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Hampstead residents will get a new Japanese restaurant and omakase counter this month as the team behind the Michelin-starred Taku Mayfair prepare to launch INÉ.
INÉ, which in Japanese translates as ‘rice’, will continue Taku chef-patron Takuya Watanabe’s ethos by way of protégé and incoming head chef Law Kwok Meng. Meng’s expertise extend beyond Taku, with 23 years’ experience as a master sushi chef, a title only a handful in the UK have attained.
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Taking over the site of the former restaurant Goldfish on Hampstead High Street, INÉ is set to host up to 50 diners in four distinct dining spaces. These include a first-floor bar, where sake and lighter snacks will be served, a main dining room, and an eight-seat omakase counter.
Unlike at Taku Mayfair, where the omakase prices start at £160 for lunch and climb upwards to £400 a head for dinner, the 15-course omakase offering at INÉ will cost £100. The contemporary-leaning a la carte menu will include dishes such as lobster with cauliflower and sudachi jelly, grilled Iberico pork, and wagyu beef katsu sando.
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Alongside this, a selection of daily fresh sashimi including toro (tuna belly), akami (lean red tuna), hamachi (yellowtail), and salmon will be offered, with much of the sushi utilising the technique of edomae, a traditional preservation technique using either salt or kombu to extract maximum flavour.
Meng noted on the opening: “INÉ is the perfect opportunity to offer the traditional delicacy of omakase seen at Taku alongside contemporary Japanese cuisine reminiscent of the restaurants in Japan.”