Test Driving Miokuru, a handroll bar channelling Tokyo energy with amazing British produce

The sushi chef in action up at the counter at Miokuru

Is this yet another handroll bar opening?

It is, but before your eyes glaze over, they're trying to do things a little differently here. Here the British produce comes first, with the Japanese influence following. So you might find amazing Cornish seafood served up as nigiri or handrolls. They bill it as "Tokyo energy in Soho", and that's a fitting description.

Where is it?

You'll find it at the bottom end of Warwick Street, close to the junction of Brewer Street, so the nearest tube would be Piccadilly Circus. Location-wise, it's very handy if you've been shopping on Regent Street, or if you've been drinking at The Dev and fancy some sushi afterwards.

There are 20 seats up at the counter at Miokuru

Where should we meet friends for a drink first?

At the moment, The Devonshire's a good call, or you're pretty close to Zedel's Bar Américain if you fancy a well-priced cocktail. But they also have a speakeasy-style bar called Eki here at Miokuru. It hasn't opened yet, but when it does, it will be very useful.

The as-yet-unopened bar Eki at Miokuru

They do cocktails too?

They do. Obviously there's a good choice of sakes, ranging from a keg option at £8.50 through to the one we tried from the premium sake list, which was a fabulous Hyakujuro Junmai Daiginjo Black Face (£15). But the cocktails are a good option too.

Left to right: Pickled Melon Sour and Pineapple and Pandan Fizz (both £14).

And is the menu all handrolls?

Far from it. In fact, while we really enjoyed the rolls, we'd almost say that the other dishes are what elevate Miokuru from the other slew of handroll bar openings recently. Here's a selection of the dishes we tried.

Barley miso marinated egg (£4.50) - a lovely jammy egg, served with kombu and spring onions.

Hamachi aburi (£15) - thick cut slices of fantastically fresh hamachi on a bed of red onion and given a kick with yuzu kosho and nam jim sauce.

Pressed and dressed hand-dived scallop with chilli sesame oil, spring onion and garlic (£10). If there's a raw scallop dish on any menu you can count on us to order it, and the chilli crack here was the perfect addition.

Salmon aburi with caviar (£15)

Now, on to the handrolls. We won't bore you with our terrible photos of them, but there were 13 options on the menu we saw. Those are mostly seafood, with three vegetarian choices and all of them ranging from £7-£12 each. Here's a photo of the lovely white crab and tarragon roll (£12), but we'd also very much urge you towards ordering the seared beef with torched marrow (£9) and the crispy salmon (£9).

The white crab and tarragon roll (£12)

Do they do desserts?

They do. You can opt for a seasonal sorbet, which on our visit was strawberry. But honestly, if you only have room for one, we'd strongly suggest you go for this.

Matcha gelato with toasted sesame and granola

Overall thoughts

It's true, London has seen a veritable onslaught of handroll bars opening, but we're here for it. They all seem to have something different to offer. One thing Miokuru definitely has in spades is charming, engaging service. That's from the sushi chefs talking you through what they're doing to our main server, who was fabulous at urging us towards dishes we might not have gone for (and was always right).