The focus is premium beef, led by Japanese wagyu, with Galician blonde veal used for the offal, all grilled over the table. Built-in extractors at each table keep the smoke and smell to a minimum.

Yakiniku means grilled meat you cook yourself. The technique arrived in Japan with Korean immigrants in the early 1950s, and the Japanese raised it with delicate cuts of wagyu and top local produce. At Rikyu every table has a grill in the centre, and the ritual is Japanese: the dishes arrive together, and staff guide you through cooking each cut and mixing the flavours. The name refers to the emperor's second residence, where he said he felt and ate at home, which the restaurant takes as its inspiration.

The carta rates each cut by fat, tenderness and intensity. Rikyu karubi is beef short rib, rousu the high loin, kainomi the small flank, and tongue comes in a premium 'toku jho tang' and a standard cut, alongside liver and Iberian secreto, with the wagyu brought from Japan as the headline. Around the grill come kimchi, namul of spinach, soybean sprouts, bracken and daikon, Korean seaweed and grilled vegetables, plus stone-pot rice, ramen and udon, soups, seafood and sashimi. There are two tasting menus, Rikyu and Miyabi, and a shorter carta runs between 15:30 and 19:00.

The design plays traditional wood against modern stainless steel; wood takes over as you move towards the private rooms, where tatami and original Japanese artworks sit in a room that also nods to the Korean origin of the concept.