Umu

One of the best Japanese restaurants i have eaten in. As a regular of Nobu and Zuma, I have just changed my opinion. Umu is the best!!! Nice and quiet at lunch times also. Expensive.
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Monday, June 23, 2008

Umu is a great venue, feels very exclusive and hidden away. The staff are very attentive and the food was interesting as well as very tasty. We tried some great Sake too. Its a great place to bring someone for a special and interesting evening out.

There were a few negatives from our visit though. We ordered the signature tasting menu but when the table next to us came to order the same, they were told it had sold out. Not great since that is probably the reason why most people book in the first place and it was only 9pm. Also as we progressed through the tasting menu ourselves we got a definate impression that they were short of some dishes as some of the promised dishes didn't turn up and others came at the wrong time. Maybe they were just having an off night, either way a Michelin starred restuaurant should be better prepared.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Went to Umu with my mum and we both loved it. Of course we went straight for the Kaiseki dinner and were left overwhelmed by the delicate, fresh and pure flavours. The best raw fish I have ever eaten outside of Japan is definately at Umu.

Service was impeccable. Our waiter was helpfull and knowledgeable and it was a pleasure to savour fresh wasabi - a rarity in London as it mostly comes out of tubes or in powder form. Expensive but so worth it.
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Mimi
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Sunday, May 11, 2008

Went there last Saturday and sampled a lot from its a-la-carte menu.

Overall: elegant decor, superb service, beautiful plating, mouth-melting toro, but...

Other sashimis were average. The innovative sushis were disappointing. The Uni was extremely bitter (Edokko is much better), and the bill (food only) was £180 for two.
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FineDiningExplorer - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 5
Friday, March 14, 2008

Went to Umu for lunch. Ordered from the a la carte menu (just feel that set menu's are too compromising, and when you are going to have a good meal, you should order the 'best of' the menu).

Here are the things you MUST order - Oysters with ponzu sauce & spring onion, toro tsukuri foie gras, and the best thing - foie gras sushi with lily root & mushroom! They also have a large & impressive list of sake.

Admittedly, the main courses were not terrific... The lobster was ok, the wagyu beef, grade 9 was like any beef really (they also have a grade 6), and the monkfish was the actually quite poor. But you know what? It doesn't matter. The good stuff more than made up for the not so good!!

The desert - just order the chocolate fondant with home made miso ice cream. Hard to go wrong here.

Yes, it is very expensive, but you're not going to be eating there everyday, so go for it! Portions are rather small, so not the best place to go if you are very hungry. But overall a good experience!
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Sid
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Saturday, November 10, 2007

I went to UMU with a group of 8 people and had the 90 pounds kaiseki menu. I was extremely disappointed. There are seven courses of essentially tiny portions that were, in the end, and notwithstanding all the bells and whistles around the dishes, very very bland. There is a 15 minute wait between each portion, and then it comes in all manners of dishes and plates, with a long explanation, but in the end it is just not worth it. Sashimi was just sashimi, even though they put a fig around it and apparently caviar... I did not see or taste it, but they told us it was in there. The fish was okay, but nothing to write home about, and the miso ice cream was interesting, but not worth the three hour wait.... The wine was good, so this ended up to be a liquid dinner. Service was good, with a very friendly waitress. In a nutshell, definitely not worth it, terrible value for money. This is just another one of these London restaurants with an attitude, a great decor and scores of personnel running around.... but where food is a huge disappointment and the price is sky high
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Jerome
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Friday, October 26, 2007

My fiance and I went to Umu on Friday 17 September 2007.

Although tempted by the Kaiseki menu's we opted for A La Carte on the basis that we wanted to try some of the more adventurous dishes. The crab and courgette sushi was amazing as was the wagyu beef, however, the fish shabu shabu was a little on the plain side and the normal nigiri sushi were pretty run of the mill. The areas in which this restaurant excels are ambience and service both of which can't be faulted.

An ideal venue for a special occasion but it is very very expensive.
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, August 22, 2007

UNEXCEPTIONAL.

Overpriced, unappetizing, and very disappointing. Service was fine. We ordered at least 6 appetizers and spit one back into the napkin. Nothing about this restaurant will leave a lasting impression. We visited far superior restaurants to this one in London. Main courses were not up-to-par. The safest thing on the menu (Chicken Teriyaki) was dry and not appetizing at all.

We had a hard time sitting through dinner and even more unbelievable that we payed the bill.
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morgan
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Saturday, August 11, 2007

I went to Umu last night and the food was exceptional. The care taken in presentation and sourcing of every ingredient is second to none. Specific highlights were the langoustine with sea urchin, the toro tsukri with foie gras and from the modern sushi list the blue crab & courgette, razor clams and the sea bass. The restaurant is chic and sophisticated, and low lighting reminded me of evenings out in New York. The waiting staff were very helpful. The only complaint would be that we whilst the wine list was impressive, we waited a fair amount of times for both the bottles we ordered to make it to the table. One small hiccup in an otherwise perfect evening. If you are a sushi fan, it is well worth the expense.
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E.D
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Thursday, July 19, 2007

We had a 10 pm reservation and arrived around 10.15. we were told that the table wasn't ready but we could start at the sushi counter and move over to the table when it was ready. we never moved to the table we had reserved. I looked around after 30 minutes of sitting at the sushi bar and there were couple of table free but we were never offered the option to move. I didn't want to ask to be moved as this should be something that was offered to us.

The food was ok. Some things were special, like the oyster and eel, but the sashimi was kind of average. Also when we tried to order the kaiseki set which is what they are known for, we were told that they ran out of the kaiseki at 8 pm! but isn't that what they are known for? shouldn't they have enough available so that at least it should last until 9? It was a Friday night and of course they knew that it was going to be busy.

I also couldn't stand the attitude of the serving staff. When the waitresses brought over the food, they continued to chat with each other, dump the plates on the table and left. Even at Sakura on Hanover Square you get better service (and they are notoriously famous for their bad service at Sakura!).

what I disliked the most was after spending couple hundred pounds on a meal for two, we had to watch the sushi chef clearning up his working area. He was soaping up and washing his knives, also cleaning up his board etc. It's nice to see that he knows how to clean up after himself, but why did we have to pay so much and have to see someone wash up?

so for these reasons, I wouldn't go back again. Nobu is very formulaic but at least you know what you are getting and the service is efficient.

Jimi
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jimi
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Sunday, July 08, 2007