A grandly housed Japanese restaurant, just south of Trafalgar Square; standards struck us as solid, rather than anything more, but good bento (and so on) deals make this a handy daytime option – by night, its ambience would make it suitable for a not-too-serious business meeting.

There’s a whole new quarter opening up in the centre of London! The recent opening of the grand new Corinthia hotel looks set to cement the return of the grand Northumberland Avenue – in recent times almost entirely overlooked – to something approaching its late-Victorian heyday.

‘Rooms’ seems too small for the chambers you find in the buildings along here – all a bit grand and institutional for modern tastes. This new Japanese restaurant is no exception. The staff, though, do try to inject a bit of life, and with some success.

This establishment is handily close to the Harden’s HQ, so we’ve visited a couple of times for lunch. We can’t honestly say we think this is a restaurant one would positively seek out from a culinary point of view, but it does offer competent cooking in comfortable and well-spaced surroundings, and might make a good choice for an informal business encounter or a civilised pre-theatre bite.

It’s also very handy for lunch. In our experience the California rolls are decent, but – for top value – a bento box is probably the way to go.

324