The Nobu restaurant I visited was in the heart of London's Mayfair. A large clear door sits behind an entrance of ropes and stensions. We check-in and leave our jackets in the downstairs cloakroom and we are escorted upstairs to our reserved table. On confirming our reservation time the hostess also confirms the time we need to vacate the table which seems a little frosty and hardly appropriate.
The thing that most surprised me is the bars minimalist decor, modern and crisp however underellaborate and straight to the point. Larger tables span the centre area and couples reservations are usually places along both side Walls, thus where we sit. As the restaurant fills up we find ourselves only inches away from the diners next to us and it is almost impossible not to be distracted by their conversations, we are seated so close I can here them as well as I can hear my colleague opposite, Nobu have seemingly tried to accommodate as many dinners as possible and as a result of this sacrificed comfort.
Service begins before my chair has been pulled out and our drinks order has been asked for at the same time as us being presented with a wine list. Wanting a moment to compose and examine the options I ask the waiter for more time, he returns after a few minutes when I am clearly still pondering over the menu. My expectation for Nobu is high as it is often pitched as 'the' place to go and with it's prime Mayfair location it attracts the kind of clientele that are happy to pay a little extra for superior quality, so I expected our high priced wine to hold a high quality taste, sadly we were presented with low quality wine at a high quality price, it was palatable so I made the decision to enjoy the meal and not make a fuss.
Food service was again unpleasantly swift and our sushi had arrived before our wine was pored. We ordered shrimp tempera roll, California roll and asparagus roll, even though my fellow dinner was a non fish eating vegetarian Nobu chose to mix our sushi and serve it on a large granite platter. Luckily the fish parcels were distinctive and it was hard to confuse the selections. The Shrimp tempera was enjoyable if not rather bland, one roll was left to waste though as Nobu served a shrimp tail in one - probably for garnishing purposes but it left it tasting fairly inedible. The California roll was again fairly bland, the crab was freezing cold and lacked taste, I found muskeg having to add soy sauce to make it taste. Asparagus again the issue was blandness although the asparagus pieces were cooked to perfection so they had great bite. I am unaware if Nobu make each sushi roll to order but if they do its not obvious, in all honesty the taste wasn't too contrasting to the pre made sushi rolls I buy from Marks & Spencer at lunchtime and for a sushi restaurant this isn't acceptable.
Even though you would normally expect misu soup to arrive prior to any food ours arrived after our sushi, my colleague was severed regular misu made from fish stock which he worked out was the case due to taste after the restaurant failed to serve a vegetarian alternative. To follow our sushi we had some salt and peppered cod which was so divine it fell apart in the mouth. We had White rice which was gloopy and underseasoned, it was like chewing air as there was just no flavour.
Deserts however we are different story and we were trilled with our chocolate offering. A chocolate dome surrounds green tea ice cream, the dome melts and caves in when hot chocolate fondants is poured over by the waiter, it's delicious and almost makes up for the rest of the meal.
The other Nobu issue which I have thus far neglected to mention was the embarrassingly bad attitude of our waiter who decided to throw each food item onto the table in an aggressive manor. I am aware that traditional misu is sipped from the cup, on this occasion as the tofu pieces were large and the seaweed hard to swallow I request a spoon, the waiter patronisingly informed me that I had to drink it as if I wasn't aware of how misu is usually consumed, he addressed me in quite a shocking manor and as if I was completely clueless, this was again not appropriate and caught the attention of several other dining tables. I feel strongly that a waiter should add to the dining experience and treat all guests not only with respect but to make them feel welcome, at Nobu Berkeley on our visit this wasn't the case.
My overall Nobu experience was not up to standard, it's only saving gracing coming in the form of a tasty chocolate desert.
Photos by Simon Upton
The Bill: £78 For 2
