Estiatorio Milos - Exquisite Greek Fine-Dining on No.1 Regent Street London

Name: Estiatorio Milos

Where: 1 Regent Street, St James, London SW1Y 4NR, http://milos.ca/

Cost: A 3-course meal at Estiatorio Milos will cost around £75 per person not including drinks or service charge. Dishes from the fish and seafood counter are priced per kilo for example lobster at £85/kg. Main courses are priced from £32 to £50 per person, with side dishes priced at £6. 

There is a weekday lunch-time menu of 3 courses for £29 (midday to 3pm). For solo diners, there is the "One and Only" priced at £79 for a tasting selection of all the Milos specials, thought this was not displayed on the menu. There is also a pre- and post- theatre menu of 3 courses for £49 available Monday-Saturday from 5.30pm-7pm and 10pm-11pm.

About: Estiatorio Milos is decked out like something out of Miami Vice - all white marble, white tablecloths, the chairs featuring the softest, cream coloured leather seats, clearly no expense has been spared in the construction of this stunning London restaurant taking up two floors on swanky no.1 Regent Street.

With branches in North America and Europe, Estiatorio Milos first opened its doors 40 years ago in Montreal, Canada followed by the New York restaurant 20 years later. There are also branches in Las Vegas, Miami, Athens and now London.

Unsurprisingly, the diners in the London restaurant are a well-heeled international crowd, many of whom visiting from Canada and the USA where Estiatorio Milos has a strong following.

The visual centre-piece of the restaurant, apart from the cool cocktail bar, is the huge, raw fish and seafood counter. Featuring local and diver-caught Greek oysters, tuna, salmon and a vast selection of raw fish flown in from Greece daily, it is surely one of the most impressive in London. 

Diners make their choice of fish and seafood, these are weighed there and then and cooked as requested.

The menu is 90% fish and seafood, and includes some classic Greek dishes, executed with great finesse and artistry and using excellent Greek produce. Beyond the fish and seafood, noteworthy on our visit were the tomatoes – these are also flown in from Greece daily, and were so sweet and flavoursome as only Greek tomatoes can be.

Estiatorio is the Greek word for a restaurant that is more upmarket than a family-run taverna.

What We Ate: After some freshly baked bread with Greek extra-virgin olive oil and fresh oregano, we kicked off with the simple but stunning-looking Milos Special, made from lightly battered, fried slices of courgette and aubergine, served with tzatziki (cre and Kafalograviera cheese (£29). Light, crunchy and delicious, this was a centre-piece dish.

The Greek Ceviche (£32) had seabass and a selection of  Mediterranean flavours beautifully presented - wild herbs, Kastoria white beans, tomato, cucumber, red chillies and feta cheese. This was zingy, refreshing and a great start to our dinner.

Next up was the langoustine sashimi from the Raw Bar - with yuzu kosho (a Japanese condiment made with yuzu rind, green chillies and salt), olive oil, lemon juice and red amaranth, this was fresh and delicately flavoured with a hint of chilli from the yuzu kosho.

The raw oysters were from Lindisfarne, they were rich, creamy and ultra-fresh.

Mediterranean cuttlefish came simply grilled, dressed with aromatic olive oil, micro basil and coriander, and served with blank ink risotto (£29).

Our Greek salad (£18) came dressed traditionally - just in Greek olive oil and sea salt. A staple Greek salad, combining feta cheese with the sweetest Greek tomatoes, cucumber, raw onion and parsley, this was without a doubt, the best Greek Salad I have eaten. 

The Carabinieros (£149 per kg) were huge Spanish red prawns, served with vintage sherry. The way to enjoy these is to pour the sherry into the head of the prawns and suck their content, which we did with gusto. The prawns were so creamy and delicious, I still think about them to this day!

For our main course we shared a grilled red snapper, and a platter of griddled vegetables and cheese. This was a superbly meaty fish, served simply with lemon, parsley and capers, the best way to appreciate its flavour and freshness. 

The caramelisation on the vegetables left a wonderful charred flavour, this was a great accompaniment to the fish.

For dessert, we shared a deliciously creamy Greek yoghurt, served with thyme-honey from Kythira and black cherries (£15), and some seasonal fresh fruit including blackcherries, the sweetest chilled black grapes, melon and peach. This was a sublime end to our dinner.

