There are certain restaurants that you remember as much for the way they feel as for the food, they serve, and MOI, tucked away on Soho’s ever-buzzing Wardour Street, is one of them.
Japanese-inspired, but far from your conventional Japanese restaurant, MOI combines open-fire cooking, British and Japanese produce, striking interiors and a soundtrack that makes you want to linger, long after dinner is over.
And we must admit something here: we’re not huge sushi lovers. So, walking into a restaurant with a dedicated sushi counter was a little outside our comfort zone. As it turned out, we needn’t have worried as MOI is about far more than sushi.
The restaurant is spread across two levels, with one of those interiors that immediately makes you look around. Earthy, organic and wonderfully tactile, there’s a sculptural quality to the space, with sweeping curves, reclaimed timber, atmospheric lighting and an open kitchen bringing a little theatre to proceedings.
It’s unusual without trying too hard, sophisticated without being stuffy and, helped along by some very cool music, has just the right amount of Soho energy.
At the heart of MOI is live-fire cooking, combining Japanese influences and techniques with excellent produce. Since our visit, the menu has evolved under MAD Restaurant’s (founded by hospitality entrepreneur Artem Login) newly appointed executive chef Robbie Jameson, moving towards the relaxed, sociable style of Japanese izakaya dining – think drinks, sharing plates and plenty of conversation.
When we visited, we simply asked the team to guide us through the menu, which proved to be the best way to experience it. Dish after dish arrived at the table and, even when the ingredients weren’t necessarily something we would usually choose, the flavours completely won us over.
That’s perhaps the joy of MOI. The dishes are creative and sometimes unexpected, but there’s substance behind the cleverness. Nothing feels as though it’s there simply to look good on Instagram.
The latest menu continues that approach, with an expanded selection of snacks, small plates and skewers alongside maki, temaki and nigiri. From the grill, dishes include octopus skewers with gochujang and lime and lamb belly with curry emulsion, while MOI’s rice pots include versions with wild mushrooms, 35-day aged short rib and Scottish lobster.
For serious sushi devotees, there’s still the dedicated lower-ground sushi counter, where an 11-course Omakase experience takes place on Thursday and Friday evenings.
Drinks deserve a mention too. The cocktails we tried were excellent, interesting, beautifully presented, and every bit as individual as the food. MOI also focuses on low-intervention and biodynamic wines from smaller producers, alongside sake and shochu. The wine list isn’t enormous, but what it lacks in length it makes up for in thoughtful choices.
And MOI isn’t just about dinner.
Downstairs, the former Listening Room has recently entered a new chapter as ROOM86, a cocktail and hi-fi bar bringing together DJs, selectors, cocktails, food, art, fashion and culture. Rather than sticking to one musical genre, different nights have their own sound and personality, turning the space into somewhere you can quite easily move from dinner to drinks without contemplating going anywhere else.
We arrived unsure whether the food would really be for us and left having eaten dishes we probably wouldn’t have ordered elsewhere – and thoroughly enjoyed them.
Add fabulous cocktails, good wine, beautiful design, cool music and the newly launched ROOM86 downstairs, and MOI has all the ingredients for a fabulous Soho night out.
MOI, 84 Wardour Street, Soho, London W1F 0TQ
MAD Restaurants are also behind ALTA in Kingly Court
By Beverley Uddin-Khandakar
