Sushi Kanesaka

When Sushi Kanesaka opened inside the Dorchester Collection’s 45 Park Lane in July 2023, it marked chef Shinji Kanesaka’s first restaurant outside Asia Pacific, bringing the counter format of his two-Michelin-starred Tokyo original to Mayfair rather than a scaled-down or reinterpreted version of it, and the London outpost picked up its own Michelin star within seven months of opening, an unusually fast confirmation of the concept.

The main counter seats nine and is carved from a single block of hinoki wood said to be around 300 years old, with a separate four-seat room available for private hire away from the main counter; there is no dining room in the conventional sense, just the counter itself and the chefs working directly in front of you through an eighteen-to-twenty-course omakase menu that moves at its own unhurried pace.

Alongside the expected nigiri, the menu includes cooked dishes such as steamed abalone and grilled Kobe beef, which broadens the experience beyond a pure sushi tasting and reflects Kanesaka’s own Tokyo style rather than a London-specific adaptation built for a different audience. Rice is cooked to order in small batches through the meal, and the tempo of the counter is deliberately unhurried, with long pauses between courses that some diners find meditative and others find slow. Conversation at the counter is limited largely to questions about the fish itself, since the chefs work mostly in silence.

The price is the headline fact here: at £420 per head, with a saké pairing adding a further £150 on top, it is generally cited as the most expensive omakase in London, putting it well above other high-end counters competing in the same city. Sittings are limited and booked well in advance given the tiny number of seats available on any given night.

The honest caveat: some reviewers who have paid that price describe the experience as accomplished but reserved, even slightly tame given the cost, and suggest that diners chasing more drama or theatre alongside their sushi may find other London counters more satisfying pound for pound, even where the fish itself is of comparable quality to what Kanesaka offers.