Restaurant of the Week: Sushi Kanesaka, 45 Park Lane

Omakase directly translates to ‘I leave it up to you’, as experiences bearing the name involve fully entrusting multi-course menus in the hands of the chef before you. But what is it that makes omakase different from any other tasting menu? The key difference with omakase is that, traditionally, the courses are entirely based on the day’s freshest ingredients and the guest’s preferences, something that the chef gradually grasps as you move through each bite. Delivered from Tokyo’s Ginza district to 45 Park Lane, Sushi Kanesaka brings the Michelin-starred Edomae sushi mastery of Chef Shinji Kanesaka to London’s Mayfair.

While the menu at Sushi Kanesaka is pre-determined before you take your seat, each of the 20 courses in the omakase experience differ day by day depending on the range of produce available, largely revolving around Japan's 72 micro-seasons. These are strongly tied to agricultural timings and last five days at a time, catching fruit and veg at their peak ripeness and seasonality.

After a slender glass of fizz in the low-lit, debonair setting of Bar 45, a kimono-clad host greeted us and led us through layers of Noren curtains that transported us to the contrasting space of Sushi Kanesaka. The main area is bright and open, yet intimate, seating just nine guests at the counter. A separate private dining room seats a further four guests, bringing the restaurant’s total capacity to 13. A seat at the counter is, in my eyes, the only way to go about this experience properly. Panelled with Kumiko wood, the restaurant is dressed like a sauna, swapping heat for a calm coolness and acting as a liminal space where time stands restfully still, no matter how many courses are handed your way.

As we established, the speciality here is Edomae-style sushi, where the fish is cured or marinated to deepen the flavours prior to being sliced and formed into nigiri. Each piece is placed in front of you, already brushed with a sufficient splash of soy sauce, for you to take by hand (preferred over chopsticks, especially for nigiri). On the other side of the counter, wasabi is being freshly ground alongside full roots of pickled ginger being sliced and regularly placed into your bottomless pot, ready to cleanse your palate between courses.

That fresh wasabi is swiped into the chef’s hand and rolled in with each pillow of sushi rice, repeated before us again and again like a synchronised dance they have mastered all too well. With some nigiri pieces, the rice is gently rolled over grated yuzu lemon, sandwiching the perfect dusting of citrusy twang between the rice and fish. Every element feels meticulously calculated yet effortlessly executed, second nature to the chefs as they command their weighty sushi blades with quiet calm.

Beyond the nigiri, which varied from melt-in-the-mouth pieces of Yariika (spear squid) with Beluga caviar, scored delicately to further improve the squid’s texture, to Saba (mackerel) complemented by the umami touch of a Shiso leaf, the experience also included carefully crafted rolls and small plates. One of the best bites for me was easily the Hotate Isobeyaki, a supple hand-torched scallop served in nori, enveloping the room’s senses in a sweet barbecue aroma.

Midway through the experience, a lobster – antennae still waving gently – was brought out on a wicker tray and introduced to the room before being taken backstage. It’s one way to show off the freshness of the ingredients, but certainly not for the faint-hearted! It makes me sad to say how delicious the Lobster Shinjo was when it came back out through the curtains a few courses later…

The only meat dish served was roast Kobe beef (a particular strain of Wagyu), pleasingly medium-rare and drizzled with a syrupy sauce. Though eel rather than meat, the handroll of Unagi Kabayaki flickered memories of duck pancakes, taking on the smoky flavour of the grill and glazed in a rich, sweet soy marinade akin to hoisin. The nigiri courses were evenly dotted about the experience, which worked well to pace the meal and balance out these heavier dishes. The Botanebi nigiri gave a particularly relieving break, served soon after both the Kobe beef and unagi handroll as a light and lemony breather made with peony shrimp, a cold-water prawn prized for its natural sweetness.

Dear dessert lovers, fear not, the final two courses are reserved for a sugary finish. First, a refreshing plate of seasonal Japanese fruit. In my session this was juicy melon, but for you, it’s whatever is best for that day’s season. I consider myself a mochi superfan but had never tried Sakuramochi – the final dish. This is traditional mochi, brimming with red bean paste, but wrapped in a pickled cherry blossom leaf. Whether or not you eat the mochi with the leaf is personal preference. I tried both with and without. The pickled leaf gives a slightly salty and sour edge that balances out the sweetness in a pleasant way; however, I much preferred the mochi leafless. Twenty courses down, we were guided out into the 10pm twilight of Park Lane. A jolt back to reality from the cocoon of shoji screens and blossoms, where it felt as though not a minute of daylight had passed.

The omakase experience at Sushi Kanesaka is priced at £420 per person, with the option of a sake flight from an additional £150 per person. Find out more and book your seat at the counter via dorchestercollection.com/london/45-park-lane/dining/sushi-kanesaka.