The team behind west London restaurant Dorian is to open a new Japanese venture near Notting Hill Gate station next week that combines two separate hit residencies, Urchin and Robin’s Ramen.
Nakimushi – which means ‘cry baby’ in Japanese – has taken over a three-storey townhouse in Kensington Mall, providing a permanent home for two residencies that made their names at the Supermarket of Dreams, owned by the Australian founder of Dorian, Chris D’Sylva. His 10-seat sushi bar Eel Sushi is also nearby.
At Nakimushi, a street-level ramen bar will offer chef Robin Kosuge’s signature lobster ramen as well as a charshu pork belly ramen with Basque chicken broth and ajitama, along with snacks like wild hamachi with yukari ponzu and nori oil and corn tempura with fig leaf salt. Â
Upstairs will be a restaurant and bar run by Yuji Shimokawa Kelly, whose Urchin project earned a 5/5 food rating in this year’s Harden’s guide, while its £250-per-person all-ticket ‘Tuna Fight Club’ nights won it fame as far afield as the New York Times. Its menu includes red prawn and courgette gyoza with umeboshi, quail tempura with jerk tendashi and apricot purée and grilled Ibérico x Duroc pork loin with red almond miso.
Nakimushi’s first-floor bar will feature shochu highballs (available in both normal and low-alcohol versions), including the Hato-Hai, a take on a Paloma made with maraschino and grapefruit.
Yuji says: “With Nakimushi, we wanted to create a space where people can enjoy our approach to Japanese cooking in two different ways under one roof.“
