I went to Nobu the other night. Having not been for some time, and having not eaten properly at the main Nobu restaurant in the ‘not so new anymore’ Berkeley square branch, I had to question myself why?  To be honest I have found that Nobu’s appeal had gone beyond the good food, for which I have never been able to complain about, but more geared towards its image. 

I had been invited to try out the hibachi table. For those of you, including myself who are unsure of what a hibachi table is, its a flame grill at the centre of the table. We were brought a plate of a variety of different meats and veggies, there was some mighty meaty lamb cutlets, some sexy looking wagyu and plain old beef fillet, some asparagus, shitake mushrooms and pimentos. Bit frightening cooking wagu for a bunch of food writers but I took one for the team and got in charge of the grill.

The meat was pretty lush, although it was kind of impossible not to overcook the beef and wagu due to its thickness, unless of course you are meant to eat it medium, which I just presumed the Japanese would not do. The meat and veg was then plunged into 3 different sauces. There was teriyake, ponzu and soy and a spicy miso anticuchos sauce. Much fun was had and the sauces were particularly yum. I will be trying the make the spicy miso one at home soon.

Next course was the mystical shabu shabu. As some of you might know I spent time growing up in Thailand and we used to virtually live off steamboat, which is a south east Asian version of this. Basically a vat of steaming beef stock that has been flavoured with sake, soy, mirin, sugar and shitake mushrooms is bought to the table and left on the burners to bubble away. There are glass noodles, mushrooms, cabbage and tofu in the soup. a plate of the finest raw wagu ribeye carpaccio is bought to the table, which requires a few seconds of plunging before eating. The table guzzles down the rib eye which is always a joy, then the soup, noodles, tofu and veg are then added to a soft poached egg and mixed up before being eaten. Its truly scrumptious. Completely messy and a bit like bringing back the game from the 70’s where you used to have to steal a kiss from your neighbour if you dropped your bread in the fondue - a whole manor of fun.

So I’m sitting there thinking of those things I found questionable about Nobu Berkeley, and they had evaporated. I was having far too much fun enjoying good company, wonderful wine list and a delicious and entertaining feast. My love of Nobu has been reignited and I would suggest you all book that Hibachi table for a fun times.

Nobu Matsuhisa and executive chef Mark Edwards are in charge of the menus, which includes loads of the Nobu classic dishes (Nobu’s new style sashimi, scallop tiridato and yellowtail and jalepeno are all on my death row dinner list) along with many new items, some of which are cooked in a new Japanese wood-burning oven which I am dying to try. I need to give a huge shout out to Nobu manager, Paul Murashe who has worked so hard at getting Nobu back to where it deserves to be and it’s well and truly there.

The Hibatchi table seats 12 and realistically I would expect to pay about £90 a head, but even if you do this once, do do it.

Nobu Berkeley square,

15 Berkelely Street

London, W1J 8DY

http://www.noburestaurants.com