The Araki

The Araki occupies a discreet address on New Burlington Street, a nine-seat counter that ranks among the most rarefied sushi experiences in London. Mitsuhiro Araki moved his three-Michelin-starred Tokyo restaurant here in 2014, and in 2018 it became the first Japanese restaurant in Europe to hold three stars. Since 2019 the counter has been led by Marty Lau, the master's long-serving apprentice, who continues the edomae tradition of curing and ageing fish in the Tokyo style.

The room is spare and exacting. Its counter is cut from a single 200-year-old Japanese hinoki cypress, a gift from the musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, and the interior was built by the Takenaka Corporation. There is one omakase menu and no a la carte; dinner runs across two seatings, Tuesday to Saturday, and the meal cannot begin until every guest is seated.

For private events the whole restaurant can be taken on an exclusive basis, seating up to fifteen across the counter and a separate six-seat room. It suits an intimate dinner for a handful of guests who want the counter to themselves rather than a large celebration, and exclusive hire is offered to established guests at the house's discretion.