Mei Ume - The Cherry Blossom Menu 2019 Reviewed

Where: Four Seasons Hotel, 10 Trinity Square, London, EC3N 4AJ

Cost: The 2019 Cherry Blossom menu is available for lunch and dinner until the 22nd April (although many of the dishes are also on the permanent a la carte menu). The menu is not set and items are priced individually, and includes a special seasonal Cherry Blossom cocktail at £12.50, starters from £16 to £21, main courses from £14.50 to £34, and desserts at £9. 

About: The Four Seasons Hotel at Trinity Square opened in 2017, in the beautifully restored former headquarters of the Port of London. A grade II listed historic building, it has a magnificent view overlooking the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and beyond.  We loved the Chinese-Japanese restaurant Mei Ume on our first visit (read the review here), and were keen to return to try their latest Sakura menu.

The restaurant is gorgeously decorated - a large screen at the entrance made with enamel paint on glass depicts the plum blossoms which give the restaurant its name (Mei and Ume being the Chinese and Japanese words for plum blossom respectively).  There is a long and glamorous bar, while the main dining room is dominated by two stunning red lacquer frames holding a guilded triptych of Chinese life as focal points. The ceiling is amazingly high, with gorgeously uplit Corinthian columns supporting it. Dimly lit, it is a soothingly chic place to spend a few hours. 

What We Ate: From the starters menu, we chose the seared tuna with spinach salad in a sesame-rich Japanese wapo dressing (£18). This was beautifully presented, and tasted fresh and light.

Yellowtail carpaccio with ponzu sauce and micro-coriander was refreshingly citric, with wafer thin slices of fish, lifted by a touch of luxury in the form of black truffle (£19).

Next up were some deliciously meaty king prawns served tempura-style with a creamy spicy mayo (£24).

The Mei Ume dragon roll, topped with gold leaf, was light and well-made, with its combination of unagi (eel), Alaskan crab and avocado (£21). We loved the golden bling.

From the main course menu, we chose slow-braised Dongpo pork belly (£24) with Chinese herbs and broccoli. This classic of Chinese cooking from the Hangzhou region, which we could not resist from the regular menu, had perfectly tender pork belly formed into an elegant pyramid with a glossy reduction of Shaoxing wine, ginger, sugar and soy sauce and an intense aroma of star anise.

The grilled miso Chilean seabass served on a tea grill, was buttery and sweet (£34) though a tad dry.

To accompany, a portion of prawn and scallop fried rice with XO sauce (£16) was one of the highlights of our dinner.

For dessert, from the Cherry Blossom menu we had the snowflake matcha cake with vanilla ice cream (£9) - sadly the matcha cakes were disappointing, with little or no discernible flavour or texture.

Marginally better was the chocolate crunch cake, with a black sesame mousse and Valrhona chocolate sorbet (£9). Similar to an opera cake, this was oddly lacking in sweetness and interest.

What We Drank: There is an extensive range of sakes, and wines by the glass or carafe.  For bottles, the entry level white is a Picpoul de Pinet (£38), while the red is a Corbieres (£35).

The special seasonal Cherry Blossom cocktail (£12.50) was a delicious blend of Japanese Roku gin, with its unique blend of six botanicals including yuzu peel, alongside yuzu juice, ginger, cactus, chilli syrup and refreshing Italian Rinomato aperitif, finished with a splash of sparkling sake. This was aromatic and off-dry, with the sweetness balanced by chilli heat and bitterness with a good hit of alcohol. It was fantastic.

With the main courses, we shared a bottle of Tourraine Chenonceux, La Voute 2017, from Domain Joel Delaunay (£50).  A Sauvignon Blanc, this was about as different from a New Zealand Sauvignon as it is possible to imagine, with rich, luscious aromas of white flowers, peach and tropical fruit.

With dessert, we had a refreshing glass of sparkling Mio sake (£29 for 300 ml). 

Likes: Friendly, helpful service. The fried rice with XO sauce plus the Dongpo pork belly were both lovely, and the wines and cocktails were well chosen and interesting. 

Dislikes: Desserts were a real let-down. 

Verdict: Mei Ume is a unique restaurant serving both fine-dining Chinese and Japanese cooking under one roof. We love the gorgeous setting within the Four Season Ten Trinity Square, the food and friendly service. Recommended.

The Autumn Leaves Menu at Sake no Hana

Name: Sake no Hana

Where: 23 St James, London SW1A 1HA, http://sakenohana.com/

Cost: The Autumn Leaves menu is priced at £40 per person, with the option of a cocktail flight at £23 to share between two.  

