Chef Masaki Sugisaki is a talented man.
He was practically raised in his family kitchen back in Japan, and honed his skill at restaurants like Nobu after coming to London. So when he started his own restaurant, expectations were a tad high. And we’re happy to report that he’s met, and indeed exceeded them.
You’ll find it down a quiet, cobbled mews street sandwiched between Chelsea and Knightsbridge. The restaurant is all housed in a Grade-I listed building that used to be an artists studio, and is something of a masterpiece in itself. The modern furnishings separate an elegant quartz bar on one side, and a grand Victorian fireplace on the other, all overlooked by a mezzanine floor above. Everything’s flooded with light thanks to the long windows, and they even come with cushioned windowsill seats, too.
As with the Marylebone mothership, the food is all an inventive cross between classic Japanese techniques and Western ingredients. Cornish day boats whisk all manner of swimmers to the place daily, leaving a menu filled with the likes of Crispy Rice (small, crunchy parcels of glutinous rice paired up with salmon or spider crab); Dover sole carpaccio with freshly shaved truffle & ponzu jelly; and little wagyu sliders scorched on their Josper grill.
The sushi inventively has soy pre-seasoned into the rice itself, and comes in a range of varieties – you’ll find every cut of bluefin tuna you could want, from the fatty to the lean, you’ll also get yellowtail, hand-dived scallops, smoked eel, line-caught seabass, the works. Your server will even recommend the order you should eat them in, as as to help build the flavours upon one another.
Then, to finish it all off, you can get a yuzu cheesecake which looks exactly like a yuzu fruit, complete with green leaves, and a little branch too. Slice it open, and you’ll find a heart of zingy blood orange & ginger to cut through the lusciously creamy wrapping.
Just don’t eat the branch.
NOTE: Dinings SW3 is open now. You can find out more, and make a booking at the website right HERE.
Dinings SW3 | Lennox Gardens Mews, SW3 2JH
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