MA/NA would like to ruin your plans for an early night.
Not aggressively. Quite beautifully, in fact. First it feeds you Bluefin tuna and black truffle. Then it gives you a martini. Then the DJs arrive. By the time you remember you had somewhere else to be, you have probably stopped caring.
Its name comes from mana, the Japanese philosophy that ingredients possess an invisible energy. Executive Chef Leo Tanyag translates that into a menu spanning Japan, with the occasional Mayfair flourish thrown in for good measure. And by flourish, I largely mean truffle.
There is another detail MA/NA keeps surprisingly quiet about: the entire restaurant is gluten-free. Not a separate menu, not a handful of substitutions, but the whole operation. Our waiter explained that the policy extends even to staff being forbidden from bringing outside food into the restaurant, such is the level of commitment to keeping the kitchen free from cross-contamination.
In a menu built around tempura, soy and fried rice, all the usual places gluten likes to hide, that is no small feat. And yet, you would never know. Nothing about the meal announces itself as an alternative version of anything.
Our tasting menu begins with truffle edamame, glossy with teriyaki, sesame and freshly shaved seasonal truffle. Edamame has rarely arrived with such delusions of grandeur. I approve entirely.
The O-Toro tartare is where things become serious. Fatty Bluefin tuna comes with avocado, truffle soy, tobiko, daikon, shallot, kaiware and fresh wasabi, piled onto rice crisps. It sounds busy. It isn’t. The richness of the tuna carries everything, while the wasabi and daikon stop it becoming too polite.
Next, Iwa-Ebi wasabi delivers rock shrimp tempura with wasabi mayonnaise, tobiko and spring onion. Crisp, creamy, hot, addictive. The sort of plate that turns “shall we share?” into an empty social convention.
MA/NA is equally persuasive when meat and fish temporarily leave the room. Avocado aburi pairs grilled avocado with teriyaki mushrooms, asparagus and spicy aioli, while horenso gomae coats baby spinach in garlic, sesame and truffle wafu goma. Spinach rarely generates table envy. This does.
At this point, it is worth noting that the number of truffle appearances on our tasting menu was roughly keeping pace with the number of martinis I was drinking. I will not be publishing either figure.
A bright hamachi carpaccio, with citrus ponzu, yuzukosho, balsamic and radish, provides a welcome reset before the heavier hitters arrive.
The Gindara Saikyo Yaki, roasted North Atlantic cod with yuzu miso and pickled kimchi daikon, is soft, buttery and deeply savoury. Then comes Gyu Wasabi, grilled rib eye with ginger, garlic, fresh wasabi, karashi and spicy leek, which lands with considerably less restraint.
There is further extravagance available. MA/NA is among a small number of London restaurants certified to serve Kobe beef from Tajima Japanese Black cattle raised in Hyōgo Prefecture, while the wider menu includes A5 Wagyu tenderloin cooked on Himalayan stone.
Our final savoury course, truffle fried rice, might be the most Mayfair bowl of rice currently in existence. Niigata short grain rice arrives with black truffle, zenmai, garlic, onion, chive and roasted black sesame. By now, my husband and I are essentially in a truffle throuple, but this is its finest appearance yet: earthy, fragrant and ridiculously comforting.
Dessert takes a stranger turn. A molten 70 per cent dark chocolate fondant comes with wasabi ice cream. It sounds like a dare. Instead, the clean heat cuts neatly through all that chocolate richness. Annoyingly clever.
The interiors have their own sense of drama. Designed by LA studio OV&CO, the room takes cues from Kyoto in autumn and Tokyo after dark, with a dragon-shaped banquette winding through the space and a handblown Magma installation by EWE Studio glowing above it. It is glossy, low-lit and very aware of its good side.
Which matters, because MA/NA does not really end when dessert does.
Bar Director Pietro Collina, whose CV includes Viajante87, NoMad, Side Hustle and Eleven Madison Park, has created a cocktail list inspired by Japanese bartending and 1970s Tokyo. The Noble Martini, made with Grey Goose Altius, dry vermouth and Château d’Yquem, is an appropriately decadent place to start. Resident DJs then pick up the tempo as the restaurant slides into late-night mode.
And therein lies MA/NA’s trick.
Plenty of restaurants want you to stay for another drink. MA/NA makes leaving feel like the worst possible option.
@mana.mayfair | manarestaurants.com
30 Upper Grosvenor Street, Mayfair, London, W1K 7PH
