Brummell feasts at home with: Hot Stone

Savour a welcome winter treat with the delicious umami wonder of Islington’s hidden sushi gem in the comfort of your own home

Food and Drink 5 Feb 2021

The Hot Stone at-home selection

The background
Hot Stone Steak and Sushi Bar has been serving fresh, top quality Japanese ingredients tucked away in Islington’s Chapel Market since 2018, with a new Fitzrovia outpost opening this month (for takeaway only until lockdown restrictions end). It is one of only seven restaurants in the UK that serves certified Kobe beef, and owner-chef Padam Raj Rai (former head sushi chef at Mayfair’s Tsukiji) has over 19 years of experience in Japanese fare. One of the usual highlights of a trip to the restaurant is a do-it-yourself experience where you can cook a selection of seafood, meat and vegetables at your table in a sizzling hot stone. But while that isn’t currently possible during Lockdown 3.0, Hot Stone has released Hot Stone at Home, with an a la carte menu of dishes that are able to travel. Options such as Japanese wagyu tataki and butterfish sashimi will arrive slightly seared by the chef and bursting with flavour, or for something hot, the grilled aubergine with miso and sesame is a showstopper.

The Meal
Hot Stone’s new limited edition omakase box has been created to take diners on a culinary journey, with 24 pieces of nigiri and sushi arriving beautifully boxed and wrapped in a fabric furoshiki cloth – perfect for setting your at-home tablescape. Brummell enjoyed a delicious selection of melt-in-the-mouth fatty tuna with truffle and caviar, fresh, flavourful Scottish salmon, beautiful pink akami, scallops, light, creamy uni (sea urchin), ikura (fish roe) and mouthwatering, flavourful Wagyu beef. Chopsticks and restaurant-quality napkins also accompany the box, along with containers of three-year and five-year soy sauce, for a true ‘dine out at home’ experience. Fresh and sustainable fish, seafood and vegetables are locally sourced, but wherever possible, traditional ingredients come straight from Japan. All of Hot Stone’s aged soy sauce is brewed in 100-year-old cedar barrels by the Okada family in Japan, which has been making soy sauce since 1753, and bring a fantastic balance of sweet and salty umami flavour. Koshihikari rice, often considered one of the best Japanese sushi rices, is used and Sanpuki nori, grown in Japan’s Ariake Sea, provides a melt-in-the-mouth softness.

For an added treat, pre-made cocktails for two including a sweet, delicate lychee martini or a smoky ume version, are available – simply dig out your favourite cocktail glass, add ice and enjoy.

Packaging
The omakase box arrives in a recyclable cardboard box with real leaves used as food dividers, while most sides arrive in Eco Bowl tubs, which are compostable, recyclable and biodegradable, and the chopsticks are the wooden variety.

The price
The limited edition omakase box is £110

How many does it feed?
Two

The verdict
This is the perfect antidote for those missing authentic and innovative Japanese cuisine, and the omakase box would make a fantastic Valentine’s treat for lovers of fresh fish to unwrap and share together over a cocktail or two.

Available Thursday-Sunday from 6-9pm, the at-home menu can be ordered online to select London postcodes or collected from the restaurant. For London-wide private deliveries, please phone the restaurant on 020 3302 8226; hotstonelondon.com