Mitsu, London EC2: ‘Determinedly fun and delicious’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants
No spoilers, but I knew even before I’d reached for my chopsticks that Mitsu would be a vast improvement on its predecessor, because it has taken the place of Nobu Shoreditch in the under-gusset of the Aethos hotel, a Swiss-owned “lifestyle hospitality brand”, in east London.Nobu was gargantuan, moodily lit (that is, pitch black), woundingly expensive and terrifically hard to book, despite having something like 797 seats; it was also one of the most soulless London restaurants of the past 25 years.Nobu Shoreditch felt symbolic: it was where all the raffish hope of the 1990s YBA crowd and the early noughties electroclash heads went to die.But that was then, and now, in 2026, the Aethos crew has deftly brightened and lightened the mood of the room, making it actually cosy and adding a twinkly central bar; there’s an open robata kitchen and roomy booths, as well as a pretty Japanese garden.Mitsu calls itself an izakaya, which is what European restaurateurs always say when they mean the Japanese-influenced food isn’t too po-faced and you can get really tipsy on sake.
Not that the place isn’t serious about its sushi and sashimi – there’s plenty of good unagi, hamachi, chutoro and so on – but there are also a lot of tasty little snacky things, such as very good chicken tsukune (meatball) skewers to dip into sweet tare sauce and two Shoreditch-requisite sandos: pork belly with mustard and wagyu with tonkatsu sauce, both in rich, milky shokupan.From the robata, you can have a porterhouse steak with sansho pepper sauce or a pork tomahawk with kanzuri miso.Leading the kitchen is Aaj Fernando, ex of La Bodega Negra, which back in 2012 was a mega-hot, secret Soho restaurant under a fake sex shop, which was also impossible to book.It’s still there, apparently, although these days no one seems to care about it much, least of all Fernando, who is now out east and busy feeding a new set of subterranean bright young things.I abstemiously order a green tea, because my days of dancing on tables in this postcode are long behind me.
If they weren’t, I’d have ordered a whisky highball – two, probably – or some of the £4-a-glass sake from the Kanpai brewery down the road in London Bridge,I wasn’t in the mood for miso soup, edamame or tsukemono (house pickled veg), so I passed on the snacks section and dived straight into the kozara (small plates), where chicken and squid karaage sit beside pork gyoza and seafood dumplings,I ordered hamachi (yellowtail), which came in a pool of katsu ponzu and dotted with a silky, earthy cauliflower puree that, rather than being overpowering, was just right,The staging of the wagyu sando, however, struck me as a bit rustic, cut into four chubby sections, crossways like a toddler’s post-Pigeon Street lunch,The steak itself was thick but tender, while the bread, like all shokupan, was sweet, rich and impossible to stop eating; it may as well have been madeira cake.
Japanese-influenced sandos often have about them a death-row dinner aspect, not least because each gorgeous bite takes you merrily closer to the grave,Mitsu won’t win any plaudits from Japanese purists, who will turn up their noses at the grilled beef fillet with garlic and soy butter and the soy-glazed salmon skewers – they shouldn’t fret too much, though: at least they draw the line at chips,And they definitely won’t want a whopping portion of matcha tiramisu scooped from a big bowl tableside in a cool Insta moment, although that’s exactly what much modern dining requires, especially round these parts,Still, this is a determinedly fun and delicious place to have up your sleeve,The chutoro sashimi was genuinely excellent – fresh, fatty, supple, devourable – and special mention should also go to the akami temaki – delicate, crisp nori boats filled with rice and lush red tuna; those juicy chicken meatballs, too, are worth the trip alone.
There’s a sense here, though, that Mitsu is delicately balancing its urge to attract Shoreditch’s new content-creating crowd (sandos, slopped-out pudding) as well as an older, moneyed clientele who want actual sashimi and sake.It’s not remotely earth-changing, but it is a large, warm space with great staff, and I’d happily pop by again for a solo lunch.Businessy groups will appreciate the bigger booths, while friends and couples can chat happily because the soundproofing is brilliant.The menu, meanwhile, lends itself more to scoffing a little too much than to picking solemnly at a tiny piece of expensive fish and congratulating yourself on clean eating.So farewell, Nobu, I won’t miss your black cod and lack of light bulbs.