About: Sake no Hana is the leading Japanese restaurant of the Hakkasan group which includes the eponymous Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant, as well as the fabulous Yauatcha, where you can find some of the best dim sum and patisserie in London, at any of their two branches in Soho and the City.  The London Foodie is a huge fan of the group, and I am always on the lookout for new menus. So I was intrigued to hear Sake no Hana was serving a seasonal menu, namely the Autumn Leaves.

We arrived on a Monday evening at 9pm to find the restaurant packed.  I had a great meal here (The Cherry Blossom Menu) not so long ago, you can read the review here.  The building is Grade II listed, dating back to the 1960s.

The entrance to the restaurant is odd, with a narrow entrance leading to even narrower up and down escalators.  But the restaurant, reached after passing through a sushi counter with a gaggle of chefs, is on the first floor and is spacious, elegant with a zen Japanese decor of cyprus wall and roof panels designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma.

The Autumn Leaves menu is available until the end of November, when the restaurant is adorned with autumn maple leaves, with a menu from Executive Chef Hideki Hiwatashi and a cocktail flight created in partnership with Belvedere vodka and Ruinart Champagne.

What We Ate: The meal started with an exemplary, heart-warming cup of miso soup.

A mixed platter of four starters followed, with an excellent combination of textures and flavours.  This included Maguro sashimi (tuna sashimi with black pepper ponzu); crispy truffle rice balls (fried truffle rice with seasonal mushrooms); shiitake tofu (shiitake mushrooms filled with homemade tofu and wasabi sauce) and Autumnal crisps (sweet potato and beetroot crisps with soba noodles).

From four main-course options, we chose the salmon and chicken dishes. Salmon kurumi miso yaki – pan-fried Loch Duart salmon with Kyoto Saikyo miso was delicious, with crisp, aromatic skin, and the combination with walnuts was a revelation.

The tori sumiyaki - char-grilled miso chicken with sesame chilli miso and padron pepper - was tender and succulent.

The other two options on the menu, which we did not get to try, were the Kisetsu tempura moriawase (prawn and seasonal vegetable tempura) and the Tofu Shanshu Sukiyaki (three kinds of tofu with seasonal mushrooms and a soy mirin broth)

Best of all, by far though, was the sushi course that followed the main.  The Gunma seared wagyu A5 beef maki, with asparagus, caramelised onion and kizami wasabi, was immensely concentrated, with the kind of complex flavours that I would expect from a slow-cooked oxtail dish.

The spicy chirashi maki was also excellent – this combined tuna and white fish with avocado and cucumber.

I'm a big fan of inari sushi - deep-fried tofu pockets filled with sushi rice. But Sake-no-hana's version, served with pickled mooli, shiso and kanpyo (dried gourd), and a  home-made soy sauce, was nothing short of superb.

For dessert, we had the Autumn leaf - hazelnut feuilletine, hazelnut chocolate parfait with chocolate and maple syrup soup, mascarpone mousse and fresh yuzu. This showed off the skill of the pastry chef, and was both rich and light, a difficult combination to bring off.

What We Drank: We shared a bottle of Albarino Marinero, Terras Gauda, Rias Baixas, Spain 2017 (£45). This was a crisp and well-made wine, with fresh citrus acidity and greengage fruit on the finish.  

Likes: The sushi and the dessert were the excellent. 

Dislikes: I could have done with some rice, vegetables or some other starch or carbs to be served with the mains, I was still a tad hungry after eating this meal.

Verdict: For good quality Japanese cooking, fantastic sushi and French-Japanese patisserie desserts, the £40 for the Autumnal Leaves menu at Sake-no-Hana represents great value for money and quality.

Mei Ume - Finest Japanese and Chinese Cooking All Under One Fabulous Roof!

Name: Mei Ume 

Where: Four Seasons Hotel, 10 Trinity Square, London, EC3N 4AJ, http://meiume.com/

Cost: There is a tasting menu available at £75 per person, with the option of matching wine flight for £39 or £75 for classic French wines. 

About: The Four Seasons Hotel at Trinity Square opened in 2017, in the beautifully restored former headquarters of the Port of London. A grade II listed historic building, it has a magnificent view overlooking the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and beyond. 

