The team behind Michelin-starred Taku in Mayfair are opening an upscale Japanese restaurant in Hampstead.
INÉ - Japanese for rice - will offer high quality sushi and contemporary Japanese dishes alongside a 15-course £100 per head omakase menu.
The 50-seat restaurant on Hampstead High Street will be split over two levels - with the former Goldfish Chinese restaurant decamping to Chalk Farm Road.
The main dining room is in minimalist Japanese style with natural woods, pale colours, and bonsai trees. It will have booth-style seating, an eight-seat omakase counter, semi-private lounge, and upstairs bar offering cocktails, sakes, wines and light bites.
“We are honoured to introduce INÉ to the Hampstead community." said co-owner Geoff Leong.
"Our mission is to provide an experience that captures the essence of authentic Japanese cuisine with contemporary twists and traditional omakase cuisine. We have always pushed the boundary of the UK’s perception of Asian food through the creativity of our chefs and we will be applying the same ethos to INÉ as we did with Taku Mayfair."
The kitchen will be headed by Law Kwok Meng, who has trained at Taku - a 16-seat Omakase in Albemarle Street - under Chef Patron Takuya Watanabe, and brings 23 years of experience as a master sushi chef.
A la carte dishes, many with French influences, include lobster with cauliflower and sudachi jelly; grilled Iberico pork; Wagyu beef katsu sando; grilled Yuan chicken; and futomaki as well as daily fresh sashimi.
The eight-seater omakase counter will see Chef Meng prepare 15-courses echoing Taku’s everchanging menu in 'edomae' style.
Considered to be the most traditional form of sushi making, the edomae method involves curing the fish in salt or kombu and dates back to the days when street vendors in Japan’s capital city of Edo - now Tokyo - sold sushi as a snack.
Today, leading chefs use this technique to preserve the fish at its freshest, and bring out the umami flavours and tenderness of the cuts.
Co-owner Lucas Leong said: "INÉ is designed to be the perfect showcase of contemporary cooking whilst respecting edomae traditions. We want to make INÉ a destination restaurant in the heart of Hampstead. The core ethos of our group is to give customers the most unique experience - to break boundaries with innovation and creativity whilst paying homage to traditional ways of cooking."
INÉ opens at 16 Hampstead High Street on October 24.
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