Kumo

Kumo Knightsbridge • 11 Beauchamp Place • London SW3 1NQ • Tel 020 7225 0944. Email : reservations@kumoknightsbridge.com.

Having arranged to meet one of my achingly young trendy friends always puts me on edge as A I am not cool and B I am no longer young, so when the idea was muted that we meet at Kumo one of her favourite hang outs I knew what I was letting myself in for. As always I was looking forward to seeing her and as she had chosen somewhere on Beauchamp Place I thought I was on safe ground. After all how edgy can you be on Beauchamp Place? Well as it transpires, quite. Walking along looking for the place I was spotting old favourites at every second step. The amount of time I had obviously spent there over the years was making me feel older by the step. When I first  went there on a half term from school, there was Monty Don, not in his guise as TV's best Gardener but the designer of all things diamante and bangles that were worn by the supermodels of the day.

Well here I was on the threshold of Kumo, about to go in and what confronted me was either the steep steps into Hades or down into an evening of fun. The steps are illuminated by a vibrant red colour which take you down to the bar/ restaurant. As ever I was early so had a drink while I was waiting. The cocktail barman talked me through some of the things that he would like to make for me and without being rude I hoped I just plumped for my drink of choice, at the moment a Negroni. This was made with great attention of detail by said barman and he won me over by the rubbing of the rim of the glass with orange peel before adding it as a garnish. This is a drink that you really do need to savour and not knock back, so great to have if waiting for someone as it can last ages. In this case it didn't need to as Lizzie was coming down the stairs looking like the sister to the Snow Queen in a fur coat that would have made Nanook of the North as snug as a bug in a rug. This I know has nothing to do with Kumo but a lot to do with  Lizzie. She saw my drink and before I could say what it was she asked for one as well. The barman made a great show of making it for her and she fell a little bit in love with him, not only can he make a drink he also happened to be very good looking...

We settled down for the evening with our drinks after being shown to our table, so we ordered our food and a great bottle of wine chosen by the manager and then started to catch up on what had been happening since we last saw each other. The weird thing was all the questions I was going to ask her as to why this place and not somewhere else went answered without me having to ask them. It is obviously very very popular with the after work crowd of the area and the music that they were playing would have worked in many of the major bars around the world. Music is key in making this place great and it is often a port of call to people  before going clubbing later. Not open on Monday or Tuesday but open for the rest of the week. The place was busy but not to heaving and the food was of a quality that is not found in a lot of other sushi places.

One of the reasons I love going out with Lizzie is obviuolsly to see her but she does have a knack of taking me to places like this. I liked it so much I have been back three times since and no doubt will be back again.