Cubé

Along with nearby Neo Bistro, Cubé is making the shop-worn corner of Mayfair close to Oxford Street an unlikely destination for reasonably priced top-end cuisine served with personality and warmth. Not that Cubé is cheap (good Japanese food never is), but the menu of inventive Asian tapas married with beautifully crafted sushi is a snip compared to some bigger names nearby. Get up close and personal at the counter as chef Osamu Mizuno (ex-Sake No Hana) delivers an “exquisite performance” in the narrow open kitchen or sit at one of the proper tables in the sparsely decorated (and slightly muted) dining room. We loved everything we ate, from the traditional (silky agedashi tofu in a limpid broth and meltingly soft tuna o-toro atop beautifully defined nigiri rice) to the innovative – who knew that eel with mango and foie gras would make such a successful sushi topping? There are also some downright bonkers ideas – our cheese, cod roe and lotus root ‘sandwich’ was a delirious umami wallop of deep savouriness. Downstairs, a 12-seat hideaway bar serves rare wines with low marks-ups alongside premium Japanese whiskies.