Wild Izakaya opens on the QT in the City, from the Goodman team with ex-Koyn head chef

It still happens occasionally that a brand new restaurant opens up without us having heard so much of a whisper about it beforehand. That's the case with Wild Izakaya, a very interesting-sounding Japanese restaurant from the team behind Goodman, Pinna and Beast.

It's taken over a space in the City of London on Old Jewry Street, right opposite its sibling restaurant Goodman, where the old Browns used to be. They say their thing is "bringing Japan to London", and the man in charge of doing precisely that is Executive Chef Satoru Hashimoto, the former Head Chef at Koyn, who previously spent over a decade heading up kitchens for Nobu.

The menu centres on sushi (nigiri, sashimi, maki and temaki) along with robata skewers and deep-fried dishes like agedashi tofu and rock shrimp tempura.

There's space here for a separate bar and that features an on-theme cocktail list with options including a wasabi margarita, shiso collins and plum Manhattan. Of course there's a house martini, and here it's made with Belvedere vodka, Ichiko sochu and Kenbishi sake.

If you know anything about this group you'll know that their wine offering is always a serious one. Here, there's an amazing sake list with rare bottles like the 20 Years Daruma Masamune for £400 a bottle. But if you want to celebrate a big City bonus, there's also a 2022 Romanée Conti Montrachet Grand Cru on offer at £1250 too.