Test Driving MA/NA in Mayfair, where the Los Mochis team offer up sizzling wagyu and high-end Japanese dishes

The back of MA/NA is where you'll find the main dining room, and the section right at the back can be closed to make a private dining room.  

What can you tell us about MA/NA?

This is the latest restaurant from the team behind the two Los Mochis restaurants, as well as the new Sale e Pepe Mare restaurant inside The Langham (which we were very impressed by). This time, they're going  for a full modern Japanese experience (leaving aside the Latin American parts of Los Mochis), entering Nobu-esque territory. 

Where is it?

It's taken over the space that was once Ruya, which is right beside Richard Corrigan's eponymous restaurant in Mayfair and just off Hyde Park. Marble Arch or Bond Street are your nearest stations. 

Where should we go for a drink first?

If you want a drink somewhere else, we'd probably suggest Farm Shop for a glass of wine or The Audley for a pint (which was absolutely rammed on a Friday evening), both about a five-minute walk away. But if you're in the mood for a cocktail, heading to MA/NA itself is the best option. 

The cocktails list here is by the group's Bar Director Pietro Collina (who has a great CV that includes Viajante87, Side Hustle and Eleven Madison Park) and he's split the menu into three sections - precision, rhythm and heat (the heat in the latter refers to various torched and roasted elements of the cocktails). It's a list that reads well, primarily based around their own unique takes on classics, like martinis, margaritas and even a pina colada. The cocktails are all around the £17-£20 mark, with the exception of their signature martini at £25. 

Here's what we went for (we find it very hard to resist a Sidecar):

Ma/na Sidecar (Rémy Martin VSOP, Lemon, Yuzu Sake, Shiso, £20) and Roasted Pineapple Daiquiri (Bacardi Carta Blanca, Roasted Pineapple, Lime, Smoked Tea, £16). Both excellent. 

Where should we sit?

The room here is very long and relatively thin, and split into two sections. The back half (see the photo at the top of the page) is the part that is more traditional restaurant. There are a couple of alcove spaces here and if there are 6-8 of you, these are probably the best seats in the house. Right at the very back is an area that can be cordoned off with sliding doors to act as a private dining room. 

The front half is dominated by the main bar down one side:

The front part of MA/NA feels much more like a bar, but you can dine here too. 

This does actually feel like it should just be the bar, but the seats on the left are reserved for eating. If you have a choice, we'd say that you definitely want to aim to sit in the back room if you're dining. That said, as dinner winds down, the whole space transforms into a late-night cocktail bar. At that point, our recommendation switches -  you should want to be down the front, which will definitely have more of a party vibe. 

What about the food?

The menu is by Executive Chef Leo Tanyag, who has been with Los Mochis since the beginning, including their hidden omakase restaurants Luna and Juno. As for MA/NA's approach, they say it's a menu that "balances tradition and modernity". Putting it more simply, you're looking at a high-end Japanese menu that's not 100 miles away from Nobu, but with chef Leo's unique stamp on the dishes. You're looking at a combination of small plates, robata-grilled skewers, sushi and sashimi and a mix of larger dishes/grills. There's also the steak - but we'll get back to that. 

The menu is pretty sizable and you're definitely not going to make much of a dent in it after just one visit. From what we had, we'd strongly recommend the following:

O-toro Tartare - Fatty bluefin tuna, avocado, truffle-soy, kaiware, tobiko, daikon, shallots, fresh wasabi, rice crisps (£39) - beautifully presented, if you love tuna tartare, this has to be a must-order. 

Avocado Aburi - Grilled avocado, Japanese teriyaki mushrooms, asparagus, spicy aioli, spring onion, sesame (£17) - this is delivered to your table flaming, and while warm pieces of avocado weren't what we were expecting, it works tremendously well. 

Those are the two dishes we'd say that you have to order on a first visit. That said, we can also recommend the following:

Iwa-ebi Wasabi - Rock shrimp tempura, tobiko, wasabi mayonnaise, spring onion, sesame (£18) - we find it hard to resist rock shrimp and that wasabi mayo gives it a decent kick. 

Wagyu Bone Marrow Yakiniku - Smoked tare, yuzu chimichurri, pearl onion confit, lemon, rice crackers (£28)

Wagyu Foie - Wagyu A5 striploin, wagyu bone marrow, duck foie, teriyaki, terrine, shichimi (£35) - lovely skewers but they're gone in two seconds. Frankly, at this price and size, we'd probably recommend the Wagyu rib skewers instead. 

On the sushi and sashimi side, we went for the snow crab California rolls (six for £18), but we would try something a little more unique next time around. We're just so partial to snow crab that we went straight for that. If you're up for it, there is a big MA/NA sushi platter that comes in at £135. 

What about the steak?

The steaks all focus on wagyu, with the prime emphasis on Kobe beef, as they're one of a small number of London restaurants that offer it. That's available alongside A5 Japanese Wagyu and Australian Wagyu, with sirloin, ribeye and fillet cuts available. This beef quality doesn't come cheap, of course, and 100g increments start at £45 for Australian, £63 for Japanese and £125 for Kobe. We went for the Japanese Wagyu and if your budget allows, we'd strongly recommend it. 

The steaks are delivered to your table on the grill, with the fat slowly and very smokily dripping onto the coals (we had to move the steaks to the left as we were afraid all that smoke might have us setting off a smoke alarm). A steak that truly deserves the "melt in your mouth" description, even if that is overused these days. 

Room for dessert?

Only just, but it's a tempting list. The miso fondant or the Hachimitsu truffle looked good but we went for:

Raw Matcha Chocolate Tart - Matcha sablè, dark chocolate crémeux, matcha namelaka, dark chocolate glaze, citrus gel (£14)

And drinks?

Other than cocktails, it's wine and sake. We didn't really get a chance to properly review the list on our visit, but there's a pretty strong sake list, while wines start at £50, with the long list going well into the £1000s. It is Mayfair, after all. 

Overall thoughts

We visited MA/NA just a few days after it opened on a Friday night, and by the time we left, the place was packed. Being more focused on Japanese cuisine, it's a more refined, upmarket version of what they've been doing with the Los Mochis restaurants (particularly in the City). This already has the hallmarks of being a hit with the Mayfair crowd, and based on the food and cocktails we had, it deserves to be.