TOKii

In keeping with its menu, the decor at TOKii is clean and crisp, offering up a calming oasis away from the hubbub of London life outside. Slick black bench seating and precisely lined-up chairs set the scene, while tableware is kept to plain white with chrome touches creeping in.

Sushi is the focus of the menu, with an open kitchen preparing super-fresh fish in front of a line of diners sitting up at the counter. Plates come out colourful and adorned with fresh flowers and shiso leaves, showcasing the colourful sushi and sashimi sitting on a bed of crushed ice.

Elsewhere the menu explores less traditional flavour combinations with a warm mushroom salad that is sweet, savoury and earthy all at the same time thanks to the careful handling of the various fungi, and a delicately dressed raw scallop – finely sliced and given an injection of citrus flavour from orange slices to offset the sweet meat. A tempura avocado plays into the obsession with millennials’ favourite fruit, but cut into large chunks it proves hard to manipulate with chopsticks and tastes of not much beyond its characterising grassy notes; the plump prawns are a safer bet.

Dessert impresses with a beautiful chocolate fondant and coconut ice cream that melt into one and become a Bounty-like mess of plate-scrapingly good sweet stuff.

As with a lot of hotel restaurants, TOKii seems to struggle to create much more of an atmosphere beyond tranquil, with single diners and small groups getting lost in the expanse of the space. Staff are friendly if not entirely seamless in their service, but this could be the mark of a new team yet to hit its stride. A few more months and we suspect things might warm up a little, with the whole package hopefully ready to meet the quality of the cooking.

Located within a luxurious, 5-star hotel – The Prince Akatoki London, Tokii is a new Japanese restaurant with flair. Authentic Japanese methods and flavours are at the heart of what Tokii are all about, but there's a big focus on the communal element of dining. The dishes are designed to be placed in the centre of the table, and friends and family dig in, to enjoy a variety of flavours that combine the delicacies of both East and West cuisine.

Treat yourself to a luxurious start with Tokii's breakfasts. Wake up to poached lobster with eggs and yuzu hollandaise on toasted milk bread, or the acai superfood bowl stuffed with banana, blueberries, raspberries, mango, granola, bee pollen and plant based coconut yoghurt. Pick at some yuzu miso salmon bites or the buttermilk fried chicken in gochujang mayo as you decide what to order – we can imagine it’ll be tricky.

Skewers are great for light appetites, or order a few and try a variety of flavours. You can choose from chicken in miso caramel, pork belly with Tokii style teriyaki sauce, and mixed vegetables with Japanese mustard and honey. Main dishes include a roasted rack of lamb with glazed baby vegetables, spicy green miso and crispy noodles, a fillet of stone bass with sesame green beans, lemongrass and ginger, and vegetable tempura with a dashi, mirin and soy dip.

There are cold mains, too, include Devon crab with apple, katsu mayo and sesame and poppyseed crackers, along with tuna tartare with lotus crisps, and soba noodles with grilled tenderstem broccoli, sweet chilli, ginger and soy. If you're sticking around for dessert, be sure to enjoy the dark chocolate fondant honeycomb and coconut milk ice cream. But, if you'd prefer something a bit more refreshing, the exotic fruit and pomegranate salad with passion fruit and banana sorbet sounds equally divine.