet and tangy Tomato sorbet with basil could quite easily double up as the dessert, with how refreshed our palate felt after this. We called it a day with the final dish from the 8-course menu, Lemon Overdose, boasting a lemon and blueberry sponge soaked with yuzu syrup, layered with matcha mousse and lemon gelato, finished with matcha dust and candied lemon peel.

Available for Friday, September 18 dinner, and September 19-20 lunch and dinner.

Set menu for one: Rs 2950++

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