From the carnivorous theatre of Flesh and Buns to the bargain elegance of Inko Nito and the rooftop refinement of Sachi, Alex Larman finds that London’s Japanese scene has never looked so varied — or so good…
Flesh and Buns
Flesh and Buns, situated right in the heart of Covent Garden, might usefully be called “a Japanese restaurant for people who think they don’t like Japanese food”. By which I mean that if you’re a fiend for sashimi and makri, you won’t be disappointed, but this take on an izakaya, or Japanese pub, offers full-flavoured, robust cooking that is as likely to appeal to the most carnivorous of diners, who are lured in by the eponymous flesh, as it will to those more mild-mannered souls who would prefer a more conventional Japanese experience.
Kick off with a couple of the excellent cocktails (we especially enjoyed the miso caramel fashioned, a punchy and miso-infused take on an Old Fashioned) while you peruse the menu, and then you’d be well-advised, while gazing around the subterranean room, to start with some of the small plates that temptingly dot the menu. Some of them are more conventional than others; the ‘chips and dips’ section, of rice crackers with avocado shiso, are the stuff of snacking, and we loved the ‘yaki’ selections of chicken with yakitori sauce and pork (or ‘piglet’) with kochujan, to say nothing of the excellent fried squid.
But let’s be honest, you’re here for the eponymous flesh and buns, and they do not disappoint. Choose from a variety of carnivorous options – we went for chicken, lamb and pork, the holy trinity – and construct your own fluffy bao buns from combinations that include sweet soy mayo, spring onion and red onion pickle and (perhaps best of all) mustard miso and apple pickle. Three buns between two is about right for the hungry, and it all tastes delicious, especially when washed down with a bottle of the very drinkable Portuguese house red wine.
You’re unlikely to have much space left for pudding, but if you can manage it, there’s a touch of the theatrical if you order the s’mores – toast your own marshmallows and almond chocolate at your table – or if this is all too much like hard work, the kinako doughnuts with black sugar custard are a wonderfully Japanese twist on an old staple. Diners at Flesh and Buns will leave replete, happy and with an (entirely undeserved) sense of having done some work – if eating and drinking plenty of delicious food can be thus described.
Flesh & Buns, 41 Earlham St, London WC2H 9LX. For more information, and for bookings, please visit www.fleshandbuns.com.
Inko Nito (main image)
If you’ve walked past the green neon sign on Soho’s Broadwick Street and wondered what kind of establishment lurks within, then I strongly advise you to venture into Inko Nito and discover one of the capital’s best-value set menus. Despite being set up by Rainer Becker, responsible for the rather pricier likes of Zuma and Roka, this fine spot has a ‘Taste of Inko’ menu, at a bargain £28.50 per head, which serves up a mini-tasting menu of sorts at the kind of prices that I’d long ago stopped imagining I would see in central London.
Diners – who, if they’re really fortunate, will get a seat with views of the open kitchen, complete with robata grill – kick off with a selection of starters that include prawn and leek dumplings, breadcrumb fried chicken with chilli garlic yoghurt and spicy tuna tempura maki roll. If you’re so inclined, you can also order a glass of Albarino at a mere £9.50.
Mains offer a degree of choice and also innovation; bone marrow with smoked soy and garlic toast is not the kind of thing you usually see in izakayas of this nature, and baby back pork ribs are beautifully glazed and presented. If you’re more of a red wine fan, the Cotes du Rhone – also at £9.50 – is a great accompaniment.
The meal ends with a selection of finely crafted mochi and then, an hour and a half or so after you’ve first strolled in, you walk out of Inko Nito, purse not much lighter and with an ineffable sense of good cheer. The best value set menu in Soho? We’re calling it.
Inko Nito, 55 Broadwick St, Carnaby, London W1F 9QS. For more information, and for bookings, please visit www.inkonitorestaurant.com.
Sachi
This third suggestion earns its place on the strength of a revisit, not least because Sachi’s rooftop turns out to be exactly where you want to be marooned during a London heatwave — all cooling breezes and skyline views, several degrees more bearable than street level and several notches more glamorous. Perched across two floors of the old Pantechnicon building in Belgravia, it has the good sense to put you in a lift and deposit you somewhere that feels a very long way from Motcomb Street: polished timber, kintsugi flourishes, and, up top, a view that does most of the seducing before a single plate arrives. The name translates as ‘happiness, fortune and blessing’, and it’s hard to argue with the branding once the food starts coming.
The kitchen, under head chef Joonsu Park, works in the kappo style — that useful middle ground between formal kaiseki and the conviviality of an izakaya, built around the idea of “cutting and cooking” rather than any single fixed menu. Start at the sushi counter with wagyu aburi nigiri or a plate of sea bream sashimi, both handled with the kind of precision that makes you sit up a little straighter, before the robata grill takes over: miso aubergine (a genuine house speciality, silken within its char) and lamb cutlets or short rib for those who came for something with more heft.
The tempura is worth a detour too, not least a lobster version served with an umami-rich dashi that rather puts supermarket prawn tempura to shame. Work your way through a sake flight, or one of the Japanese-whisky-led cocktails, and — rooftop breeze permitting — you’ll understand why nobody seems in a hurry to leave.
It isn’t a cheap night out, and nobody is pretending otherwise, but Sachi has the rare gift of making you feel thoroughly spoiled rather than merely relieved of your money — which, given that name, might be exactly the point.
Sachi London, Second Floor, Pantechnicon, 19 Motcomb St, London SW1X 8LB. For more information, and for bookings, please visit www.sachirestaurants.com.
