London is set to get a new new six-seater omakase restaurant in January next year — thought to be the country's smallest — promising a “Tokyo meets Tulum” dining experience and the “world's first” gluten and nut free omakase menu.
Juno Omakase will open above Los Mochis in Notting Hill, and will be helmed by executive chef Leonard Tanyag, formerly of Zuma, and head chef Han Heung, late of Nobu and Roka.
Juno Omakase is set to serve a £180-per-person menu above the already popular Los Mochis restaurant, expanding on the existing pan-Pacific ethos wherein Mexico and Japan meet. In true omakase fashion, Juno won’t have a published menu, but will serve the best calibre fish and seafood it can obtain each day from a range of sustainable suppliers.
Omakase, which translates to “I leave it up to you”, has this year in particular become a mainstay of London's high-end dining scene. Several new restaurants dedicated to it, including Sushi Kaneska, Ine and Uosei, have all recently opened, with prices reaching as high as £420-a-head.
While Juno's menu is set to fluctuate with the availability of the produce, guests can expect to see little-seen seafood including madai (red bream) sourced directly from Japan, and saboten hirame (olive flounder) from Jeju Island in South Korea.
Juno Omakase's six-seat, 15-course experience will utilise these day boat, line-caught fish from suppliers who limit themselves to landing just 10 of each fish per day, thus preserving the local ecosystem and overall fish stocks.
Other dishes set to be served in the omakase experience include Japanese Kagoshima wagyu A4 with bone marrow and smoked chilli, and seared Hokkaido scallops alongside fig and truffle goma. In what Juno is calling a world first for an omakase experience, these dishes — and the rest of the 15-course menu — will all be nut and gluten-free.
Markus Thesleff, founder of Los Mochis, said: “We’re excited to be able to translate the traditional omakase experience to our much-loved Notting Hill restaurant. This allows us to push the boundaries of what a traditional omakase will be, by pairing Mexican spirit and Japanese elegance in a unique way, which we simply cannot do in our main restaurant.”