The hotel has two restaurants on the ground floor, the Michelin-starred French restaurant La Dame de Pic, and next to it, Mei Ume which is the first restaurant I have come across in London aiming to offer a blend of Chinese and Japanese fine dining - think Hakkasan and Sake no Hana all in one.  In fact Mei Ume's Sushi Chef Mun Seok Choi, South Korean born, trained at Zuma and Sake no Hana itself.

Mei Ume's Head Chef Tony Truong learned to cook Cantonese food in China's Guangzhou province, and has been in the UK for 30 years. His last job before moving to Mei Ume was as Head Chef at Royal China, where he worked for 17 years.

The restaurant is gorgeously decorated - a large screen at the entrance made with enamel paint on glass depicts the plum blossoms which give the restaurant its name (Mei and Ume being the Chinese and Japanese words for plum blossom respectively).

There is a long and glamorous bar, while the main dining room is dominated by two stunning red lacquer frames holding a guilded triptych of Chinese life as focal points. The ceiling is amazingly high, with gorgeously uplit Corinthian columns supporting it. Dimly lit, it is a soothingly chic place to spend a few hours.

What We Ate: Rather than the tasting menu, we opted to go a la carte. Rock shrimp tempura (£14) was succulent, served with a spicy mayo that packed a punch. The batter was crisp and well seasoned, although I prefer my tempura batter to be a tad lighter.

Salt and pepper squid with lemon leaves and shallots (£13) was also crispy and delectable.

Next came a Sushi Moriawase (Chef's selection) - nine pieces (£34) of expertly made and dainty nigiri sushi, including mackerel, eel, squid, octopus, scallop, yellowtail, salmon and tuna.  The rice was perfectly seasoned, the fish tasted super fresh and was meltingly tender - the nigiri showed real skills of the sushi chef.

The uramaki (inside out) roll of Alaskan and Californian crab (£14) was very good, and I  could only admire the very fine layer of perfectly cooked sushi rice on the exterior, which I know from bitter experience is mighty tricky to achieve.

But the best was still to come. The wasabi king prawns (£28) were outstanding, creamy but spicy, and encrusted with orange tobiko (flying fish roe). A real winner.

The lamb shank (£28) braised in a Sichuan spicy broth was magnificent, with chillies, Sichuanese peppercorn, cinnamon and five spice, the meat fell off the bone, was succulent and extremely tender.

Equally good was the San Pei Chicken with Thai basil and chilli, served in a seasoned toban (£24).

To accompany, we had some crunchy choi sum, wok-fried with garlic (£10), and stir-fried glass noodles with duck meat (£12.50) that had a fantastic wok-breath. They were both excellent.

And just when we thought we were too full for anything else, along came the dessert menu which was too tempting to resist. The chocolate moelleux was filled with runny dark chocolate, and paired particularly well with a slightly bitter matcha ice cream (£9).

Better still was the yuzu creme brûlée with lychee granita (£9). The yuzu creme was layered over a base of raspberry jelly, and the combination (aromatic yuzu and raspberries) was surprisingly effective.

What We Drank: Cocktails are priced at £16. There is an extensive range of sakes, and wines by the glass or carafe.  For bottles, the entry level white is a German Auxerrois (£39), while the red is a French Corbieres (£35). For those wanting to splurge, there are first growth Bordeaux such as the Romanee-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru £3200.

We started with glass of Delamotte Brut NV (£16), which was crisp and refreshing.

With the meal, we had a glass of Chablis Premiere Cru Cote de Lechet, Domaine Bernard Defaix 2016 (£16) - wonderfully aromatic with elderflower and greengage, and a long, complex finish, complimenting the wasabi prawns.

A glass of Langhe, Azienda Agricola 499 2015 from Piemonte (£12) was medium bodied with cherry and vanilla notes that were a good match with the lamb.  

Likes: Stunning setting, great Sichuanese lamb shank, wasabi prawns and yuzu creme brûlée.  The sushi was also expertly made. Friendly, well informed service though a tad erratic, see below. 

Dislikes: Our hot stone rice bibimbap of sea urchin and scallops did not show up despite being ordered. I am still craving that dish!

Verdict: Fine-dining Chinese and Japanese food in the heart of the ancient City of London. In stunning surroundings, Mei Ume is a real treat for the eye and palate. Very highly recommended.