What We Drank: The wine menu has a strong focus on Greek wines, but has also a wide range of French, American and international wines. There is a good selection of wines by the glass. 

The entry level white is a Tinaktorogos, Brintziki, Ilias 2014 at £45 while the entry level red is an Agiorgitiko Driopi from Nemea 2013, priced at £39. Prices head north steeply, with the majority costing three figures, but sommelier Alexandros was luckily on hand to advise. 

We started with a couple of the special martinis on the menu. The cucumber martini (£17) was gin-based, with fresh cucumber and lemon juice. The Ginger Martini (£17) was vodka-based, with ginger, honey and lemon juice. They were both well made, strong and very refreshing.

With our meal, we shared a bottle of Museum Collection 2014 (£85), Gerovassiliou, Epanomi, a blend of 5 varieties made especially for Milos in London with a total production of 2,500 per year. It is a blend of 2 Greek (Malagousia, Assyrtiko) and 3 French (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier) varietals. The winery is at 450 metres altitude, near Mount Olympus, and has cooling winds from the sea, with steeply sloping vineyards. An elegant, well made wine, this was rich in tropical and stone fruit flavours - pineapple, mango, apricot, nectarine, peach and mineral. Complex and with a long finish, this was superb with our selection of fish and seafood dishes.

As a digestif, we had a glass of Mastika (a very traditional Greed drink, they even flavour ice cream with it), made from sap of the tree from which chewing gum was first made - herbaceous and gently aniseed flavoured, this was a great digestif.

Likes: The Milos Special is a wonder to behold, the Lindisfarn oysters were magnificent, as was the grilled snapper. The tomatoes, the fresh fruit were so sweet and delicious. Excellent, friendly and well informed service-staff.

Dislikes: Prices quoted by kilo, at the fish and seafood counter, are frighteningly expensive (£99/kg for white fish); perhaps, prices should be quoted by 100g? The restaurant should have tasting menus available for groups of 2 or more.

Verdict: For some of the most exquisite Greek food in London and North America, there is a great deal to like about Estiatorio Milos. The Greek produce and wine are of outstanding quality. Highly recommended but be ready to crack open that wallet!  

Sakagura - A Taste of Japanese Washoku Cooking in London

Name: Sakagura London

Where: 8 Heddon Street, London, W1B 4BS, https://www.sakaguralondon.com/

Cost: The menu is divided into 10 sections including appetisers, sushi, sashimi, robatayaki (grill), kushiyaki (skewers), agemono (deep-fried), rice and soup, kamameshi (flavoured rice), soba noodles and dessert. Prices vary from £3 for a miso soup to £39 for a sashimi moriawase, with an average spend of around £75 per person for 3-4 dishes each to share (drinks and service not included). 

About: Sakagura is the first joint venture among various businesses including the Japan Centre Group (the largest Japanese food retailer in the UK), Gekkeikan Sake Brewers (one of the oldest sake brewers in Japan and holders of a Japanese Royal Warrant for sake), and the Japanese plum wine brand Choya.

With such impressive backing and a Washoku (Japanese cooking) menu created by Shoryu Ramen Executive Chef Kanji Furukawa, Sakagura is one of the most exciting new restaurant openings in London recently.

Set in swanky Heddon Street behind Regent Street, no expenses were spared to create a gorgeous restaurant over two floors with an impressive long bar, Sakagura aims to serve authentic Japanese cooking known as Washoku, recently listed by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage. 

The Washoku cooking philosophy aims to provide a balanced meal, not only in terms of nutritional value but also considering other aspects such as flavour, cooking methods, colour and presentation. 

One outcome of this method is that the sheer variety helps achieve satiety without excess while stimulating all the senses. There is an emphasis on seasonality using the freshest ingredients and a minimalist but beautiful presentation. 

Sakagura aims to work with some of the best premium and exclusive sake producers in Japan. There are over 200 sake labels available, many only offered in the UK at Sakagura. The tasting menu and sake flights we tried at Sakagura gave us the opportunity to taste a whole range of dishes from the main menu, along with a comprehensive sake pairing. There is no better way to find out what Sakagura is all about!

