Living in London you realised there’s restaurants and then there’s RESTAURANTS. Sure, the restaurant at the end of your street serves a pretty decent pasta bake, but that’s nothing compared with a Michelin starred chef cooking up a storm. Well, at London’s top restaurants, there’s normally a small section of the menu that proves there’s menus, then there’s MENUS. This is where they keep the Kobe Beef. The poshest part of the menus in the poshest restaurants in town. Welcome to wagyu town, population: the handful that can actually afford it.
Kobe beef is Wagyu beef and comes from a particular strain of Japanese cattle from Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture and it’s highly prized and heavily regulated. You know that when you taste this tender, fatty, marbled beef you’re eating something truly special. Think caviar, but actually nice.
Park Chinois
London’s most opulent Chinese restaurant was always going to have a great line in Wagyu. As per our intro, they’ve also got a specialist caviar menu (£350 for 50 grams of Béluga Impérial caviar, anyone?), and when it comes to beef head straight to their Japanese Hida Wagyu Rib-Eye, yes it’s a rib-eye-watering £120, but you’re already dropping serious coin if you’re reading this guide.
Where: Park Chinois, 17 Berkeley Street, Mayfair, W1J 8EA
Nearest station: Green Park (0.2 miles)
Website: www.parkchinois.com
M Victoria ST
Get one of the super-comfy booths in this subterranean den of luxe and order some of their award-winning Kobe Wagyu beef. Executive Chef Michael Reid is one of the best beef chefs in London, if not the world, and what he can’t do with a slab of Kobe beef isn’t worth knowing about. Every mouthful is a delight, as is the wine list.
Where: Zig Zag Building, 74 Victoria Street, Westminster, SW1E 6SQ
Nearest station: St. James's Park (0.3 miles)
Website: www.mrestaurants.co.uk
Sexy Fish
Sexy goes well beyond the fish at this gorgeous Berkeley Square restaurant, not least with the Japanese Wagyu A5 steaks. The sirloin and fillet steaks take pride of place on a menu sparkling with gems. And if that wasn’t enough, the gorgeous interior of this Japanese restaurant will wow you nearly as much as the food rapidly departing your plate.
Where: Berkeley Square House, Berkeley Square, London W1J 6BR, UK
Nearest station: Green Park (0.3 miles)
Website: www.sexyfish.com
SUSHISAMBA
Tower dining was seldom finer than at SUSHISAMBA, the 38th floor restaurant serving London’s best Nikkei cuisine, but also cooking up some of the capital’s tastiest Kobe. Try the Robata-grilled Kobe ribeye, a snip at £144 and served with kabocha, kuromitsu and mustard cress. It’s a drop in the water compared to the Kobe Beef Ishiyaki, which comes to a smooth £1,000, and includes a kilo of meat along with dipping sauces and pickled plums (we hope it comes with chips, at least!).
Where: Heron Tower, 110 Bishopsgate, EC2N 4AY
Website: www.sushisamba.com
Nobu Berkeley Street
Nobu, the height of Japanese elegance, rush their A5 Wagyu from Kyushu in Japan and comes in a choice of styles (including in a taco) and priced at £58 per 75 grams. The restaurant, courtesy of Robert De Niro, of course, appears twice in Mayfair, once here on Berkely Street and second (arguably first) on Park Lane and in both cases seriously swish.
Where: Nobu Berkeley ST, Berkeley Street, London, United Kingdom
Nearest station: Green Park (0.2 miles)
Website: www.noburestaurants.com
