The best place to sit - up at the sushi counter at Niju.
Hold up, didn't this used to be 20 Berkeley?
Well spotted. Yes for nine months this was a restaurant focusing on the best of British. But it clearly didn't blow the Mayfair crowd away and the folks behind it - The Creative Restaurant Group - decided to pivot and switch back to one of things they do really well, Japanese food. And when your Culinary Director is Endo Kazutoshi, arguably one of the UK's best sushi chefs, why wouldn't you? The name NIJŪ means 20 in Japanese, by the way.
Where is it?
You'll find it on Hay Hill just a few minutes walk from Green Park Station.
Where's a good place to meet for a drink first?
Happily, the restaurant also has a basement bar that's well worth checking out. Nipperkin opened at the same time as 20 Berkeley and has remained essentially the same, with a few design tweaks. It's a nice vibey spot for drinks and the cocktail list is particularly inventive.
If you're having a drink at your table before dinner, the Jimoto (or local) cocktail list at Nijū is also worth checking out with a tight list of 10 cocktails based on classics.
Left to right: Matcha and fig leaf (daiquiri - £19); Sakura & Raspberry (Martini - £21)
Where should we sit?
That's an interesting question, because there are two very distinct dining rooms here. The right dining room, as you head up the stairs, hasn't changed much at all. The left dining room, however, has changed a fair bit. This now has the sushi bar in it and of the two rooms seemed the more relaxed. There are four stools here and it's worth asking to sit up at the counter for a while, if possible.
The left-hand dining room (the sushi bar is at the back)
So what kind of food are we talking about?
They're classing this as a ‘Katei Ryori’ or home-cooked Japanese food restaurant. And sure, if you happen to have your own sushi counter and fish ageing fridge in your kitchen, this could be accurate. But if you look at the menu it's actually split into an inventive snacks and small dishes section, a selection of nigiri and sashimi and a range of house-aged beef cuts cooked on their Konro Grill. The Katei Ryori part of the menu covers dishes like turbot with sea herbs and miso butter or - a favourite on Insta - the whole Dover sole cooked with nori brown butter and asparagus.
We tried to give most of the elements of the menu a go, so here's what we had to give you a flavour.
Tuna tataki, kizami wasabi, Parmesan (£22) - who knew that a load of Parmesan was what seared tuna dishes had been missing?
Tomato tartare, shiso, sorbet (£16) - a dish of such intense flavours that it instantly jumped straight into our list of best things we've eaten this year. Unmissable.
We opted to move to the sushi counter for the next part to enjoy watching NIJŪ's exec chef Chris Golding (ex-Dinings, Pantechnicon and Nobu) and David Bury (who was at Endo's Notting Hill restaurant Sumi) at work. It's always fun watching the delicate work - and the blowtorching - up close.
Chef's selection of nigiri (7 pieces - £45) - you have the option to order the nigiri and sashimi served in either a traditional or Niju style.
Then it was back to our table for two mains:
Free-range half chicken ‘katsu’, shredded cabbage, tonkatsu (£46) - if you hadn't considered ordering the katsu this would be a mistake. It's a humungous portion of perfectly crunchy chicken.
Bone in beef fillet - served in your own Konro grill complete with charcoal to the table and with onion ponzu, shiso salt and a yuzu salsa verde (£58).
Anything you order from the house-aged beef comes with a vist from a waiter to make freshly grated wasabi at your table.
Room for dessert?
There were just two desserts on offer when we went so we opted for both. A chocolate namelaka wasn't the most exciting option, but we could 100% get behind this tart.
Tonka bean custard tart, rhubarb sorbet (£15)
Overall thoughts:
Judging by the packed dining room when we left, the switch from British to Japanese has served the restaurant well and with two excellent sushi chefs in charge right now, it's definitely worth booking. Sure there's Novikov literally yards away, but Niju has the magic of the Endo name which is serving it well. All in all, it's a good example of how a nimble restaurant group has worked out the best way to fill a restaurant in this part of town.
More about Nijū
Where is it? 20 Berkeley St, London W1J 8EE
Find out more: Visit the website or follow them on Instagram @nijulondon.
Hot Dinners dined as guests of Nijū. Prices correct at time of publication.
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