What: A Mayfair restaurant serving ‘informal yet decadent’ Japanese cuisine. NIJŪ occupies the former site of modern British restaurant 20 Berkeley which launched last summer and closed earlier this year.
Who: Creative Restaurant Group is behind both the short-lived 20 Berkeley and NIJŪ. The group is led by Goodman and Burger & Lobster founder Misha Zelman and Alex D’Aguiar. The pair have parachuted in Creative Restaurant Group chef patron Endo Kazutoshi to oversee the switch to Japanese food. He has been busy of late, having pretty much concurrently launched a restaurant and bar at The OWO. Kazutoshi is also behind the Michelin-starred Endo at the Rotunda – which is currently closed for a major refurbishment – and Sumi. The kitchen at NIJŪ will be led by head chef Chris Golding and head sushi chef David Bury.
The food: NIJŪ is billed as a Japanese sushi bar and grill that also offers katei ryori-style dishes, which translates as home cooked food in Japanese. The menu is split into sections including small dishes, nigiri sushi and sashimi, katei ryori and konro-grill cooked dishes. The restaurant’s sushi and sashimi is available as either classic or NIJŪ style. The latter is charged at a slight premium and sees additional flavours added. For example scallop is pepped up with aburi, butter and soy and akami (lean red tuna) is embellished with soy and fresh wasabi. Katei ryori options, meanwhile, include roasted turbot, furikake, tomato and miso butter; grilled tofu with erengi mushroom and leek; and a take on katsu involving half a Cobb Farm chicken. The konro grill section is exclusive made up of beef, with options including Kobe sirloin (£110 per 100g) and English wagyu sirloin (£50 per 100G). The beef is served with a selection of condiments including fresh wasabi, onion ponzu, and yuzu salsa verde.
To drink: NIJŪ has inherited most of 20 Berkeley’s wine cellar. The selection is focused on classic regions and goes particularly deep on Champagne, Burgundy and Bordeaux. There is also a large selection of English sparkling wine (20 Berkeley was big on local sourcing) and a newly introduced sake section. 20 Berkeley’s 20-cover Nipperkin bar has not been re-branded but now serves Japanese-inspired cocktails alongside a menu of Japanese-influenced sando sandwiches. The concept behind the cocktail programme is jimoto, which translates as local and sees ‘the best local ingredients enhanced by Japanese touches’. Options include a take on a Margarita made with Cascahuin Blanco Tequila, Lost Explorer Espadin mezcal, orange blossom, fermented elderflower, satsuma mandarin and blossom salt; and a Penicillin involving Hibiki Harmony, Port Charlotte peated whisky, honey, miso and honey triple sec, ginger vinegar and fermented honey.
The vibe: The restaurant space has been updated but – quite understandably – hasn’t changed that much. Set beneath a recently redeveloped office block just off Berkeley Square, the space has 120-covers in total and is split into three separate dining areas and the Nipperkin bar.
And another thing: In a reference to its address, NIJŪ takes its name from the Japanese word for 20.
20 Berkeley Street, London W1J 8EE
www.nijulondon.com
