Umu

Just off Berkeley Square, in the plutocratic heart of Mayfair, Umu is a cocoon of refined Japanese dining in the classic manner. Touch the button and the door slides back, Star Trek-style, to admit you to an environment of dark, gentle wood tones in pillars, shelving, tables and screens. Depending on your view, you may feel you are sitting in a woodland grotto or in a particularly luxurious office boardroom. This is a restaurant of serious intent, which exudes sophistication, expertise and flair at every turn, thanks primarily to a supremely skilled head chef, Yoshinori Ishii, who has fed personnel at Japan's UN diplomatic missions in Geneva and New York. There are naturally excellent sushi and sashimi to be had here, but Umu's foundation is a contemporary interpretation of Kyoto cuisine, offered in the form of kaiseki (or tasting) menus. An eight-stage progression takes in mukouzuke (a perfect langoustine with amber tomato jelly, egg vinaigrette and caviar), nimonowan (sake-marinated red mullet and maitake mushrooms in clear soup), hashiyasume (foie gras custard with brown crabmeat and ginger sauce), shizakana (pinkly grilled pigeon breast with radish and egg yolk) and more besides. Even desserts get the full treatment, as in the delectable mizugashi chestnut cake served with Cointreau ice cream, fig and sharon fruit. The full range of sake styles (warm, cold, sweet, sparkling) is available on a rollcall of over 160 labels, and there is also a wine list that would grace any high-end restaurant, no matter what the cuisine.