The writer is the City editor at FT Alphaville
The Scottish blue lobster is having an eventful day. Before sunrise, it was scuttling across the floors of silent seas. By evening, it’s in Mayfair, being poked into activity by the ragged claw. Shortly, the lobster will be taken behind a curtain and its days will end, but for now, it’s a free rider for what is generally accepted to be London’s most expensive set menu.
How much? OK, let’s do the awkward bit first. Dinner at Sushi Kanesaka costs £420 a head, paid in advance, not including drinks and a 15 per cent service charge. The other thing to know is that, as is policy for this column, I’m paying. No expense account, no press junket. Everything that follows is the honest assessment of someone living stratospherically above their means.
The name on the door belongs to Shinji Kanesaka, who has built a Tokyo sushi counter into a global brand with outposts in Singapore, Hong Kong and Seoul as well as London. The style is edomae, sushi by historical re-enactment. Assembly duties here are handled by head chef Hirotaka Wada and a brigade from central casting: shaved heads and white kappōgi smocks up front, kimono gliding ghostlike in the background. Men cook, women serve.
