Ludicrous! Thus the name of Sexy Fish’s premium Omakase tasting menu – and also a decent adjective for Sexy Fish itself, which has established itself as one of London’s most popular restaurants by knowing how to show its guests a good time. A very Instagrammable good time.
Indeed, there are three new tasting menus: the classic Hiro (£85 per person), the seasonal Sekushi (£142pp) and the aforementioned Ludicrous (£218pp). I’m sure the Hiro and Sekushi menus are fine offerings but obviously, you’ve gotta go Ludicrous. Our thoughts are below, plus an interview with chef director Bjoern Weissgerber on how he created London’s most fabulous tasting menu. (Read our previous review of Sexy Fish here.)
Things start (relatively) simple: smoked tuna with black squid rice cakes; smoked chilli oysters; mushroom tempura. The tempura is grated with truffle and cooked super crispy. They taste amazing, like a flavour of Walker Sensations that won the lottery.
The fun begins with the arrival of the sushi. Now the sushi is excellent, and numerous. Smoked salmon roll, fresh as a sea breeze. Tuna belly on brioche topped with caviar, literally melting in your mouth. Pork belly on watermelon, spicy duck. You will not feel shortchanged on the sushi.
But wait! The sushi arrives on a massive golden platter with multiple tentacles and a mermaid’s tail. Each piece of sushi resides on one of the tentacles – the tail is purely decorative. It's gloriously silly and if you don't enjoy it then I fear for your soul. You better enjoy it: the sashimi is served on a dish shaped like a squid.
Sashimi on squid bowl
The mains do not fuck about (as I believe is the colloqual term). There are three dishes: BBQ King Crab, wagyu steak and Chilean sea bass. The crab and wagyu are served on little round coal grills; manoeuvring them around the table is a bit like playing bumper cars. The sea bass is covered in caviar and gold flakes. Subtle? God no. Superb? Yessir.
The crab is the least exciting but very fine crab nonetheless. You can’t really go wrong with Wagyu but Sexy Fish gets it as right as I’ve ever tasted. The meat is rich, smoky, topped with chimichurri for the perfect amount of kick. It’s not even the best dish on the table.
For the sea bass is gorgeous. I don't know what the gold flakes add other than a visceral thrill: "have some gold-flaked sea bass, honey" is now a sentence I've uttered. But the real star is the sauce, a funky version of a beurre blanc with chives and butter and miso. Sexy Fish is too cool for bread but maybe buy a roll from the supermarket because you don't wanna waste a drop.
Wagyu and BBQ crab from Sexy Fish
Desert is often an afterthought. Not here. Here, dessert arrives like the headline act, colourful as a firework and no less spectacular. Fancy some truffle ice cream with little marshmallow mushrooms? A chocolate brownie? A multicoloured white chocolate fish, three-dimensional, so beautiful that breaking open its head with a spoon felt like an act of vandalism. There’s also a shitload of fruit to assuage your guilt.
We caught up with chef director Bjoern Weissgerber to discuss the Ludicrous concept...
Ludicrous is a great name for a tasting menu. Was it also your mission statement when creating it – be as OTT and fun as possible?
Absolutely! I love food and I do love to be OTT to a healthy level. And Sexy Fish is the best place to do so – as a chef, but also for the guest. To merge fun and the luxurious, accompanied by knowledge, a strong vision and an amazing team.
Obviously, the ingredients are incredibly high quality. Does that make your job easier or harder? Presumably you don’t want the diners to be stuffed by the third course...
It is a privilege to work with the best ingredients available – but it is indeed a challenge to keep the journey exciting for the guest. Only expensive can be boring. To spice the journey up is the beautiful challenge! Crispy – spicy – crunchy – cold – acidity… There are so many elements to play with and I hope our guests enjoy it.
My favourite dish was probably the gold-leaf Chilean sea bass. What made you include the gold leaf – other than the fact it’s very cool? And how do you make that sauce?
The gold leaf and the crispy caviar on top of the Chilean Sea Bass are just the cherry on top of the Cake … with the menu name as Ludicrous – it’s a perfect match. The sauce is the best of both worlds! Fine dining meets Japanese = Sexy Fish.
Gold-covered sea bass
Some of the dishware are as memorable as the food – especially the octopus stand. Was that custom-made or did you design the courses around them?
The Octopus stand is custom made – it took us over a year to finally produce it. The restaurant is full of beautiful art – I took it as my duty and challenge to match a different approach to serve food… And we continue to work to become better.
The multicoloured white chocolate fish in the desert course is almost too beautiful to eat. How long does it take to prepare?
The biggest challenge on this fish was to build the mould. We could have done a two-dimensional fish – but then it would not be Sexy Fish. We also did not want something mirrored like an easter egg .. it needed to fit into the world of Sexy Fish. Finally, I think we achieved it. The fact that you are pointing it out – we achieved what we wanted! It takes time and it’s just as complicated as it looks.
The whole desert course is pretty insane. Was that a deliberate choice to go out with a bang?
Of course, it was 100% deliberate, it’s the last course of our menu – we want to make sure we send you home with a smile and great memories.
Which was your favourite course to create? And which was the most challenging?
The menu is constantly developing – however the octopus stand is the one I like most to think about. Intensive, memorable, luxurious bites.
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Berkeley Square House, Berkeley Square, London W1J 6BR; Sexy Fish
