The St. James’s area is undergoing a bit of a shift at the moment. Historically the preserve of gentlemen’s clubs, tailors and generally establishments for the well-heeled, there’s been a recent spate of restaurants that don’t require such deep pockets. Matsuri opened in 1993 and a quick glance around confirms it’s one of the old guard, however it has a sense of fun thanks to the theatricality of the chefs cooking on the teppanyaki grills (plus the giant mask that hangs above the stairs down to the dining area).
As with many Japanese restaurants there’s a fairly dense menu, so if you wanted to spare yourself hesitating backwards and forwards you could spend between £65 and £145 on a tasting menu (this is not, as you might have guessed, the place for bargains). Warm starters include deep fried tuna cutlet coated in crispy breadcrumbs, made with rich fatty tuna; shrimp tempura is great, a huge juicy prawn dipped in barely there batter. We try fresh, flavoursome salmon and tuna sashimi, while yellowtail and sea bass sushi have a pleasingly high ratio of fish to rice.
But onto the main event. You may feel that you have to order something for the chef to flambé in front of you, causing flames to rise up halfway towards the ceiling, but it’s just as entertaining to be close to the visuals and smells. A hunk of fillet steak is grilled needing nothing but a sprinkling of black pepper, alongside fleshy black cod in a sticky ginger glaze. They come together with asparagus and onions; priced at £45 this is good value. Next there’s a decadently-sized dish of foie gras, mixed mushrooms and a thick slice of delicious rich smokey duck.
Other things worthy of note are the desserts, among them the flambéed ‘fireball ice cream’ and baked yuzu cheesecake with creamy yuzu mousse, as well as a wide variety of spirits (whisky in particular), sakes and shochus.
Waitresses dressed in traditional kimonos add to an atmosphere that’s ideal for celebrations, although there are plenty of couples on the night we visit. Sleek and with polished service, you’d never guess Matsuri was a joint venture from Japan’s largest rail company and famous soy sauce manufacturers Kikkoman.
