Roka

With branches in Canary Wharf (see entry, London E14) and Hong Kong, Roka has its finger on the pulse of modern-day metropolitan Japanese eating. And yet the design feel is anything but big-city, centred as it is here on a wood counter that looks freshly hewn from tree-trunks, and provides ringside viewing of the robatayaki chefs at work. Use of exotic hardwoods for a rustic interior creates a nice dialectic with the Medialand bustle going on outside, the more appreciable when the front windows are opened up on warm days. The charcoal-grilled items are where the action is, and are reliably dazzling, whether fish, as in grilled sea bass served on punchy yuzu dressing with a salad of nori and pickled ginger, or meat, when a quartet of succulent lamb cutlets is coated with Korean spices, and accompanied by a rich, peppery tomato sauce. The Japanese perennials such as maki rolls are exquisitely rendered (try the ebi furai version that comes with crispy prawns, creamed avocado and chrysanthemum, along with dark soy and yuzu dressings). Green tea is often pressed into service at dessert stage in modern Japanese cooking. Here, it appears ingeniously as an ice cream filling in a dark chocolate fondant, alongside some nibs of Valrhona's Jivara chocolate and a separate scoop of ice cream, this one intensely flavoured with pear. Staff are excellent, on hand to guide novices through the menu and explain the dishes as they are delivered.