The Japanese section of a nightclubby upper-floor complex, near Oxford Circus; even fans of its “good but extortionately pricey” food say a visit here is “all about the atmosphere” – “have pre-dinner drinks on the terrace if you can”.
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Intrigued by our recent visit to the neighbouring Spanish restaurant, aqua nueva, we felt the need to hot-foot back across town to see how the neighbouring Japanese restaurant had turned out. There...
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Press Reviews (3)
Giles Coren (1st March 2010)
7/10 (food)
Anyone involved in publishing or writing restaurant reviews will symathise with the critic’s humorous (but fundamentally bang-on) summary of the perils of being asked for recommendations. Anyway, he ends up visiting a Japanese resaurant above Regent Street, which is touted as being “fun”. Sexually speaking, he finds an establishment “reminiscent of Harvey Nicks’ Fifth Floor in its heyday”. It can do “terrific” cocktail, and also some “first class” sushi.
Marina O'Loughlin (12th November 2009)
3/5 stars
The critic’s visit to this “new gastro-theme park”, in the old Dickins & Jones building, does not start off well. The Spanish part she’d booked for is closed, and she’s unceremoniously shunted to the Japanese bit. Grudgingly, a pair of free starters is offered by way of compensation. The sushi is “fresh… but not quite good enough for the money”, and the overall experience is “pretty OK”. The food is “expensive”, though, and the feel of the establishment is “curiously outmoded”. Given the tenor of most of the commentary, the three star award does seem quite generous.
David Sexton (29th October 2009)
2/5 stars
After navigating “the daftest entrance of any restaurant” – and a lift –the critic finds himself in the Japanese half of the “whopping operation” on Regent Street. It dawns on him that it’s “an operation in the manner of a nightclub, not a nosh house” – a “pottily opulent” space filled with “swishy-looking types” that’s “not really about eating” but “going out, seeing and being seen”. But, when he returns on an empty Monday lunchtime he enjoys “a really satisfying, carefully prepared and well-served lunch at a modest price”.
Giles Coren (1st March 2010)
Marina O'Loughlin (12th November 2009)
David Sexton (29th October 2009)
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