The most expensive set menu in the UK? It’s sushi at more than US$530 – and an experience so classically Japanese, you’ll forget you’re in London
- Sushi Kanesaka is the newest outpost of Japanese chef Shinji Kanesaka, who has Michelin-star venues in Tokyo and has opened restaurants in hotels across Asia
- Located in the 45 Park Lane hotel in London, his first restaurant in Europe features an omakase menu that leaves the competition looking cheap by comparison
I am greeted by an elegant okami-san (hostess) and led along a corridor of stone flooring flanked by cedar wood walls and past a noren (curtain), where a counter is immaculately set up for dining.
So far, so Tokyo – except I am in London, on the first floor of the 45 Park Lane hotel.
Sushi Kanesaka is the newest outpost of Japanese chef Shinji Kanesaka, whose restaurant empire spans several Michelin-star venues in Tokyo, including his flagship two-star Ginza Sushi Kanesaka.
He has also opened restaurants within five-star hotels in Asia, including at the Carlton and St Regis hotels in Singapore – which have one Michelin star apiece – and at the Palace Hotel, Tokyo.
Sushi Kanesaka at 45 Park Lane in Mayfair is Kanesaka’s first restaurant outside Asia, and I am visiting during the soft launch before its official opening on July 1.
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Until now, London’s most expensive set menu has been that at The Araki – another branch of which can be found in Hong Kong – at £310 per head for the sushi omakase, according to UK restaurant guide Harden’s.
Overall, the most expensive in Britain was at Ynyshir, a restaurant with guest rooms in mid-Wales that serves a tasting menu with Japanese, Chinese and Thai influences for £375 per head, according to the 2023 edition of Harden’s.
Core ingredients such as wasabi and rice will be shipped from Japan – Kanesaka has his own blend of rice from Yamagata prefecture – while fish and shellfish will be sourced from within Europe and will include Cornish crab and Scottish lobster.
All fish will be killed using the ikejime method – a spike to the brain and other speedy actions to prevent reflexes producing lactic acid and ammonia in the dying creature – to ensure high food quality.
From their seats at the counter – carved from a solid piece of Japanese cypress, as in Kanesaka’s other outlets – diners will be treated to the artful performance of the shokunin (apprentices) crafting dishes before each creation is carefully presented before them in succession.
The pale woods of the restaurant interior, simple but stylish, will be familiar to diners who have eaten at other Kanesaka restaurants. Wooden panels featuring designs inspired by Hyde Park, opposite the hotel on the other side of Park Lane, are a subtle reminder of this one’s location.
The personable Kanesaka has been in London preparing with his team of chefs, sommeliers and hosts for the launch and will spend periods in the kitchen at 45 Park Lane three or four times a year. The eight-strong London team was mostly recruited from Kanesaka’s existing restaurants.
The sushi artisan says he has chosen the British capital for his first restaurant in Europe since “London is recognised world over as the epicentre of high-end dining”.
While Kanesaka is opening his first outpost in Europe, the Dorchester Collection, which also has hotels in France, Italy and the United States, has announced plans for its first hotel in Asia. In Tokyo’s Torch Tower, the tallest building in Japan, the hotel is slated to open in 2028.
