A Berkeley Square spectacle with the largest Japanese whisky collection in the world behind the bar.
Sexy Fish sits on the corner of Berkeley Square in Mayfair, and it makes its case the moment you walk in. Martin Brudnizki designed the room, Damien Hirst supplied the art, and Frank Gehry built the crocodile that hangs over the floor. The food is Japanese leaning seafood from a robata grill. The reason to stop at the bar is the whisky.
This is the high gloss end of the London drinking scene. Foodism reports the back bar runs to almost 350 Japanese whiskies, which is the largest collection of its kind on the planet. People who want a quiet, low key cocktail will not love it. People who want a room with momentum, a serious spirits list, and a real chance of a famous face two tables over will.
Sexy Fish sits on the corner of Berkeley Square in Mayfair. Book a table for dinner, or aim for the bar before 8pm if you want a stool. Dress smart.
The space is loud in the design sense before it is loud in the noise sense. Bronze, lacquer, and aquarium light wrap a long central bar, and the Gehry sculptures set the tone. Foodism described the look as mid century glamour turned up past the point of restraint, and that reads as a feature here, not a flaw.
The bar itself is the seat to ask for. From a stool you can watch the whisky wall and the highball service, which is where the team does its best work.
Start with a Japanese whisky highball. The bar pours these with the care a Tokyo hotel bar would, and it is the clearest window into what the back bar can do. From there the cocktail list runs through polished classics and a few showpiece serves built for the room. A Martini is a safe benchmark and arrives correctly cold.
Prices match the postcode. Cocktails sit at the top of the Mayfair range, and the rare whisky pours climb well past that. Order one good highball and one careful classic rather than chasing the showiest thing on the menu. The kitchen sends excellent sushi and tempura to the bar if you want to anchor the evening.
What to order
- 01
Japanese whisky highball
- 02
Dry Martini
- 03
Rare whisky flight
- 04
Sushi and tempura at the bar