Tsukiji Sushi – Tasting Menu Reviewed

Name: Tsukiji Sushi

Where: 38 Conduit Street, Mayfair, London, W1S 2YF, http://tsukijimayfair.com/

Cost: Average cost per person is £45 not including drinks or service charge. There is a set dinner including tempura, a main course and dessert for £45. We opted for the tasting menu at £65 per person, or £95 with a matching sake flight. Or if you fancy just an assorted platter of sushi or sashimi, they are available in platters at either £23.50 or £36.50.  

About: Set in Conduit Street inside the swanky Westbury Hotel, this intimate Japanese restaurant seats just 14 people at sleek red wood tables, plus another 6 at the sushi bar counter.

With Head Chef Show Choong at the helm, Tsukiji Sushi, oozes elegant restraint, and has a sushi chef beavering away behind the bar. 

Simply decorated with white wall panels broken up by red wood borders like a Kandinsky painting, minimalist artwork and an unobtrusive backing track of lounge music, the restaurant has a restful feel.   

What We Ate: The first dish of the Tasting Menu (£65pp) was named buna shimeji (brown beach mushroom). Simply pan-fried, these lovely little funghi were served with a fabulous green sauce of parsley, coriander and spring onions, vinegar, olive oil and garlic. The sauce reminded me of a Mediterranean bagnet vert, it was fresh and with great acidity.

Next up was hamachi (yellowtail) usuzukuri (thinly sliced), served with yuzu ponzu (a zingy citrus dressing made with soy and yuzu juice), topped with a small amount of oroshi (shredded daikon and chilli), and thinly sliced spring onion. 

The tataki chu toro (lightly seared fatty tuna), was served with a delectable and refreshing jalapeño salsa made with onion, vinegar, garlic, ponzu, and an intensely herbaceous Japanese kinomi leaf. With a rich and creamy mouthfeel I thoroughly enjoyed this dish, I just wished there was more of it!

To follow, we had the octopus carpaccio served with a truffle mustard, saikyo miso and vinegar dressing, all on a bed of fennel shavings. The octopus was softly textured, with a thrilling heat from the mustard, tart vinegar notes and sweet miso. This was another refreshing and very well seasoned dish.

A single grilled oyster with creamy sauce and tobiko egg followed. With Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise, sweet chilli and rice vinegar, this had the fresh mineral aroma of the sea, and a lovely creaminess. 

Equally good was the unakyu maki, served with a few splashes of rich, sweet teriyaki sauce. A lovely eel sushi, the rice was soft and yielding, and tasted fresh and expertly cooked. 

Better still were the nigiri sushi - the chef's omakase selection of five different types. On the evening of our visit, the chef had chosen a variety of fresh and blowtorched sushi. The tuna belly with sea urchin was exquisite - complex, minerally, with layers of texture and flavour.  The salmon belly with wasabi was also good, as was the prawn, but the seared butterfish was better still, with an aromatic, smoky finish and creaminess only highly fatty fish can give. Best of all for me though was the scallop. I have always loved the outlandishly huge and creamy scallops served in Tokyo, and the scallops at Tsukiji Sushi with black tobiko eggs were not too far off!

The last dish before dessert was a fine piece of black cod with saikyo miso sauce and a slice of grilled red pepper. There was a time in my life when I ate so much black cod that I went off it, but this dish reminded me what I had been missing. It was rich, soft as caramel, and exquisitely buttery. 

In Japanese restaurants in the West, the almost inevitable dessert is green tea ice cream. However, at Tsukiji Sushi, this was served with a lovely crisp of white chocolate embossed with a Japanese traditional floral design, plus chocolate ripple, raspberry compote, dried raspberry crumb and Cantonese cocoa nibs. 

What We Drank: We opted for a bottle of Sancerre Rose 2015, from Pascal Jolivet. Made from 100% Pinot Noir, this had peach and ripe red berry fruit, with a distinctive mineral character, with a fresh acidity and elegance. It was clean and refreshing, and made an excellent partner for the sashimi and sushi. 

Likes: I enjoyed every single dish on Tsukiji Sushi’s Tasting Menu, but some of the highlights included the omakaze sushi platter, the tataki of fatty tuna, and the octopus carpaccio as well as the grilled oyster!

Dislikes: I would have loved a little rice dish and a bowl of soup to finish the savoury part of the meal, this is knows as the shime, and is customary, specially with tasting menus like this. I must admit being still a tad hungry as I left the restaurant but this could have been avoided.

Verdict: Tsukiji Sushi is an intimate restaurant serving great quality and well-made sushi, sashimi and cooked Japanese dishes. Just by manic Oxford Circus, this is a little haven of tranquility and a real find. Recommended.