Itsu shop open 11am–11pm; Itsu restaurant and Butterfly Bar midday–11pm; the restaurant does not take reservations
The style:
The latest – and largest – outpost of Itsu is the first to offer a Butterfly Bar, which is located on the first floor. The bar and restaurant have gone all girly with lots of pink Las Vegas-inspired lighting and a Thrills sign on the mirrored wall leading upstairs, pink astro turf walls, giant orchid pots, over-size butterfly motifs and vibrant flower-patterned booths at the back of the restaurant. There’s a giant mirror ball above the conveyer belt restaurant area at the front, while upstairs is glamorous with an ornate butterfly and a bird cage, a Les Trois Garçons-inspired bejewelled goat’s head on the mirror above the fireplace, butterfly-themed posters – think The Diving Bell and the Butterfly film poster and Muhammad Ali’s famous quote, ‘Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’ – while cake-style sushi stands adorn the stylish tables.
The crowd:
Lots of smartly dressed 30-something year-old couples.
The food:
We chose a couple of dishes from the hot menu – a light but filling Wagamama-style vegetable gyoza, Asian vegetable and glass noodle broth (£7.95) and tiger prawn hand roll (which included prawn tempura and salmon) – and took our sparklingly fresh and perfectly cooked pretty picks from the belt, including spicy tuna X-ray roll (line-caught yellow fin tuna; £4.75), Japanese spinach with sweet sesame sauce (£375), rare seared fillet of beef (£4.75) and chicken bang bang and endive salad (£4.75). For dessert we plumped for seasonal fruit (pineapple and strawberries) and gooey chocolate mousse (both £3.75 each).
Customers can also choose a takeaway meal from the shop area and make use of the delivery service.
The drinks:
There is a wide choice from sake, cocktails and beers to wines, champagnes and teas. We chose the pretty signature Bell’itsu (champagne, lychee puree, crème de cassis, £8.95), a well made raspberry mojito (£7.75) and an indulgent sherbet lemon candy (vanilla Stolichnaya, lemons and butterscotch, £7.75).
