Hampstead, Japanese Restaurant Guide

Long a beacon for “exceptional and authentic Japanese” cooking – and at “great value for Hampstead” – the ratings have dipped for this restaurant since it expanded into the premises next door a couple of years back. “It’s twice the size and quite posh now, but the service is not as great” and “the sushi, yakitori skewers and so on are good, but didn’t blow me away as they did in the past” – “maybe the standard of London sushi has risen but it all felt rather lacklustre several years on from my previous visit”.

“Fine Japanese cuisine” is a welcome addition to Hampstead: here it’s provided by chef Law Kwok Meng, backed by Takuya Watanabe who runs Taku in Mayfair and opened this cleanly designed, mutedly decorated venue a year ago. The main event is a 17-course omakase for £130 per person (or at lunchtime a 12-course variant for £70 per person). But – in a similar vein to last year – while all reports are positive about the standard of cooking, all reports note that it’s really “quite pricey”. If you want to suss it out before eating, drop in for a drink in the first floor lounge ‘Upstairs at INÉ’ (which also hosts regular masterclasses and exhibitions).