Clap a Japanese fusion kitchen just opened in Knightsbridge offering a la carte, as well as all you can eat sushi brunch.
Clap a new addition to Knightsbridge foodie list comes from the warm META countries, where it first opened its doors in 2018.
Located a short walk from Knightsbridge it’s a great spot to catch by passers as well as those familiar with the brand.
We visit on an early Tuesday evening and while it starts empty it quickly fills up with guests flocking to the upstairs bar area for dinner.
We are told during busy periods the bar booths are offered to diners. I go upstairs to explore them and find the two floors are differently themed.
The bar area has an unobstructed panoramic view over the city and Harrods in all the festive lights. Opposite the huge windows is the bar finished in a modern eclectic style with large screens displaying a rainy anime megalopolis with striking red isakayas (lanterns).
It’s a great and unique experience to sip a cocktail at the bar stool, you look to your left to dive into manga streets of Tokyo, look right and it’s the beautiful rooftops of Knightsbridge penthouses.
And as a further cherry on top, the cocktails list is a booklet with images and thorough descriptions of each drink. I love experimenting with cocktail flavours but more often than not a cocktail I order is a disaster that needs to go back.
Clap did their best to avoid that, if images aren’t enough the bar staff are incredibly thorough who will get to the very bottom of your taste buds to identify the exact drink to please them all.
The ingredients selection is first-class, there is timur berries, green shiso, Japanese peach liquor, supasawa, wasabi umeshu, paragon rue berry to name a few.
Some might require a phone at hand to check the words, I know I did. I got distracted by a good few cocktails thinking I found the one but with each page it kept getting better until I came across Kaneda Bike.
It has all my favourites Ojo de Dios Mezcal, Choya Umeshu and the earthy sweet beetroot hibiscus rounded up with fruity italicus.
With a pleasing light froth on top and tangy plum on the tongue it’s as striking on the eye as it is on the flavour.
We then proceed to the main dining area with dimmed lighting and more intimate setting. I’m intrigued by the ceiling adorned in hundreds of rectangular pieces of cloth. They are made from kimono, both sustainable yet distinctive design idea.
It’s a sharing concept here so we order a good variety starting from king crab nigiri, selection of sashimi and wagyu tataki.
The presentation is the first point to note here, spot on from beautiful cutlery to immaculately assorted food on perfectly glazed high end plates.
The tataki wagyu pieces are fresh with luxury ingredients to match the postcode and the price tag, a slice of truffle topped with oscietra caviar. A decent portion and well put together. The sauce also has sudachi, which I thought was an innovative touch.
Also, an ironic one because I’ve been on a hunt for a sudachi plant to add to my citrus plant collection for a while now.
Sudachi is a green citrus fruit of Japanese origin, picked unripe for sauces and marinades.
Since it’s a Japanese restaurant we of course can’t miss out on some sushi – king crab nigiri sounds like a good choice with fresh meat and fluffy rice, you can’t fault it really. But the most impressive plates are yet to come, meet black cod miso and shoyu chilean seabass.
I know I said we’ll choose a wide variety so when ordering slightly overwhelmed by a wide menu selection I suppose, shoyu and black miso somehow didn’t register as dissimilar sauces to me.
Well they are but they also aren’t, depending on the view. Although both made from soya it’s the fish that makes them stand apart. The seabass with its distinct slightly seaweedy tone.
And cod, being cod –mellow, a little sweet and delicate. For £45 it’s a great portion at an equally great price considering most go a lot higher than that.
For sides, as the mains come with no sides, we are recommended quinoa risotto and kizami wasabi mash. While we didn’t find anything particularly special in the mash the risotto definitely got our attention.
I will admit I was very skeptical of the quinoa in a risotto at first but I was glad to be wrong. It’s two colour quinoa in a rich truffle sauce with a hint of yuzu.
The quinoa adds a satisfying pop to the bite. While the sauce is so creamy and truffle rich we forgot we were eating the healthy quinoa.
To match the wow factor in Clap the desserts don’t fall behind, my guest has the Instagram famous tira’miso where the glass is lifted up unleashing rich sauce cascading over the layers.
Mine on the other hand doesn’t create a theatrical flair but tastes just as good. Vanilla- peanut millefeuille, although designed to share I couldn’t resist ordering it for myself.
The millefeuille are particularly flaky and crisp in this dessert, it may look gigantic but due to the light nature of the dessert one can easily manage it solo.
As most newly launched establishments Clap has a few tweaks to make but I’m positive it’ll continue to be a popular destination for diners.
Clap, 12-14 Basil St, London SW3 1AJ
claprestaurant.com/london/