Oh Moi! What an Experience – We don’t often venture up to the West End in the evenings, especially on a Saturday, but the opening of a new restaurant that serves Japanese-inspired dishes and sushi showcasing British producers and seafood from our coastal waters, tempted us to check it out… and boy, or should I say MOI, am I glad we did.
Situated on Wardour Street, MOI (pronounced ‘MOY’) is set across two floors (ground and lower ground) and offers 150 covers, including options for private dining, an Omakase-style Sushi Bar and a Listening Room. The space has been cleverly designed with a tactile fusion of natural reclaimed woods, raw concrete and soft lighting, evoking a contemporary take on Japan’s affinity to nature and simplicity. On entering the restaurant, you’re warmly greeted in a bar area with informal high-top seating, while to the rear of the room two large format kitchen islands and a hearth-style wood-fired grill are a focal point, showing the chefs at work. A striking spiral staircase crafted from poured concrete leads to the lower ground floor, where the unisex cloakrooms are situated.
The restaurant has lots of front of house staff, and I mean lots, and our charming main server, Erin, took us through the menu and advised on the number of dishes we should start with. The concept is sharing – a sort of Japanese tapas. So while we explored the menu, we ordered a pre-prandial …a Negroni in my case and, as they sadly didn’t yet stock any alcohol-free beer, my husband had an alco-free highball cocktail, which he enjoyed. My negroni was a Shiro Negroni, comprising dry white port, potato shochu, white bitter, yuzu sake and chrysanthemum bitters. While it was an interesting (and enjoyable) drink, I felt it lacked the punch and bitterness of a negroni and was more like a martini – maybe it should be renamed?
The menu is split into five sections: Snacks; Raw; Binchotan; Hornbeam and Birch. We started with Isle Of Mull Scallop Temaki, Tosazu, Smoked Cod’s Roe, Chilli, Fried Steamed Buns, Tempura Lobster Claw, Curry Emulsion and Mazara Prawns, Chilli, Black Pepper Kombu Butter.
The raw scallop, while very tasty, was served with sheets of nori seaweed to use as a wrap. It wasn’t easy to eat, so I gave up fiddling with it and just enjoyed the scallop. As far as these starters went, the smoked cod’s roe was a triumph – one of the highlights of our meal. It was served with buns that were a sort of semi-sweet doughnut and it was a brilliant symphony of flavours and textures.
The lobster claw was served cut in two, so perfect for sharing. It tasted amazing, slightly spiced, and the lobster was wrapped in shiso leaf before the thick coating of deliciously crispy batter. The curry emulsion paired beautifully with it and had a gentle heat that built up gradually in the mouth. And the prawns, again a fabulous dish, served with the shell removed but the head still on, the sauce was packed with flavour. I’m one of those people who enjoys sucking the head of a prawn for extra flavour – husband isn’t, so I was lucky enough to enjoy a ‘double header’.
For our main we chose Longhorn Short Rib, Pickled Daikon and Roscoff Onion. It was almost charred outside and beautifully rare in the middle. It was tender, savoury and very rich, with lots of umami. We accompanied this with Wood Roasted English Leeks, Sesame, Alliums and a portion of Grilled Summer Beans, Citrus. The leeks had been slow cooked over coals and were quite amazingly tasty. The beans were another triumph with an assortment of different beans grilled, and in a delicious ultra citrusy sauce which coated them and was perfectly balanced. It’s worth noting that the menu offers a great dining experience for vegetarians who can try some really unusual dishes.
The dessert menu intrigued us and I chose to try some Shaved Ice ‘Kakigori’ with English raspberries, Sansho and Burnt Meringue. Beautifully presented, the Sansho pepper added an interesting citrus note. The kakigori had melted quite a lot by the time it was served (presumably while the meringue was being burnt) but it was still a very unusual and surprisingly light dessert. My husband couldn’t resist Chocolate Mousse, Tonka Bean and Jersey Milk Ice cream. The crunchy tonka bean pieces added texture and there were pieces of dark chocolate in the mousse. The ice cream was so creamy… and he declared it ‘One of the best chocolate mousses ever’.
MOI offers a list of low intervention and biodynamic wines from small scale winemakers, with a focus on an extensive and ever-changing selection by the glass, as well as a considered approach to sake and shochu pairings with food. I enjoyed a glass of Genroku Redox, a sake made with an ancient recipe from 1703. It was stunningly good: a mix of whisky on the nose, then flavours of cognac and sherry in the mouth, with marmite/soy sauce umami notes too and incredible length of flavour – and it was spicy too. MOI has a very extensive sake list with prices starting at £7 a glass (and made in Bermondsey, no less!)
Prices aren’t cheap at MOI, but if you choose carefully, you can dine relatively inexpensively there too. It’s really quite an experience and is the first restaurant from a newly formed group called MAD, helmed by hospitality entrepreneur, Artem Login.
There are plans for another restaurant, a homage to Northern Spanish cooking, to open soon and we’ll be ‘mad keen’ to check this out too.
The Seasoned Gastronome