High-end Japanese restaurants in the UK tend to take a two-pronged approach to their drinks, pairing either sake or European-style wines with their menus. Now Luna, the modern omakase counter within the Thesleff Group’s City restaurant Los Mochis, has introduced a third option – pairing its 12-course set menu with Japanese wines. Luna has linked […]
A lavish Maltese-owned Japanese restaurant has opened in a Grade II-listed former bank in Marylebone. Converted at a reputed cost of £15million, it features a cocktail bar in what was the underground safety deposit vault. Aki – from ‘akitsu’, an old Japanese word for dragonfly – is a short walk from Oxford Circus in Cavendish Square. […]
A vibey contemporary Japanese restaurant whose two floors are linked by a dramatic poured-concrete staircase opened in Soho this week. Moi (pronounced to rhyme with ‘boy’), in Wardour Street, is the first launch from an ambitious new company, Mad Restaurants, founded by entrepreneur Artem Login of the international café brand L’Eto. Former Gordon Ramsay chef […]
A ‘neo Nikkei omakase’ promising an original new take on Japanese/Peruvian cuisine called Fan has opened in Notting Hill, adding Chinese and other global influences to its culinary mix. A trio of childhood friends from Lima – Romania Parra, Jorge Sasaki and Santiago Wong – have developed their style over several years in their home city, […]
Veteran Leeds Japanese restaurant Fuji Hiro has been given a new lease of life, and will reopen next week following its closure earlier this year after almost three decades. James Douglas, co-founder of the Red’s True Barbecue chain, stepped in to acquire the lease and renovate the Merrion Centre venue. He said: “Fuji Hiro has […]
A new casual sushi and sake bar called Noren opens in Mayfair this week, introducing the mini hand-roll ‘makezu’ sushi (pictured) to London, alongside a range of sakes, shochus, wines and beers. From the group behind Chisou, Noren has taken over the premises on South Molton Street vacated earlier this year by another Japanese venture, […]
The team behind highly rated Italo-Japanese fusion specialist Angelina in Dalston is to open a bigger, more relaxed pasta and grill restaurant in Shoreditch next week. Called Osteria Angelina, the venue is in the new Norton Folgate development next to Shoreditch station. It follows in the footsteps of the original Angelina, which opened in 2019 […]
The team behind Notting Hill restaurant Dorian is opening a tiny sushi bar next week, in a former antiques shop directly across Talbot Road. Eel Sushi Bar will be a 10-seat spot only for walks, operating from midday to 10pm every day under the wonderfully named former Dinings chef Nicky Noodle. Access to Dorian’s cellar […]
A Japanese diner serving Osaka-style ‘Dad’s home cooking’ – possibly superior to its British equivalent – and a third branch of Middle Eastern vegetarian restaurant Bubala are the latest arrivals at the Coal Drops Yard development behind King’s Cross station. Oton, the Japanese option, has opened from the team behind Okan in the former County Hall […]
Upscale Japanese omakase restaurant Hannah, in the former County Hall building on the South Bank of the Thames, has relaunched as Donabe Hannah – London’s first Japanese claypot cooking specialist – with a new wood-fire concept to follow in Stratford, East London. Hannah won increasing recognition over a seven-year run for its Kyoto-style tasting menus under former […]
