101-111 Kensington High Street, London, W8 5SA Telephone: 020 3971 4646
High Street Kensington is a quintessentially English place, but there is a small part that bucks that trend, just next to High Street Kensington tube station, namely Japan House, as it promotes all things Japanese.
As you enter Japan House, it has a similar feel to a well known mobile phone brand store, as it is all white, minimalistic and there isn’t a product out of place. Japan House is the new cultural home of Japan in London and showcases the very best of Japanese art, design, gastronomy, innovation, and technology. The gastronomy side is why we found ourselves in Japan House, as it houses their Japanese restaurant Akira, which is situated on the first floor.
The restaurant is named after Chef Shimizu Akira, and shows off all that is best in Japanese food, including its presentation.
A restaurant experience is based not just on its food but also its welcome, and the ambiance at Akira ticks all these boxes with its understated, elegant design and the omotenashi welcome (for the uninitiated, which included me, a shouted greeting from the chefs when you enter the restaurant). The design is unassuming with wooden chairs and tables separated from the bar by a simple latticed black wooden screen, and the room is dominated by the open kitchen where the skilled chefs weave their magic.
Choosing off a Japanese menu is, for me, a daunting experience, as the selection is always extensive and everything sounds wonderful. For that reason, my eye always looks for a selection or set menu, and Akira has a section called Omakase (the literal translation is “I’ll leave it up to you”), which includes a selection of 3 or 5-course menus. There is a Robata Omakase, which includes meats flamed on the Robata grill or the Sushi Omakase, for the sushi lover, and both are split between 3 (£60) and 5 (£75) courses.
We selected the 3-course Robata Omakase and our meal started with a wonderful appetiser of fresh blue fin tuna, caviar balls and crunchy rice all blended together with a slightly sharp sauce. The flavour explosion was intense and the mixture of textures inspired, and all this was served in a hollowed-out rock stimulating all of your senses, especially your sight. The next course was the sashimi which included an assortment of sashimi, Japanese osozai side dishes and a vegetable selection. In keeping with our dramatic experience so far, these dishes were served in a wooden box split into 15 identical compartments. Japanese style traditionally abhors different flavoured dishes touching each other on a single plate, so this was a novel way to adhere to the old ways and etiquette. The box contained wonderfully fresh sashimi of eel, salmon, and tuna, along with tempura prawn, an arancini ball, potato salad and crunchy vegetables. The best dish however, was a strip of smoked mackerel on a bed of steamed spinach which had been marinated in a punchy sauce.
The main course was brought on a hot rock and included tender wagu beef, succulent lamb chop, chicken skewers and tempura vegetables all served with a rich miso soup. According to Japanese custom, the solid ingredients in a good miso soup are chosen to reflect the seasons and to provide contrasts of colour, texture, and flavour, and here strongly flavoured ingredients were mixed with delicately flavoured ingredients to provide a warming miso soup.
Japanese food is healthy and prides itself on always using the freshest seasonal ingredients, and Akira is true to these principles, but it doesn’t just provide a great meal, it provides the diner with an overall Japanese experience which elevates your evening to a new level.
Image: Japan House London - Photo Nacasa & Partners Inc.