What We Ate: From the appetiser menu, we chose the sashimi moraiwase (£39) - a chef's selection of assorted sashimi fish with freshly grated wasabi. This included slices of yellowtail, sea bass, sea bream, raw scallop on its shell, salmon and tuna, served on a bed of ice with micro herbs, edible flowers, and a willow 'fence' supporting the construction of the platter. Gorgeously presented, the fish was of good quality and as fresh as one could get, with the addition of fresh wasabi giving a touch of luxe to the platter.

The aburi shime saba bo sushi (£15) is one of Sakagura’s signature dishes from its sushi menu – a sushi roll topped with marinated mackerel fillets seared under flame (aburi). The presentation was again stunning, with silvery, chargrilled mackerel fillets wrapped around aromatic shiso leaf over sushi rice.  The mackerel had been marinated in rice vinegar and salt, adding a firmer texture and a layer of welcome acidity to the fatty fish.

From the robata grill, we chose the lobster (£32), blackened and served with ‘Moshio’ brown sea salt and lime. The lobster was perfectly cooked, the flesh light and fragrant and with a delicate charred flavour.

Moshio salt (shio means salt in Japanese) is an artisan Japanese sea salt, made from a mixture of sea salt and seaweed ash. It has a unique beige/brown colour with round and rich flavour due to the presence of minerals and other ingredients including calcium, potassium, magnesium, iodine and umami. Moshio salt is highly regarded in Japan and is the salt of choice for many top restaurants for dishes like tempura, sushi, sashimi or grilled seafood and meat.

The wagyu beef aburi steak (£35), from Kyushu, was served with Welsh arajio sun-dried sea salt (arajio is the Japanese word for coarse sea salt) and fresh wasabi. Very lightly grilled, the wagyu meat was unctuous, richly marbled and wonderful in both creamy mouth-feel and flavour. 

From the kamameshi section of the menu (flavoured rices), the hot rice dishes followed, served in traditional stainless steel individual cooking pots: the red seabream and salmon roe rice (£15), and the Goosnargh chicken and fragrant burdock (£14). 

I grew up eating gobo, or the Japanese burdock, in a variety of dishes in our Japanese-Nikkei home in Brazil. Gobo is one of my favourite ingredients and I have always loved its taste, it saddens me though that gobo has fallen out of fashion in the West. I loved the combination of earthy burdock and chicken in this rice dish.

Better still though was the seabream and salmon roe rice - salty, savoury, with iodine and mineral aromas, it was a winner of a dish.

For dessert, we had the raindrop cake - a delicate clear agar umeshu (plum) jelly with cherry blossom and gold flake.  Light and gorgeously presented, it brought me a smile to my face to be reminded of the Japanese affection for jelly desserts (the style of puddings I grew up eating in the 1970s and 80s).

We also shared a matcha fondant gateau (£8), served warm with cream.

What We Drank: Owned by one of the oldest Japanese sake brewers, it is not surprising to see a wide range of sakes on offer, including aged and late-harvest options. 

There are several sake flights available, priced from £9 to £17 per person, including some unusual options like unpasteurized cloudy sake, sparkling sake and yuzu sake.  

For aperitifs, we selected a John sparkling sake (£17.10 per glass), a Prosecco-style dry sake with citrus fruit and melon notes. It won the International Wine Challenge sparkling sake category in 2016.

The Tenzan sparkling, Nigori (£9.40 per glass) was an opalescent unpasteurised sake, subject to secondary fermentation in bottle like Champagne. It won the International Wine Challenge for sparkling sake in 2014, and had a creamy texture with green apple and pineapple notes. 

With the appetisers, we had a carafe of Gekkeikan Tarusake (£5.60 per glass or £16 for a 300ml carafe), from Kyoto prefecture. Matured in Japanese cedar casks, it had hints of seaweed, spice and wood.

With the lobster, we had a warm sake - Taga 'akinouta', Junmai from Taga, Shiga. This is made using akinouta rice, and served warm had a mellow sweetness and notes of roasted chestnuts.

With the rice dishes, we had a glass of 10 year old sake - the Koshoku Souzen (£13 per glass).

The matcha fondant was served with a glass of Choya Extra Years (£8.60 per glass) plum wine. With notes of marzipan and sour plum, this balanced luscious sweet fruit with bracing acidity. 

The raindrop cake with plum wine was served with a glass of Nakata Yuzu Umeshu wine (£7.20) on the rocks.  With zippy acidity from the yuzu, this made a stunning combination with the umeshu (sour plum) jelly. 

