Mitsuhiro Araki and his wife. They moved to London because of their daughter’s studies.
Mitsuhiro Araki is a three Michelin star sushi master from Tokyo, who has recently relocated to London. When you talk about the world’s best sushi chefs (Jiro Ono, Hachiro Mizutani, Takashi Saito to name a few), Araki would be one of them. He is especially famous for his knowledge of tuna. When time comes for nigiris with akami, chutoro or otoro, during the omakase meal, the sushi master unwraps a huge chunk of tuna and proudly poses for the photographs of the impressed diners. The only difference from when he used to operate in Tokyo, is that this belly of bluefin tuna comes from the coasts of Ireland, not Japan.
To compensate the lack of variety of clams, crustaceans and fish (that are usually abundant at Tsukiji market in Tokyo, but not in Europe), black caviar and white Alba truffle is used at The Araki in London. This is quite a bold move for a traditional Edo-mae style sushi restaurant and if you ask me if such excess is necessary for good sushi, I would say no. But this what makes Araki justify the price of his omakase, which comes to 300 pounds + the service charge. With two glasses of moderately priced wine I paid 374 pounds in total, or almost 70 000 Japanese Yen. That would be more than double what one usually pays at the most expensive sushi shops in Tokyo, such as Sukiyabashi Jiro or Harutaka.
What really shines here though, are not the expensive ingredients used, but Mitsuhiro Araki’s unrivalled skills and expertise of sushi making. Without any doubts, he has no equals in Europe at the moment.
The Araki : 12 New Burlington Street, London W1S 3BF, tel. 020 7287 2481
The Araki in pictures…
Sea bream from France. Not chewy, not “fishy”,pure and perfect appetite openerSteamed abalone from France, served in antique chinawareShaving white truffles on tuna tartareTuna tartare with truffles, soy sauce and mayonnaise, whisked in front of you. Despite of it’s extravagance, it was a very well balanced dish.Crab with caviarMitsuhiro Araki slicing the tuna from IrelandGrilled octopusAkami (the leanest part of tuna) sushi. This was as perfect as it could get. The rice, that comes from Saitama prefecture, was perfectly balanced seasoning and texture wise.Chutoro (medium fatty tuna) sushi. Mitsuhiro Araki has proved that even in Europe he can get excellent tuna.One of the assistants is grating fresh wasabi rootOtoro ( fatty tuna) sushiScottish salmon sushi. It’s kind of “neta” ( sushi topping) that you will never get at the Tokyo heavyweights. Salmon is not used by sushi chefs in Japan that much. I found it very good though. The salmon was briefly dipped in soy sauce before serving.Seared mackerel. The rice was slightly warm too. Obviously the overall temperature was very important for the chef as the sushi was given directly to my fingers and the chef made sure I ate it quickly.Squid, served in the same manner as the mackerel. My photography skills with a left hand are obviously not that good.“Vernis” (smooth clam) from France. Araki-san didn’t know it’s name and was pretty amused when I told him how it is called in France.The traditional “Kuruma ebi” ( Imperial prawn) was replaced by langoustine from France. It’s texture was much more delicate than Imperial prawn’s. Personally, I would have preferred the latter, but I guess it is hard to source it in the UK.Langoustine sushiTo finish the meal – yellowtail roll. The rest of the diners got eel sushi.Tamago (omelette)with white truffles. This was the only course I didn’t appreciate at all at The Araki. The omelette was too sweet and the white truffle didn’t give much to the overall flavours.My bill for one personMitsuhiro Araki
