London’s had some excellent omakase restaurants open in the last couple of years, but Luna looks down on all of them…
…because it’s up on the 9th floor, towering above Broadgate Circle, making it the highest such restaurant in the city, and snatching the crown from Endo at Rotunda on the paltry 8th floor of the former Television Centre in White City. (Although he does have a Michelin Star, so he probably won’t be crying himself to sleep or anything.)
What results is an intimate little jewel box of a venue hidden away inside Los Mochis London City, in which you’ll get an interesting and eclectic 12-course menu of sushi with light Mexican influences that follow a personal, memory-laced path through chef Leonard Tanyag’s own life.
Luna is, effectively, a sister spot to Juno, which is also a hidden omakase restaurant, tucked away inside the original Los Mochis in Notting Hill. And even with a modest dozen seats, it’s still double the size of its tiny sibling. The space here is a bit more polished, more sleek and dramatic, and slightly more City-slick. Plus, there’s that view over the East London skyline.
When everyone has taken their seat, the gong will be sounded, chef Tanyag will introduce himself and his team, and what will follow is a parade of both classic and unexpectedly inventive dishes. You can expect everything from a plump, naturally sweet wedge of king crab dusted with yuzu salt, to lightly seared & ridiculously buttery sea trout (topped with trout eggs), eel with a rich sake BBQ sauce, and more. There’s even a dish of meltingly good otoro tuna topped with caviar that comes in its own moon-like sphere cooled with dry ice.
The menu is ostensibly a take on ‘Sosaku-style Edomae omakase’ (which basically means an update on traditional Edo-period sushi), but it really charts a course through chef Tanyag’s own life, from his own incredibly light & crispy sweet potato tacos, which he remembers being “the cheapest thing on the menu” at his college, and which here he has lavishly loaded with a huge, bracingly saline dollop of Italian caviar. Then there’s the sando, which his own mother made with spam, and which he has transformed with wagyu & wasabi leaves.
Then for dessert? There are sweet, moon-shaped petit fours made with calamansi, ginger & mango, as well as a lusciously velvety chocolate, coffee, and mezcal bon bon – but the real winner is the deeply umami-rich miso caramel soufflé, which you’re invited to pair with fresh wasabi ice cream. It’s a bold combination, and works extremely well.
All told, the menu isn’t quite perfect, but then it’s set to change extremely frequently, and there are considerably more hits than misses – chef Tanyag is a very talented man, and he’s likely to be able to deliver the goods, whatever arrives on the counter next.
NOTE: Luna is set to open on 12th March, Tuesday to Saturday. The 12-course omakase experience costs £230pp. You can find out more, and make a booking at the Luna website.
Los Mochis London City | 100 Liverpool Street, EC2M 2AT
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