Japanese

Japan House, 101-111 Kensington High St, London, W8 5SA

London, England

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Overall Rating (out of 10): 8.00

Stand Out Dish: all were excellent in their own way

Meal Time: 1.50hrs

Ave Cost Per Head (excl. drinks): £60

Summary: great food, on great plates, presented beautifully

Would I Go Back? Yes

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Already coming into town for a shopping trip we booked lunch at Akira last minute. Rarely has an unplanned last minute restaurant excursion been so enjoyable and leisurely.

Akira is on the second floor of Japan house with the bottom floor focused on art exhibitions and retail. The restaurant occupies the whole second floor and is divided into two sections. As you enter at the top of spiral staircase there is a long wooden cocktail bar on your right running the length of what is effectively a large entrance corridor. Half way down the corridor there is a break in the wall revealing the main restaurant which is dominated by a large sushi counter facing out onto the restaurant. Windows running the length of the back wall of both rooms allow for a good dose of natural light.

We were seated at the wooden cocktail bar counter and promptly ordered some cocktails

Over the course of our meal we had four excellent cocktails including a milk based cocktail which is not pictured. The Hyosan was beautifully presented and a great combination of sweet blending to sharp. The Roku Wasabi was clean and tangy.

The lunch menu is short and focused. There is a selection of different main ingredients served in a bento box, noodles or don format on one side of the menu and then two lunch omakase options on the right: robata and sushi. We plumped for the sushi omakase.

A fresh and light starter served on a chilled plate. On paper I was expecting this to not work at all but was surprised by how enjoyable it was to eat and that the flavours, aided by a tasty vinaigrette, and textures worked really well.

Stunningly beautiful and really fun to eat … a tasting menu in a box. The top row was an assortment of vegetables, salads and what I can only describe as a Japanese version of really cheesy croquetas. In the middle row of sashimi the two standouts were the salmon and cold eel in a sweet tangy sauce. Finally the star of the bottom row was a savoury sweet corn brûlé.

The fish was incredibly fresh and the portions so generous that it was a bit of a struggle to eat some pieces in one go. Scallop with a spicy tomato garnish and the octopus with kimchi really stood out as inventive flavour combinations.

Another stunning dish that tasted as good at it looked. The panko breadcrumbs were golden and crunchy whilst the tomato flesh was soft and well cooked. The sushi rice and sweet sauce were a great foil to the fatty batter.

Verdict

Reading up on the chef Shimizu Akira we learnt he is guided by a ‘trinity of cooking’ principles: food, tableware and presentation. In this vein all of the crockery has been sourced from Japan and handpicked by Shimizu. As the famous saying goes “we eat with our eyes first” and what made Akira fun  and memorable was an excellent combination of great food, on great plates, presented beautifully.