Kisetsu in Islington

First let me say the food was 5 star. I would choose to give 4.5 over all, but forced to choose I had to go 4 because a few service elements were not quite perfect. Kisetsu is the chef's table at Shosharu, which offers a fantastic intimate dining experience using seasonal ingredients and mainly fish. The 15 course taster menu was always interesting, flavoursome, and visually inspiring to match. Our group had both wine and Sake pairings. The wines were generally very impressive, particularly a French pinot noir and rare dessert wine. The sommelier certainly knew his stuff, although on several occasions he had explained the pairing to the group without us noticing (perhaps not correct etiquette to be overly assertive to be fair, although he was softly spoken). The sakes were very interesting - I tried my friends and all but one were very impressive. I could write on about the food. Really so impressive. Again this was five star, but at times the service felt disjointed and there was the odd hiccup such as getting the pairing orders wrong or omitting the bill from the nicely presented boxes at the end! One of the couples were also late so we didn't start until 30 mins after our 8.30 booking, which meant a past midnight finish. All in all excellent, iron out a few of the glitches and this truly will be an exceptional dining experience.

This is another restaurant, Shushi Style, that knocked our socks off. The best seats in the house are in the back of the restaurant, behind a sliding, nondescript door...where the real magic happens. Kitsetsu is situated within another restaurant named Sosharu. We have dined at Nobu London, Matsuhisa in Los Angeles (go read my review) Oishi in Boston and Sushi Yasuda...this new place, Kitsetsu has burst unto the world stage. No kidding. I have pictures, and my memory of the dazzling evening to prove it. You'll see. The private dining (Kitsetsu) inside Sosharu is limited to 10 seats. Two (2) seatings per night. Go to the later seating, as the portions may be larger, and there is no time constraint to get you out of there for another seating. All the action of the evening is performed right in front of you as the master magician, Jason Atherton, also the owner of the restaurant, does his thing. And man does this guy do his thing. We were dazzled and delighted each step of the way. This place is a hidden gem...but not for long. Go see for yourself. You'll thank me later. Happy trails!

I booked this for my partner's birthday, and was very excited for the sake pairing, which he loves. We arrived about 30 minutes early to have a drink at the bar. A waitress took our order, but after about 25 min no drinks had arrived so we asked for an update. The waitress was somewhat rude and told us she was really busy. After another 10 minutes a different waitress came and admitted they had lost our order. So after 35 minutes, still no drinks, though we were offered free prosecco while waiting. Another 10 minutes pass, and still no one has come to get us to be seated for dinner however - at this point we don't really trust they will remember. Not a great start. We finally went upstairs for the meal, which all around, was very good, even though the timing was off, with awkward breaks between courses. We ordered the sake pairing, which was quite disappointing. We were given absolutely no information on how many sakes it would be ( so had no idea how to time drinking them or which courses they were supposed to be paired with) and were also not given any information on the sakes themselves, besides the name, which meant nothing to us. I had also told the restaurant multiple times that it was my partner's birthday, including right after dessert - the waiter assured me they had something planned. 2 minutes later someone brings in a cake, and it is given to another diner across the table, who is wished a happy birthday. Even after being reminded 2 minutes prior, they forgot the cake! Then the bill came in a fancy little wooden box, and instead of being charged for 2 tasting menus, the bill was for 4, so I had to awkwardly alert them to this. Overall, the food is good, the chef was friendly, but the service is mediocre at best, certainly not in line with expectations for a chef's table, and definitely impacts the experience negatively.

Some of the best Sushi I have eaten, really awesome service and a chance to actually watch a brilliant chef up close - he was also a nice chap.

Kisetsu is a very special, original place to eat. With that comes a hefty price tag but for a special occasion it's definitely worth it. On a Tuesday night in November there were just five of us in total. We were welcomed with a really tasty cocktail before the food kicked off. They say there's going to be 15 (I think) courses but many 'courses' are more a bite, so you don't actually get too full! It's great to watch the chef prepare each morsel in front of you and explain what it is you're eating. Our meal was heavily fish-based with several bits of sashimi and the largest course being eel. Squid sashimi was probably our least favourite - it turns out raw squid has a weird texture! - but there were many incredible courses to balance that out. After looking at the extensive wine and sake list for a while we chose the sake pairing (£65 - the 'fine' wine and sake pairing was £95). The waiter explained each sake to us and was incredibly generous with the servings - this isn't a pairing where you only get one small glass of each wine. Our meal finished at about 11pm but the time seemed to fly by. The service from all staff was excellent and the whole experience very memorable. I'd be keen to try Sosharu, the 'mother' restaurant in which Kisetsu is based, at some point.

Had the most memorable and amazing lunch here. English food with a slight Japanese influence. Every mouthful was so delicious. Each plate delivered individually it was so great not to follow a menu and not expect what was to come next. So many tastes and flavours so hard to pick the best dish and very healthy too. If you like fresh food done simply with great depth then don't hesitate you will not be disappointed.

This is a proper "experience". The food was exquisite, the mix of flavours, sublime. We'd have liked more attention from the sommelier - and that was the only down - side but our chef was first-rate and we'd highly recommend it.

Had one of the most outstanding and memorable dining experiences for many years! Sitting at the "chef's table" with 5 mates for 3.5+ hours of sheer epicurean pleasure. The 19 courses (no selection necessary - it's just course after course..) of awesome seasonal ingredients lovingly and skillfully prepared and presented was just stunning. And I'm aware I'm using a lot of superlatives here. We managed to choose some great wine (at reasonable prices) to accompany - the sommelier's selection was a good place to start. Definitely one to return to - but after a few months so it's just as stunning next time. Very expensive - but in fact worth every penny in so many ways.

This is a restaurant within a restaurant - Kisetsu is a chef's table (seating 10) that lives within Sosharu. You can book for lunch or dinner, although I suspect the latter may be booked for some time. Obviously, your dining companions are complete gamble but you can openly chat or stay within your own group. This is kappo style Japanese food and it is probably true to say that it's not quite pure Japanese cooking...Kisetsu offers Japanese ingredients and techniques but adds other influences and flavours. That being said, it was a wonderful treat from beginning to end - we sat down at 7.30pm sharp and finished around 11pm...although there was no pressure to leave and our fellow diners were still finishing their drinks as we left. The dishes are assembled as you watch, and while many of the ingredients are already prepared, the basic cooking (frying, grilling, smoking) is also done in front of you. The menu included various types of tuna, wagyu beef and beluga cavier...as well as other more basic ingredients. All the dishes offered terrific mixes of flavour and/or texture and/or temperature. I won't list the food we have but you can see a sample menu online - I would point out that we had rather more courses than are listed on this menu, but I obviously cannot guarantee that will always be the case. As you would expect, this is not a cheap meal but you can exercise some control through your choice of alcohol. We pushed the boat out with a rather nice Edo period style sake but you could just stay with water. A recommended experience.