New London restaurant Aki has opened in a quiet enclave a few minutes’ walk from Oxford Street
A handsome, high-ceilinged former bank with all its beautiful ceiling cornicing and latticework from its 1825 opening has been refashioned as a Japanese restaurant.
New London restaurant Aki is behind an unassuming door opposite The Phoenix pub a few minutes’ walk from Oxford Circus, but go inside and the space is quite incredible, though more befitting to grand balls than plates of sushi, perhaps. It must be really hard to find furniture that matches the scope of this building and that doesn’t feel drowned out by it.
The team has gone for opulent, though I think stripped-back would have been better: simple polished wood would leave the building to make the statement rather than the furnishings, but instead the pieces chosen include some tacky faux marble countertops. And I’m suspicious when DJs start pounding out beats halfway through the evening. Anyway, it’s certainly a noteworthy spot for dinner.
The menu by executive chef Sameer Taneja (formerly of Benares) is imaginative, and playfully presented, but Taneja is also serious about flavour. Small dishes like the Fuji wagyu beef tataki and chu-toro tuna tartare with the fishes’ heart mushed in are riots of flavour; but it’s all about the Robata: Lumina lamb cutlets with Yuzu Nattao and ume boshi is bold and refined; miso butter poached Chilean seabass a lighter but equally flavour-packed ride. A dramatic destination for very dramatic food.
To book go to akilondon.com