Likes: I loved the flavoured rices, the sashimi platter and wagyu beef. The mackerel sushi was also outstanding. Friendly and well informed service.

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: The Washoku cooking at Sakagura London is second to none - beautifully presented, it uses some of the best ingredients available and it is surprisingly well priced. There are some great sake flights on offer. Highly recommended.

Fit for Royal Tea - The Afternoon Tea at Hotel Café Royal's Sumptuous Oscar Wilde Bar

Words & Photography by Felicity Spector and Luiz Hara

Everything about the High Society afternoon tea at the Hotel Café Royal screams opulence. First, the room. The Oscar Wilde Bar took four years to restore to its former glory, a rococo extravaganza of gold and mirrors and cherub painted ceilings. It now looks exactly the same as the room where Wilde once lunched, except I've a feeling he didn't fare nearly as well as we did.

To drink, there was Veuve Cliquot champagne and a choice of 21 different teas, some of them exclusive blends made just for the hotel. We tried one of them - Celestine - a subtle, light black tea with a hint of vanilla, and a very refreshing triple mint tisane.

Our maître d' was eager to explain the menu. There was a lot to get through - three pages of my notebook covered in scribble. It all sounded incredible: not a white bread sandwich in sight - the chefs have clearly let their creativity take charge.

An amuse bouche arrived, a 'Low Sidecar Muffin', along with a lovely story about Victorian muffin sellers who used to ply their trade in Regent Street outside. The modern day version came adorned with a generous swirl of truffle cream cheese and a pipette containing apple juice which you could squirt inside. Light and moist, it got things off to a great start.

Then came a vast tiered stand of savoury sandwiches and pastries: a brioche roll with prawn cocktail, and a beautifully crisp gougere filled with goats cheese and the slight sweetness of wine jelly.

There was a roundel of chorizo Wellington, a sort of next level sausage roll, a bun topped with crackling and stuffed with wild boar salami. Next, a toasted bagel piled with silky smooth smoked salmon and horseradish mayo, and my favourite, a beetroot bread sandwich with cream cheese and a sliver of cucumber, topped with caviar.

We were already getting slightly full, but more was to come. Much, much more.

A palate cleanser, a tiny glass of plum and lychee iced tea was tart and refreshing. It came with a mousse like disc of chocolate and hazelnut marshmallow, the first time I've seen chocolate and hazelnut described as a palate cleanser. But why not? It was delicious.
The beaming maître d, who by this stage was beginning to seem like an old, beloved friend, ferried over another vast tier of cakes and pastries, with not one, but two baskets of warm scones. There were dishes of strawberry jam and clotted cream and a tiny bowl of lemon curd. And another three pages of description in my notebook.

I tried a raisin scone, loaded with jam and cream. It was warm. It was melt in the mouth. "Buttery, isn't it!" said our waiter, as more pots of tea arrived. He wasn't wrong.

We tackled the cake stand. A mini flower pot contained a fabulous mix of apple purée and pistachio paste, crowned with a buttery crumble. There was a neat cube of banana opera cake layered with passion fruit cream. Choux buns cradled a hidden filling of lemon curd. There were vivid green macarons, spiked with absinthe, herby and sticky.

I tried a disc of shortbread topped with apple purée, blackcurrant crème and the thinnest chocolate glaze. It was....I searched for a word....buttery. By this point we could barely move, but the feast wasn't over yet. On the counter were three whole cakes which you could order by the slice. Our friendly maître d was desperate for us to try them. "The lemon drizzle is gluten free!" I went over for a look, unable to resist a piece of the hazelnut cake, beautifully light and moist with just enough hazelnut frosting and the crunch of caramelised nuts. And, of course, so very, very buttery.

Four hours after the tea began, I was ensconced in a vast leather chair in the hotel lobby, clutching a takeaway box of the scones we hadn't quite been able to finish, fretting about the rain. A concierge leapt into action, lending me not only a hotel umbrella "oh, bring it back whenever you're in the area..." but also going the extra mile, finding some waterproof covers to protect my new shoes.

The afternoon tea at Hotel Cafe Royal isn't cheap - £42 per person, or £55 with a glass of champagne. But it's opulent. It's inventive. And the staff are all prepared to go above and beyond, to make sure you have the best possible time.