Looking for a luxury Japanese dining experience in the capital? Matsuba is located in Richmond, South West London, open five days a week from Tuesday through to Saturday. It's a family-run restaurant which has been open since 2004 and boasts a menu that reflects both the time-honoured techniques and authentic flavours of Japanese cuisine, alongside a modern look and feel.
The space itself is impressively stylish with sleek seating and rustic details like exposed brick walls and industrial lighting. With intimate booths and small tables, it's a great place for catching up with friends or date night.
On the menu, you'll find everything from premium sushi to BBQ specialties, alongside a tasting menu and even takeaway options for those nearby. The team pride themselves on using only the freshest ingredients and offer a large breadth of dishes.
To start, enjoy appetisers like grilled scallops with unagi sauce and wasabi mayo, alongside tuna tartare, and nasu dengaku which is lightly fried aubergine coated in sweet miso sauce. If sushi is your thing, you'll find sea bass, yellow tail, scallop and fatty tuna, alongside others, nigiri, plus an omakase with 18 pieces of the chef's choice.
For mains, there's plenty of noodle-based dishes like Yaki Soba with chicken or seafood, or Tempura Udon with prawns or tofu. From the BBQ, try spicy marinated chicken or sweet sirloin, or seared steak of tuna with balsamic teriyaki sauce. We like the sound of the black cod saikyo-yaki in saikyo miso sauce.
If treating yourself to the tasting menu, start off with a complimentary glass of prosecco, before 14 courses with the likes of deep fried squid in batter with shichimi chilli pepper, as well as clear fish soup with prawns and salmon aburi nigiri with cheddar. Then, finish it all off with honey and citron fruit tea.