炭

Sumi

A fourteen-seat counter on Britton Street. Nine courses, £145, three of them finished over white binchotan.

墨 is ink. 炭 is charcoal. In Japanese they are read the same way, sumi, and at this counter they are the same act: the knife moves the way a brush moves, one stroke, made once, that cannot be taken back. The binchotan finishes what the blade begins.

Reserve a seat

41 Britton Street, Clerkenwell
Seatings at 18:00 and 20:45

41 Britton Street, Clerkenwell
Seatings at 18:00 and 20:45

A chef's hand holding a wire grate of chū-toro nigiri over white binchotan glowing in a hinoki box, the counter running off into the dark

白炭 · 400°C · no flame

The binchotan is lit at five and kept until the last piece is served, banked low between the two seatings. At each seating it finishes three of the nine courses: the aburi, the anago and the tamago.

A yanagiba blade drawn through a block of lean tuna on a pale hinoki board

柳刃 · the knife

The knife is drawn through the fish once.

A yanagiba has a single bevel and the length of a forearm, and it is used in one movement: drawn, never pushed. The face it leaves is polished, and a polished face holds its taste. Saw at a fish and it turns dull on the tongue.

A blade and a brush agree on this: you get one pass. Everything before the knife prepares the fish for it, and everything after it is a matter of seconds, because each piece is eaten within a minute of being formed. Every knife is sharpened every day, on the same three stones, in the same order.

  • A loin of tuna wrapped in white paper and tied with twine, resting in a wooden box on the counter

    Four days in paper

    Straight off the boat, bluefin tastes of very little. Each loin is wrapped in paper, the paper is changed every morning, and it is left for four days. By then it is firm enough to take one clean pass of the blade, and it tastes of itself.

  • A wooden hangiri tub of freshly seasoned sushi rice, a flat paddle resting across its rim, in warm light

    Akazu, at body temperature

    The rice is seasoned with akazu, a vinegar aged on sake lees, which stains it amber and carries the fat of the tuna. It waits in a wooden hangiri at the warmth of a hand. Colder than skin and the piece tastes dead.

Omakase · nine courses

Nine courses, about two hours, £145 a person.

  1. 01

    Sakizuke

    先付

    Chawanmushi, brown crab, a shred of yuzu peel. Served warm, before anything is cut.

  2. 02

    Otsukuri

    お造り

    Today's fish, aged four days, cut thick. Wasabi grated to order.

  3. 03

    Zuke

    漬け

    Lean bluefin, six minutes in soy. The first rice: body temperature, seasoned with red vinegar.

  4. 04

    Kohada

    小肌

    Gizzard shad, salted and vinegared this morning. The piece a sushi chef is judged on.

  5. 05

    Aburi

    炙り

    炭 · over the binchotan · 1 of 3

    Chū-toro passed over the binchotan. Twelve seconds, and not one more.

  6. 06

    Uni

    雲丹

    Hokkaido uni, heaped over rice, nori toasted at the counter. No soy.

  7. 07

    Anago

    穴子

    炭 · over the binchotan · 2 of 3

    Sea eel, simmered until it barely holds, then seared over the binchotan. Nitsume, brushed once.

  8. 08

    Tamago

    玉子

    炭 · over the binchotan · 3 of 3

    Egg, prawn and mountain yam, an hour in a copper pan at the cool end of the binchotan.

  9. 09

    Mizugashi

    水菓子

    Black sesame ice, kuromitsu, roasted barley. The binchotan is banked low by now.

Reserve a seat

Omakase · nine courses · £145

Nine courses, about two hours, £145 a person.

  1. 01

    Sakizuke

    先付

    Chawanmushi, brown crab, a shred of yuzu peel. Served warm, before anything is cut.

  2. 02

    Otsukuri

    お造り

    Today's fish, aged four days, cut thick. Wasabi grated to order.

  3. 03

    Zuke

    漬け

    Lean bluefin, six minutes in soy. The first rice: body temperature, seasoned with red vinegar.

