The outside of the hotel gives no clue to the huge triple height dining space inside.
There seem to be a lot of posh hotel restaurants opening up in London right now. What's this one all about?
London really is having a moment when it comes to five-star hotels, with The OWO, Peninsula London, The Emory and 1 Hotel Mayfair all opening within the past year. Now it's the turn of the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, the group's second hotel in the city, which has two restaurants and two bars all run by chef Akira Back.
Tell us a bit about Back
He's not (yet) as familiar a face in the UK as he is overseas, so it's understandable if you haven't come across him before. Outside of the UK, he's a big deal. He has restaurants all over the world, in 18 different cities from Paris and Vegas to Istanbul and Jakarta and Back is also a regular on American food TV shows.
Back doing the rounds during the restaurant's first week
So what's he opening here?
At the Mandarin Oriental he'll be in charge of two restaurants and two bars. Two of those are open now - his eponymous restaurant, which is the hotel's main restaurant and ABar.
Dosa, which he opened in Seoul and won him a Michelin star back in 2018 will also be opening in July. That will be more of a chef's table experience. And finally, he's also opening on the rooftop. There were still workmen up there when we visited, so we'd say that's a way off yet.
Where is it?
You'll find the hotel on the southwest corner of Hanover Square - just down the street from where Fenwick was. It's super handy for both the Elizabeth Line's Bond Street station and Oxford Circus station too.
As for the restaurant, that's a bit of a surprise too. When you enter the hotel lobby you go forward through a small opening which leads into a massive triple-height atrium that is properly jaw-dropping. Then head down the green Ming marble staircase to the restaurant and bar. That made us think of the staircase at Quaglinos in terms of letting guests make a real entrance.
A closer look at the dining room...
Where should we meet for a drink first?
You'll want to try the bar here. It's on the same level of the restaurant and is equally a bit of a looker. That's open until late and will have DJs in the evening, so we'd expect it to become a desination bar quite quickly, once everyone finds out about it. The cocktails here are inventive (and delicious) and there's also a bar snacks menu that includes smoked salmon tostadas and monkfish tempura pops.
Left to right: Sochili Mango (£18) - a punchy mix of tequila, soju and togarishi and Heart & Seoul (£17) made with rum, makgeolli (a Korean rice wine), coconut pineapple and honey.
What kind of food are we talking about here?
Think Japanese and Korean influences with a US edge (Back was born in Seoul but raised in Aspen). There's a mix of cold and hot starters and mains alongside a sushi and sashimi section with a selection of Back's signature rolls.
We roamed around most of the menu, with the exception of the rolls, so here's what we had:
Tuna pizza (£26) with umami aioli, shiso and truffle oil. It's a signature dish of Back's and it's a crowdpleaser.
Jeju Domi (£22) - sea bream sashimi rolls with tobiko and chojang for a nice spicy accompaniment
Dynamite lobster (£46) - served with pickled shimeji and micro coriander, and we loved that it was beautifully prepared making it easy to grab pieces with the chopsticks.
Rock shrimp (£27) - served here with creamy gochujang sauce
Turbot with sake butter and white aparagus (£52) - a beautifully cooked turbot and the sake is a nice addition to the classic butter sauce pairing.
What's on the menu for vegetarians?
The hot starters are the best option for vegans and vegetarians with dishes like miso aubergine with mozzarella, edamame with truffle and sea salt and crispy tofu with a spicy soy glaze. There's also a crispy vegan roll in the sushi section.
Anything else we should look out for?
We'd like to make special mention of what we'd describe as a god-tier side in the form of the wagyu fried rice. We'd have happily reordered one of these again immediately if we weren't aiming to make it through to desserts.
Wagyu fried rice with crispy garlic and sesame (£28) - reason alone to make a booking at this restaurant. Just amazing.
Room for dessert?
We weren't 100% convinced by our mochi cake topped with caramelised popcorn (maybe we should have had the black sesame matcha option which we'd been toying with), but we did enjoy the following.
Chocolate in a cup (£17) - emblazoned with the chef's name all over it, this featured manjari cake cooked in a cup and served with a banana foam and vanilla gelato (£17).
Overall thoughts:
If you've been wondering over the past few years what was behind the hoardings of this new Mandarin Oriental hotel, you'll probably, like us, be pretty gobsmacked by what you find. Genuinely groundbreaking architecture and design has given Londoners a hotel that really delivers on the wow factor.
This is a big restuarant (room for almost 150 diners) and it needed a chef that knows how to have fun with his menu. We reckon you'll enjoy it too.
More about Akira Back at the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair
Where is it? 22 Hanover Square, Mayfair, London W1S 1JP
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @akirabacklondon.
Hot Dinners dined as guests of the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair. Prices correct at time of publication.
Subscribe to be the first to get the news from Hot Dinners
