Knightsbridge, Japanese Restaurant Guide

“Marvellous, exquisite Japanese food”, including “super-fresh fish” and “the best sushi in town that won’t break your wallet”, is served at this “very professional” Mayfair outfit. Popular with Vogue staffers, who call it the ‘Condé Nast canteen’, it has a “cosy” offshoot buried in a luxurious corner of Knightsbridge.

“Crazy combinations, truly awesome at times” continue to wow all who taste the “meticulous” sushi and other modernised Japanese dishes at this duo of venues – an “awkward and tired-looking basement” in Marylebone (under chef Tomonari Chiba) and a “much-cooler-than-the original” setting in Knightsbridge (under chef Masaki Sugisaki). “I’ve wandered all round the menu with friends, and each bite was terrific”.

Arjun Waney and Rainer Becker’s “well-oiled” glamour-magnet, just off Knightsbridge, “has kept its high standards for more than 15 years now” (it opened in 2002, nowadays with spin-offs around the globe). In normal, non-Covid times, the cocktail bar is famously “a bit of a zoo”, but that just adds energy to its “buzzy” (“so noisy!”), “casual and comfortable” overall style; and even if Japanese-fusion cuisine doesn’t today seem like quite the genius-magic it did on opening, the “sublime” dishes here still feel as fresh as a daisy: “wonderous bites” of sushi, black cod and other “supreme” creations.