Test Driving Niju – a twist on sushi and home cooking for Endo and his team in Mayfair

The best place to sit at the sushi counter in Niju.

Wait a minute, wasn’t this 20 Berkeley?

Well spotted. Yes, for nine months this was a restaurant that focused on the best of the British. But the Mayfair crowd clearly wasn’t blown away and the people behind it – The Creative Restaurant Group – decided to pivot and switch back to one of the things they do really well: Japanese food. And when your culinary director is Endo Kazutoshi, arguably one of Britain’s best sushi chefs, why wouldn’t you? The name NIJŪ means 20 in Japanese.

Where is it?

You’ll find it on Hay Hill, just a few minutes’ walk from Green Park Station.

What’s a good place to have a drink first?

Fortunately, the restaurant also has a bar in the basement that is definitely worth checking out. Nipperkin opened at the same time as 20 Berkeley and has remained essentially the same, with a few design tweaks. It is a nice atmospheric place for a drink and the cocktail menu is particularly inventive.

If you’re having a drink at the table before dinner, the Jimoto (or local) cocktail menu at NIJŪ is also worth checking out with a tight list of 10 cocktails based on classics.

From left to right: Matcha and fig leaf (daiquiri – £19); Sakura & Raspberry (Martini – £21)

Where should we sit?

That’s an interesting question, because there are two very different dining rooms here. The right dining room, as you walk up the stairs, hasn’t changed much at all. However, the left dining room has changed quite a bit. This now has the sushi bar in it and of the two rooms it seemed more relaxed. There are four stools here and it’s worth asking to sit at the counter if possible.

The left dining room (the sushi bar is at the back)

What kind of food are we talking about?

They classify this as a ‘Katei Ryori’, a home-cooked Japanese restaurant. And sure, if you happen to have your own sushi counter and fish-aging refrigerator in your kitchen, this could be true. But if you look at the menu, it’s actually split into a section of inventive snacks and small dishes, a selection of nigiri and sashimi and a range of aged beef cuts, prepared on their Konro Grill. The Katei Ryori part of the menu includes dishes such as turbot with sea herbs and miso butter or – an Insta favorite – the whole sole cooked with nori brown butter and asparagus.

We tried to sample most elements of the menu, so here’s what we had to do to give you a taste.

Tuna tataki, kizami wasabi, Parmesan (£22) – who knew a load of Parmesan was what the seared tuna dishes had been missing?

Tomato tartare, shiso, sorbet (£16) – a dish with such intense flavors it immediately jumped onto our list of the best things we’ve eaten this year. Indispensable.

We chose to go to the sushi counter for the next part to enjoy watching NIJŪ’s chef Chris Golding (ex-Dinings, Pantechnicon and Nobu) and David Bury (who was at Endo’s Notting Hill restaurant Sumi) working. It’s always fun to see the delicate work – and the blowtorches – up close.

Chef’s selection of nigiri (7 pieces – £45) – you have the option to order the nigiri and sashimi, served traditional or Niju style.

Then it was back to our table for two main courses:

Free range half chicken ‘katsu’, shredded cabbage, tonkatsu (46) – if you hadn’t considered ordering the katsu this would be a mistake. It’s a huge portion of perfectly crispy chicken.

Bone in tenderloin – served in your own Konro grill, complete with charcoal on the table and with onion ponzu, shiso salt and a yuzu salsa verde (£58).

With everything you order from the house-cured beef, a waiter comes by to make freshly grated wasabi at your table.

Room for dessert?

There were only two desserts offered when we went, so we opted for both. A chocolate namelaka wasn’t the most exciting option, but we could get behind this cake 100%.

Tonka bean custard tart, rhubarb sorbet (£15)

General thoughts:

Judging by the full dining room when we left, the switch from British to Japanese has served the restaurant well and with two excellent sushi chefs now in charge, it’s definitely worth booking. Sure, Novikov is literally a few feet away, but Niju has the magic of the name Endo that serves him well. All in all, it’s a great example of how a nimble restaurant group has figured out the best way to fill a restaurant in this part of town.

More about Niju

Where is it? 20 Berkeley St, London W1J 8EE

Find out more: Visit the website or follow them on Instagram @nijjulondon.

Hot diners dined as guests of Niju. Prices correct at time of publication.

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