TEMAKI Mayfair — Restaurant in London

Dined here recently and found it enjoyable, but lacking in some ways. There is no denying the chef is well trained having worked in Japan and various omakase bars in London and beyond. His experience shone through in the sushi rice, which was kept at the optimal warm temperature throughout the meal and was nicely vinegared with red vinegar, which you seldom see in London. The handrolls were served slowly which allowed time to relax, and that was great too. It was the toppings that let the handrolls down. Seeing akami tuna and chutoro chopped up and left in bulk in plastic tupperware to last the entire seating took away from the experience. I also noticed alot of akami being mixed into the toro to bulk it up when it was running out - which is fine, but the menu said it was a toro handroll. We also generally found that the quality of the ingredients could be improved. For example, the lobster temaki was almost 'watered' down by a mayo-type sauce it was drowned in, taking away from the flavour of the seafood. Yuzu-kusho pepper paste was also greatly overused and featured in far too many of the different handrolls we ordered. Certain handrolls could also be improved - for example, adding shiso leaf into the otoro to cut the fatty flavour, or even making it a toro-taku roll and adding pickles and such. It must be admitted though that the unagi handroll was genuinely very good and flamed in the kitchen at the back to order, which exceeded expectations.

Another comment is that the alcohol menu - and particularly the sake menu - was tremendously overpriced for the location and ambience of the place. Charging approximately 12-15 pounds on average for a small glass of sake is far too much for this kind of establishment in Brixton, particularly when these are not junmai daiginjos we are talking about. These were junmais etc. and if anything, the restaurant needs to add some more affordable sake options in to match the casual vibe of this place in the middle of what essentially felt like a food court in Brixton. The sake felt like a rip off and really raised the bill, and overall the amount we paid could not be justified in respect of the location and ambience and we felt we could have had a similar meal in Yashin in Kensington for example for the price we paid.

Would we go back? Perhaps, but only if we were in the area, desperate for a sushi fix, and even then we would order...

Let me start by saying the food is good, temaki are freshly made in front of you, crispy seaweed, good quality rice. Monkfish karaage was really tasty, not greasy, just right, served with Japanese mayo and tobiko or ikura, not sure but that was delicious. Problem is, this is finger food, we got the set menu at £30 which offers 5 different temaki, but these are smaller than a usual temaki. We ordered 2 cocktails, sorry but at £10.50 each I expected to be mixed then and there, instead they use these bottles of pre-mixed cocktails and just poor it over ice. Not saying they were bad, but really weak and not justified the price. All in all for 2 set temaki menus, 1 portion of karaage, 2 cocktails and some water bill came to £105. Don't get me wrong I understand for quality you need to pay, ingredients are expensive, but a 45 mins dinner and over £100 bill I think it is a bit much. Another thing I noticed, they have yellowtail sashimi, someone ordered that and obviously I thought the chef will cut the fish sashimi style and serve it to the customers. No, I was wrong, from a fridge he pulls this little plates with pre-cut sashimi. That is a big no in my books, even you have the best quality fish, the fact that was pre-cut and stored in the fridge it will affect the quality of the dish. Sashimi is best served just after being cut, no questions asked. The staff on the other hand it was all over the place, one of the girls she was being trained during dinner service on a Saturday evening. They were bumping into each other, very disorganized, removing glasses from the table when we weren't finished with the cocktail, every minute you were interrupted by another member of staff, either to ask you if you want to order more, to fill your water glass constantly, just so then to ask you would like to order another bottle, just a bit too much. They were lovely young guys but inexperienced and trained in this way by management I guess. Oh and another thing the menu that you see online has lower prices than the menu in the restaurant. If you already increased your prices a month after you opened think this is a bit greedy and also change it on your website as well to match with...

This has rapidly become one of our favourite restaurants in London! The food is excellent and the service is just as good. Pantelis is a wonderful host and his friendly demeanour and affinity for conversation are very suited to the comptoir seating in the restaurant. The chefs are very lovely too, and are happy to interact with guests over the counter. The whole setup lends the restaurant a nice intimate and personal atmosphere.

The food itself is excellent. The handrolls are obviously the main event, but they also serve a selection of supplementary side plates and there's a rotating board of specials. By now we've sampled a significant portion of their menu and we can say with certainty that the best dishes are the miso aubergine, the fatty tuna, and the BBQ eel handrolls, as well as the crispy rice with trout tartare. But everything was delicious. The brown rice is an especially nice touch; it gives the sushi a lovely toasty cereal note. I highly recommend getting one of the set menus as the best way to sample a selection of handrolls, as it's more economical than ordering them individually. The only criticisms I can possibly think of were that the wagyu tataki could do with a touch more salt for my taste, and that occasionally the aubergine handrolls were served without the spring onion mentioned on the menu. But honestly the fact that this is the best criticism I can muster is testament to just how good this place is!

I seriously cannot recommend Temaki enough. If you're only a couple people then you should have no problem finding a space at the bar, but this place would also be a great venue for larger groups if you can book it out in advance. I encourage you to interact with the staff as they're very nice and it'll make your dining experience that...