The Shiori - review

Many moons ago I was invited to be the UK judge at an international cooking contest held in Tokyo. The French won in almost every category — including presentation — because they had been allowed to field two French judges. Extremely vigilant readers may remember this story from before but it still eats me up. The meal that has stayed in my mind from that trip is a kaiseki banquet that US judge Craig Claiborne had the wit to organise in Kyoto — a bullet train ride away.

We are talking more than 30 years ago. The content of the event amazed, impressed and frequently flummoxed both of us but it was the ceremonial quality, the attention to beauty and that singularly Japanese virtue, appropriateness, in its every aspect that was the biggest revelation. No longer a kaiseki virgin, I nevertheless remain relatively unschooled in the tradition. In reading it up, or Googling, as we now say, I related to the observation that meals “are conversations chefs have with history and their customers and the structure of kaiseki offers, under the right conditions, an unusually full vocabulary”.

It is a vocabulary — actually language — that Takashi Takagi, chef-patron of The Shiori, can now, under the right conditions and to his visible satisfaction, use extensively. Until late last year Takashi and his wife Hitomi ran the diminutive Sushi of Shiori in Drummond Street near Euston Road that accommodated seven customers. The brakes that were applied to his Kyoto-trained creativity learned “under the philosophy of old master chef Mori” were in the restaurant’s name. In the new location off Queensway, Takashi Takagi can spread his culinary wings, respond to the season and improvise to his heart’s content within the formal structure that is a kaiseki meal — although here nigiri sushi still plays an important part. The traditional monotone clean-limbed, graphic interior seats 16.

In the evening, choice is between the eight-course Hana menu at £65 per person and the 12-course Kokoro at £105. Because I had already tried the Mini Kaiseki lunchtime menu at £50 when eating with a restaurant critic chum, I knew that the parade of poise and delicacy is deceptively filling. For that reason Reg and I chose the shorter dinner, something I now regret but will put right by going back as soon as possible.

As we waited to start, San Pellegrino water was poured by the young waiter as reverently as if he was handling Château Pétrus. I asked Hitomi’s advice on the choice of sake — another area where I could do with a lot more learning — and the 300ml carafe recommended was presented leaning at a precise angle on a pad of ice in a wire drum.

Rape blossoms-ohitashi, in fact verdant stems and leaves with a topping of (I think) bonito flakes, was followed by diced raw sea bream with a pungent sauce made from monkfish livers. Because that dish had been part of the lunch list, Hitomi brought me something different — sweet shrimp with fermented rice. It was her husband’s thoughtfulness, she said, and it was done with such grace, such absence of drama.

Even more impressive was the substitution (for me) of snow crab and winter vegetable hotpot with a ball of crabmeat in a skin of ultimate tensile strength resting in a small amount of deeply savoury broth. It was like the sort of conjuring trick when a napkin is pulled away and a glass of water turns into a bunch of flowers.

Chawan-mushi, a dish of egg custard, is invariably soothing but at The Shiori it was a mesmerising minefield of textures, including chewy dried scallop, with flavour from a sonorous stock and a satin finish. Sashimi almost miniaturised, each element thoughtfully garnished, was served on a glazed ceramic dish where part of the decoration looked like brushstrokes and a few spilt spots of soya sauce. The chef grates his wasabi freshly and brews his own soya sauce. When it is served with sushi — the rice hardly less luxurious than its fish or shellfish topping and topknot — a paintbrush is given for applying just the right amount. The vinegary kaiseki moment, which comes before the sushi, was a dish of thinly sliced salmon rolled with seaweed.

For dessert we had green tea ice cream with a seed-studded biscuit and yuzu sorbet and then Japanese tea in an intricately patterned lidded bowl. The serenity, sure-footedness and dedication of the Tagakis is something marvellous in a world where others like to bish-bash-bosh or strive to be “dirty’. It all has its place, of course, but I know where I would rather be.

45 Moscow Road, W2 (020 7221 9790). Tues-Sat noon-3pm and 6-10.30pm. Lunch set menus £28.50/£38.50/£50. Dinner £65/£105. Sake pairing available. Service 12.5 per cent.