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.
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.
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.”
