Aki restaurant review: Art Deco opulence meets Japanese serenity in London

(Image credit: Courtesy of Aki London)

This new Japanese restaurant and DJ bar might be the one to finally turn Oxford Circus into a dining destination. Arriving from its native Malta with an impressive pedigree – the Michelin-rated original is widely considered the best Japanese restaurant in Valletta – the London spin-off is an attraction in its own right. Staff offer a genuinely warm welcome before ushering diners into a room that feels like a luxurious cocoon from the shopping mayhem just a minute’s walk away.

Wallpaper* dines at Aki London

The mood: Art Deco opulence meets Japanese serenity

This first international outpost of Aki has taken up residence in a Grade II-listed former bank on the square behind John Lewis, where design duties for the £15m renovation have fallen to Francis Sultana. The Maltese-born interior designer is no stranger to reviving historic properties, not least his own Jacobean hunting lodge in Hampshire, once home to John Fowler and Nicky Haslam. Here, he draws on the interwar aesthetic of French designers Jean-Michel Frank and Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann.

Art Deco-inspired floor coverings and light fittings feature gloss-lacquered wood effects and polished metal wall pieces in a rich palette of greens and golds, while contemporary works by Ryan Gander, Bouke de Vries and Yoshirotten root the space firmly in the 21st century. Elsewhere, the recent Japanese art exhibition The Three Perfections at The Met in New York informs cloud motifs, kimono fabrics and plaster trees beneath soaring ceilings.

The food: on-site micro-farms and certified Kobe

Sultana’s meticulous craftsmanship is reflected in the refined Japanese cuisine. The Kyoto-inspired farm-to-table philosophy begins on-site with 80 micro-farms cultivating Japanese herbs, along with in-house fermentation techniques using nukadoko (fermented rice bran). The sustainable ethos extends to fin-to-tail cookery, ensuring no part of a fish goes to waste.

Other ingredients are equally authentic: Akì is one of only a handful of UK restaurants certified by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to serve genuine Kobe beef (rather than generic wagyu). Try the melt-in-the-mouth meat as a Kobe sirloin, or a Kobe sukiyaki in which thin slices of beef are simmered in an aged soya broth with shungiku leaves, yomogi tofu, shirataki noodles and Japanese root vegetables.

To drink, shochu is infused in-house, or there’s awamori, the Okinawan distilled rice spirit believed to be Japan’s oldest alcoholic drink. Not drinking? There are rare teas, too.

Aki London is located at 1 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0LA, UK.

TOPICS

Ben McCormack is a London-based restaurant journalist with over 25 years’ experience of writing. He has been the restaurant expert for Telegraph Luxury since 2013, for which he was shortlisted in the Restaurant Writer category at the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards. He is a regular contributor to the Evening Standard, Food and Travel and Decanter. He lives in west London with his partner and lockdown cockapoo.