Roketsu

To understand what makes Roketsu special, it’s important to really grasp what kaiseki is. Yes, it’s a beautiful, seasonal multi-course dinner, but the core of kaiseki is as much about hospitality and respect for the earth as it is about the food.

The dining room itself is minimal, lending focus to the exquisite food and service. The long wooden counter makes up the focal point of the room, and chefs busy themselves quietly with prep on the other side, whilst a charcoal grills ticks away gently in the corner. It’s all very meditative. The wood used to make Roketsu’s beautiful hinoki counter, for example, is over 400 years old - one can’t help but feel rooted in the magnitude of that when each dish is placed upon it.

From the moment you step through the sliding wooden door into the dining room, it’s clear that Roketsu is something special and unique. The team here moves like a well oiled machine, gliding around each other with grace, managing to be attentive without being overbearing.

Kaiseki menus should be a reflection of a moment in time. April in Japan is cherry blossom season, so the meal starts with cherry blossom sake, and a white asparagus veloute that has an amazing clarity of flavour. More highlights include a magnificent sashimi platter, and a broth of red mullet and sakura leaf with ginger and burdock. Cornish brill - licked by smoke from the grill - is nicely accompanied by a tang of rhubarb. Compared to the rest of the meal, a dessert of mango pudding and pink grapefruit sorbet feels ever so slightly like an afterthought, but the sorbet has a stunning purity that changes our minds instantly.

For £190 a head, this might be the bare minimum you expect. That sort of price puts Roketsu in rarified air with all but the most expensive in London - on food alone you might find more exciting, interesting options, but as a complete experience, Roketsu is certainly worth a visit.

Roketsu in Marylebone celebrates a unique and very specific style of Japanese dining: Kaiseki. The term refers to a traditional Japanese multi-course meal, very similar to a tasting menu, with each course made with meticulous attention to detail and a focus on aesthetic and ensuring minimal waste. It's inspired by the dishes served at a tea ceremony. There is one Kaseiki 10-course menu on offer at Roketsu, which changes monthly in line with the seasons to ensure the freshest produce possible.  

The whole affair is very intimate with a maximum of 16 guests seated around the stool bar for a three-hour meal. Although the food offering does rotate frequently, examples of dishes might include Shiizakana, which is barbary duck kamo-nabe with leek, Cornish ikejime seabass with lobster toro, yuzu and Japanese mustard, and a chilled soup (Nakachoku) made with Black Chalk ‘Dancer in Pink’ wine.  

The brains behind the whole thing is head chef Daisuke Hayashi whose previous experience includes a 20-year stint at three-Michelin starred Kikunoi in Kyoto. His training began there at the tender age of 18, and Hayashi is now forging his own culinary path via modern and progressive techniques in his cooking.  

The interiors were made in Kyoto using Japanese hinoki wood and shipped to London by the craftsmen at Nakamura Sotoji Komute. Other accolades from the business includes building tea rooms for two Rockefellers, one at Nelson A. Rockefeller’s home in Pocantico Hills, and the other at a city park in Munich. The dining area has been designed to replicate the look and feel of an old Japanese tea room, in traditional sukiya style, so expect plenty of light wooden surfaces and a serene ambience throughout. There is also an area where customers can engage in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, with the restaurant split across two floors.