Sexy Fish arrived on Berkeley Square in 2015 with the kind of deliberate spectacle that London's restaurant scene had not quite seen before — and has not replicated since. Richard Caring's project, designed by Martin Brudnizki Design Studio and ornamented with original works by Damien Hirst and Frank Gehry, is less a restaurant with good interior design and more a work of art that happens to serve exceptional Japanese-inspired food. The Hirst coral reef across the ceiling is one of the most extraordinary decorative gestures in any London room. The Gehry bronze crocodiles anchoring the bar are the kind of detail that you notice on every visit as if for the first time.
The food takes its inspiration from Japan and across Asia, with the Robata charcoal grill at the centre of the kitchen. Sushi and sashimi prepared with the same attention to sourcing and technique as any serious Japanese restaurant. Lobster tempura that is as good as anything in Mayfair. Black cod — prepared differently from Nobu's signature but comparably accomplished — that demonstrates what the Robata grill can do at its most precise. The bar, producing cocktails that match the room's ambitions in creativity and execution, is the best pre-dinner venue in the postcode.
Sexy Fish divides serious food critics in the way that restaurants which prioritise experience over credentials tend to do. The room is undeniably loud on a Saturday evening; the music is a consideration for those who prefer their fine dining in silence; and the kitchen, while consistently good, does not pretend to compete at the Michelin level of its neighbours. What Sexy Fish offers instead — and what it offers more effectively than almost any other restaurant in the city — is an experience. Walking into that room, on any evening, is an event in itself before the food arrives.
The set lunch Monday to Saturday, starting at £24 for two courses, is one of Mayfair's most accessible entry points into a room that would otherwise require a considerably larger budget.
