10-seat Japanese restaurant Roji to open in Mayfair next year

Called Roji, the named restaurant translates to journey or path, but can also mean hidden alley, and will be located on South Molton Street.

Menus will need to be prepaid at around £ 150 per person for dinner excluding drinks, with a lower priced lunch option. The meal will include a hyper-seasonal menu emphasizing British produce with sushi as well as dishes based on pickling and preservation techniques as well as those cooked over charcoal.

The seafood will come mainly from UK waters and vegetables from the Nama Yasai farm in East Sussex. The tableware will come from small family producers in Japan and the UK, with plates selected for specific seasons and ingredients.

There will also be the option of a super premium sake pairing from a long list of sakes that will include hard-to-find, limited-edition bottles.

Naszai and Hasegawa are both experienced Japanese chefs. Naszai has worked in London restaurants Tokimeite, Sake No Hana and has also won the Japanese Culinary Art Competition twice. His wife Hasegawa also worked at Tokemeite as well as at L’Abysse at the Pavillon Ledoyen in Paris, and Ginza Shimon in Tokyo.

“We are very happy to work together. Opening a restaurant as a couple has been our goal for many years and it’s very exciting to see it come to life, ”says the couple.

The restaurant opens in partnership with the Japanese restaurant group Saga, which operates the Chisou and Sushi Atelier restaurants, and will offer five dinners and four lunches per week with a maximum of 10 customers per service.

Reservations will be taken from January 2021, with priority given to Chisou and Sushi Atelier customers.

Many preview dinners will also be organized at the Chisou’s Beauchamp Place restaurant on January 19, 20, 26 and 27.