A jet-black shopfront has appeared in Chinatown. Amidst the tourist-friendly lucky cats and red lanterns, Yatay resembles a goth kid in a smiley family photo, insisting, 'It’s not a phase!' Step inside, however, and the moodiness relaxes somewhat. The lighting is ample, the music isn’t too loud and the food all comes on plates. Despite branding itself as a 'social dining experience' (the best kind), Yatay seems to have dodged quite a few hipster pitfalls.
Since the offering here is essentially Japanese tapas, we fittingly started off with house pickles and Padron peppers. The former were a perfect start, with wasabi cucumber, yuzu daikon and soy aubergine providing a surprising breadth of flavour. The latter, meanwhile, came coated in soy and togarashi, another winning combo. All this, paired with a brilliant gochujang-spiked, sesame-rimmed bloody Mary, gave Yatay a running start.
Sticking to the tapas format, dishes at Yatay arrive when ready. Since pretty much everything is cold or grilled, our table was promptly inundated with the rest of our order. Here the standard was a little more mixed. The star of the show was soy-laced chicken, which had been pressed between two peppery shiso leaves, lightly tempura-ed and came with spicy vinegar. Excellent. A mound of beef tartare, however, needed more of the furikake and garlic miso promised by the menu. And there was the occasional misstep, like some plain, claggy mushroom rice with an undercooked egg stirred in. But then, a delicious upswing: lamb cutlets, marinated in red miso, grilled to perfection and served with burnt lime.
With almost 50 dishes available, a consistent standard borders on impossible. And at £60 a head before drinks or service, that’s a pricey roll of the dice. That being said, if Yatay shortens the odds (and the menu), we’ll definitely be back.