Boxing clever: contemporary Japanese restaurant Kibako to launch in Fitzrovia
Kibako is set to open within the Windmill Street site that was until recently home to Hot Stone group’s Japanese fine dining restaurant RAI, which is currently looking for an alternative premises.
At the centre of the restaurant’s offering will be ‘omakase-style’ boxes containing either six or 12 sushi and sashimi dishes per diner.
The menu will feature re-imaginings of classic dishes that combine specialist Japanese ingredients with high quality produce from around the world.
Guests will be able to choose between two of the restaurant’s three course set menus, both featuring a kibako to start, which includes dishes such as: seared butterfish with red jalapeño sauce; hand dived scallop with plum and rock shrimp tempura, followed by a main dish and a dessert.
For the main course, there will be a selection of ‘unique and refined’ takes on well-known Japanese dishes, including grilled saba (blue mackerel), spicy oroshi (daikon radish); and 48-hour marinated grilled black cod, saikyo miso (sweet rice miso).
Diners can also opt to go a-la-carté, selecting from a menu of sushi, sashimi, maki and carpaccio, as well as larger, hot-dishes such as, seafood donburi and A5 Kagoshima Wagyu don, all served with rice, miso soup and Japanese pickles.
Kibako’s concept was developed by Hot Stone Group founder and director, Shrabaneswor Rai, who will oversee the restaurant’s day-to-day operations working alongside his executive chef Padam Raj Rai, whose CV includes Japanese restaurants Tsukiji Sushi at the Westbury Hotel, Roka, Nobu and Sake No Hana.
The 50-cover restaurant, designed by studio Muzo Design, will boast an 'intimate' dining room with traditional wooden-panelling, low lighting and a sushi bar.
