INÉ

Summary

“A great new japanese restaurant in Hampstead” from the team behind Taku Mayfair, where patron Takuya Watanabe has installed his protégé Law Kwok Meng as head chef (‘Iné’ is Japanese for rice). “Let’s hope it survives in this notoriously difficult suburb” – all reports say the food is “very good” and “service is particularly attentive” – you either eat à la carte (prepared by chef Andrew Lim), or go for the full blow-out of a 17-course omakase served personally by chef Meng. However the “high culinary ambitions here have prices to match” and even some fans “can’t help feeling it may be overpriced for NW3”. (You can also now just drop in for a drink here too, at their newly opened ‘Upstairs at INÉ’, serving specialty sakes and showcasing emerging artists).