Published: 29 September, 2011
by LOTTIE MOGGACH

LET’S get one thing straight: the subject of this week’s review, Senkai, is really quite expensive.

Even more expensive than that place you took your dad for his birthday that time.

And, although this paper’s readership is a broad church, I suspect that even foodies with mortgage-free, four-­storey houses might gulp a bit at the bill. So, to redress the balance, we’ll also give space to somewhere at the other end of the scale.

But first, Senkai.

This is a re-launch of that swanky place Cocoon in Regent Street, and claims to be London’s first sustainably sourced Japanese-inspired restaurant.

Note the ‘Japanese-inspired’, rather than ‘Japanese’. Most of the staff are not Japanese and the menu includes dishes such as ceviche alongside the expected sashimi and the like.

Where Cocoon had a real wow-factor, in an icy cool, early-noughties kind of way, Senkai’s interior, frankly, does not.

The first-floor dining space has a bit of a hotel-foyer feel about it, despite a centrepiece of a raw food bar and views over Regent Street.

Senkai’s staff are not only friendly and efficient – and, incidentally, gorgeous – but extremely well informed.

My brother, who accompanied me, is seriously interested in food, and our waiter fluently answered all of his obscure questions about the menu, and agreed to his impromptu request for a tour of the kitchen with barely a hint of bemusement.

We ordered what was recommended by the manager, starting with an unusual cocktail called Parsnip Cup, which was surprisingly delicious and delicately flavoured: imagine a mildly savoury version of a pina colada.

To eat, we had series of smaller plates and a veal chop that cost – gulp – £32.50. The waiter explained the chop had been marinated for 36 hours in yoghurt and a host of different herbs and spices, before being cooked tandoori-style on a robata grill.

Even the more modest dishes have been subject to many careful stages of preparation and unusual flavourings, so much so that you feel like a heathen for guzzling them in seconds.

Some of the dishes, though tasty enough, weren’t noticeably better than their cheaper and simpler counterparts – a £16 plate of thinly shaved and cured Wagyu beef lacked the lovely fattiness you find in Serrano ham.

Others were worth the time and money: the popcorn-style tempura prawns; the pork and artichoke gyoza, fried crispy on one side; the pickles, made on the premises. And yes, that miraculously tender veal chop.

The next evening, we went to the Duke of Hamilton in Hampstead, which is as similar to Senkai as a moggy is to a Bengal.

It has also recently had a makeover, but new owner Steve Coxshall has resisted turning it into a gastropub.

In fact, we imagined, it must have been quite an effort to source the traditional pub trappings he uses – red curtains, a patterned carpet, a dartboard, pork scratchings – when ash wood, blackboards, shabby chic lampshades and wasabi peas are now the industry standard.

But a good thing he did: almost unique for NW3, this is a proper, back-to-basics, old-school boozer, still full of long-time regulars who can remember being insulted by Oliver Reed there back in the day.

The pub’s big draw is its large selection of real ales, which change regularly – Coxshall announces new arrivals on Twitter, which can lead to a stampede from connoisseurs – but there is also a short menu of home-cooked dishes, as unpretentious as you can get.

We tried lasagne and a cottage pie – the most expensive item at £7.50 – and both were extremely good.

So, a veal chop and a Parsnip Cup, or a cottage pie and a pint of Leveller? The answer, of course, depends on your tastes and wallet. But there’s definitely a place for both.

Summary: Swish West End fine dining and a revamped local boozer, both well worth a visit. As we may have mentioned, Senkai is pricey. The Duke of Hamilton is not.

SENKAI
65 Regent Street, W1B 4EA
0207 494 7600
www.senkairestaurant.com

THE DUKE OF HAMILTON
23-25 New End, NW3 1JD
0207 794 0258