Gastro Japan-style

Davies Street is the new Charlotte Street, with added schwing and flash. It's the New Bond Street of dining and, in the space of a few years, it has gone from zero to hero for the rich, rubber-necking foodie.

Mark Sargeant (aka 'Sarge' off TV) does Emperor Ramsay proud at Claridge's, and what the Aston Martin DB7 is to cars, Berkeley Square Cafe is to cafes.

When the Running Horse opens its dining room, its fancy-pants food and expensive wine - with a little real ale - will be the final poke in the eye for the traditional pub. The fact that the manager wears Vivienne Westwood injects the appropriate note of Davies Street dandyism into the street's boozer.

The Cipriani is, well, the Cipriani. I've heard such mixed reports about the Cipriani that I feel it is two restaurants - one a slick, sublime pasta joy-and-bellini-making machine, the other an over-priced caff for Russian billionaires run by Fawlty Towers' Manuel. As yet, I've not been in for a £27 veal chop.

Ian, one of my dinner dates at Sohojapan, had, as had friend Shirley Bassey, and both experienced bad service.

My green-tea cocktail at Sohojapan - iced green tea mixed with shochu (a smooth Japanese spirit) - would have been a great anti-carcinogenic minus the booze. Green tea beats any other mixer, except broccoli and milk-thistle tisane.

The boys - Louis joined us - had draft Asahi. They also have Kirin on tap.

This is not strictly a Japanese gastropub, but it's an extraordinary place. Louis said Lost In Translation came to mind. They have attention buttons by the tables, which could solve some of the appalling service problems in British gastropubs.

Sohojapan, in a spruced-up old pub in Noho, looks like a clean, provincial pub, with traces of bistro and ramen bar in its decor. One of the bars is now a teeny open kitchen, where they make the sushi and grill most of the other food. There are specials chalked up on blackboards in Japanese. You may only smoke at the other bar, where the manager could be found doing homework in-between serving tables.

Instead of crisps and nuts, they have bar snacks of steamed edamame - a soya bean, which contains phytoestrogens (nature's mini-HRT) - and dry-roasted gingko nuts, which are small, gelatinous chestnuts that increase blood flow to the extremities (nature's Viagra).

Mr Takagi, the owner/chef, is a big Burgundy fan. All the wines are from that region, and throughout the evening we saw him discuss body, bouquet and legs with his fellow countrymen. The smell in the room is peculiar - the yeastiness of a wine cellar mixed with teriyaki.