I like Mitsu much better,Mitsu 10-50 Willow Street, London EC2, 0287 114 0040,Open all week, lunch noon-4pm, dinner 5pm-midnight (1am Thurs-Sat),From about £80 a head à la carte (set menus at £85 and £105), all plus drinks and service
How to make arancini – recipe | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass
Before I wrote this recipe, it hadn’t occurred to me that the word “arancini” means “little oranges”, and, plump, round and golden as they are, it makes sense, too. Indeed, these robust rice balls, which are said to have come to Sicily with Arab invaders in the 10th century, are now, according to the late Antonio Carluccio, the local equivalent of a sandwich lunch.Prep 25 min Cook 45 min Makes 8 large ballsFor the risotto700ml chicken stock, or vegetable stock100ml white wine (optional)250g short-grain rice (eg, arborio)½ tsp salt, plus extra to season1 very generous pinch saffron (optional)50g parmesan, or grano padano or vegetarian alternative, gratedBlack pepperFor the arancini2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk100g mozzarella, drained and cut into chunksOptional other fillings of your choice – meat ragu, pesto, sauteed mushrooms, wilted or defrosted greens170g plain flour 250g fine dried breadcrumbs (preferably not panko)Neutral oil, for fryingFlaky sea salt, to finish (optional)Risotto is a northern Italian dish, so Sicilian arancini weren’t designed with it in mind, but they are great vehicles for risotto leftovers. My recipe is intended for 700g cooked rice, but adjust the fillings and coating according to what you have; these are also a great way to repurpose small amounts of ragu, cooked vegetables, fish or meat.If you’re cooking the rice from scratch, put the stock and wine (or substitute 100ml extra stock, if you prefer) in a medium pan and bring to a boil – I like chicken stock, because I find it the most neutrally savoury, but use whatever suits the fillings you’re using
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It’s ‘Gut Coachella’ for Nicholas Jordan and friends, who blind taste a line-up of 20 shredded and fermented cabbage productsIf you value our independent journalism, we hope you’ll consider supporting us todayGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailI cannot tell you how many times I’ve been introduced to a fatty, salty hunk of meat and thought, “my god, I’m going to need a pickle”. I feel the same eating cheese toasties or deli sandwiches with rich mayo-based sauces. Where is the pickle, hot sauce, citrus or ferment? Even the most savoury, juicy slab of umami is a bit much without acidity to balance it.What is the point of sauerkraut without acidity? It’s just wet, salty cabbage, and what is that for, other than deflating my spirits and inflating my gastrointestinal system? Sauerkraut should be sour; it’s the hallmark of the very thing that created it – fermentation.Why am I saying all this? After eight friends and I tasted 21 supermarket sauerkrauts, I was shocked to find some lacked not just acidity but any vigour at all
Spring soup and bean and cheese quesadillas: Thomasina Miers’ Mexican-inspired seasonal recipes
I have always loved the evident (though not proven) link between how foodie a country is and its love of soups. In Mexico, where nose-to-tail eating is a given, broths maintain a steadying presence in any self-respecting cantina, and soups are commonplace on most menus. We don’t eat a crazy amount of meat at home, but having homemade stock in the freezer is an ingenious fast track to flavour and goodness. Here, whether your stock is chicken or vegetable, homemade or shop-bought, the joy is in the gentle spicing, a scattering of herbs, zingy tomatillos and some lovely spring leaves.There are so many different herbs in Mexico that are impossible to find here, so I’ve used bundles of more common soft herbs to try to capture the lovely breadth of flavour in this soup
Willy’s, Margate, Kent: ‘It chortles in the face of small plates’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants
This cute and jovial eatery is reason enough to make a break for the coastAs summer looms, and with it the urge to stampede towards the edges of Britain in search of paddling opportunities, I proffer another coastal dining idea: Willy’s in Margate – and, yes, that name does have about it something of the naughty seaside postcard. Tucked away in the back of Margate House hotel on Dalby Square, a few minutes’ walk from the seafront, Willy’s is a blur of frilly red-and-pink seaside adorableness. It’s cool, cute and jovial, with pork scratchings and apple chutney on the menu, as well as black pudding scotch eggs, sticky toffee pudding and Sunday lunches of beef rump and baked cauliflower cheese. This menu is short, intentional and hearty, rather than airy-fairy, and it chortles in the face of small plates.But, for the foodie/sippy crowd, the signifiers are all here: there’s a paper plane and a penicillin on the cocktail menu, throwbacks to New York’s iconic Milk and Honey bar
Why sweet, chewy dates go perfectly with chocolate – and the best ones to try
I first cemented the allure of the “chew” aged 14, working illegally as a chambermaid (I lied about my age) and finding a guest’s Gummy Bears laid open – a breach I heavily exploited. Recently this chew need has been sated by dates and their use in chocolate as a healthy caramel. Dates do have nutritional benefits over mere sugar: fibre, minerals, antioxidants and make a great pre-workout boost.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link
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