  4. 04

    Kohada

    小肌

    Gizzard shad, salted and vinegared this morning. The piece a sushi chef is judged on.

  5. 05

    Aburi

    炙り

    炭 · over the binchotan · 1 of 3

    Chū-toro passed over the binchotan. Twelve seconds, and not one more.

  6. 06

    Uni

    雲丹

    Hokkaido uni, heaped over rice, nori toasted at the counter. No soy.

  7. 07

    Anago

    穴子

    炭 · over the binchotan · 2 of 3

    Sea eel, simmered until it barely holds, then seared over the binchotan. Nitsume, brushed once.

  8. 08

    Tamago

    玉子

    炭 · over the binchotan · 3 of 3

    Egg, prawn and mountain yam, an hour in a copper pan at the cool end of the binchotan.

  9. 09

    Mizugashi

    水菓子

    Black sesame ice, kuromitsu, roasted barley. The binchotan is banked low by now.

Reserve a seat
A chef's hands setting a finished nigiri onto a small ceramic dish on the hinoki counter

The counter · by the piece

Nigiri

Two of the fourteen seats, at the end of the counter, are kept for walk-ins from 18:00, who order by the piece.

  • AkamiLean bluefin, aged four days. Zuke if you ask.£6
  • KohadaSalted and vinegared this morning.£6
  • HotateHand-dived, scored deep, a breath of yuzu.£7
  • Shima-ajiFirm, sweet, cut thick.£8
  • AnagoSimmered, seared, brushed with nitsume.£8
  • Chū-toroThe balance: fat enough, never a spectacle.£9
  • Botan ebiRaw, with its roe. The head comes back grilled.£9
  • Ō-toroTwelve seconds over the binchotan.£12
  • UniHokkaido, heaped. No soy.£14
  • TamagoAn hour in the copper pan. The sweet full stop.£4
Ceramic sake flasks and cups on the hinoki counter in warm side light

To drink

Sake

Six of them, chosen to sit beside vinegared rice. By the glass unless the list says flask.

  • Junmai YamagataDry, faintly nutty. Served warm. The only one we heat.£12
  • Nigori KyotoUnfiltered, cloudy, soft. Drink it first.£14
  • Junmai Ginjo NiigataCold, clean, quiet. What the chefs drink.£16
  • Daiginjo HyogoPolished to 40%. Pear, then nothing.£22
  • Sparkling junmai FukushimaBy the flask. Drink it with the toro.£34
  • Koshu NaraAged eight years. Amber, sherry-like, strange. By the flask.£46
The fourteen-seat hinoki counter under warm pendant light, the room soft and dark around it
The counter
Fourteen seats, hinoki, one length
Seatings
18:00 and 20:45
Omakase
£145 a person, about two hours
Where
41 Britton Street, Clerkenwell, EC1M 5NW
Closed
Sunday and Monday

One length of hinoki, and no dining room behind it.

There is a counter, and there is the quiet around it. You sit facing the chef because the work is the show, and because a chef who has to look you in the eye cuts differently.

We do not take bookings for more than eight. We do not do a vegetarian omakase. We do not have a private room, a set lunch, or music above a murmur.

Reservations · bookings open on the 1st for the month after

Fourteen seats, twice a night.

Twelve of the fourteen seats are booked at each seating, 18:00 and 20:45; the two at the dry end of the counter are kept for walk-ins. Choose your seats on the counter below: one to eight on a booking, side by side, £145 a person, about two hours.

The empty hinoki counter seen from a diner's seat, a warm pool of light on the wood and the room soft beyond it

Guests

One to eight on a booking, seated side by side.

£290 for the omakase
£100 held at booking

The counter · hinoki01–12 booked at each seating
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14

A seat beside your party adds a guest, a seat at either end gives it back, and any other seat moves the party there.

Seating

The first seating, until about 20:00.

Your reservation

Two guests at the counter

When
An evening to choose, 18:00
Where
Seats 06 and 07
Name
To add
Omakase
£290
Held at booking
£100

£50 a seat is held at booking and comes off the bill; it is kept only for cancellations inside 48 hours.