Self Edge Japanese

Walking into Self Edge Japanese, the first thing that catches your eye is a wall-sized orange mural of fish. This image became a kind of signature for the project back in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, and in the Moscow room it lands just as strongly. The interior is built around it: olive wood sits alongside dark furniture of varied shapes, screens soften the daylight, and a large chest painted in an Eastern-ornament style stands by the entrance. On Fridays and Saturdays vinyl sets play here, with old Japanese records literally built into the walls. Professional acoustics make the evening noticeably richer.

Our restaurant guide's team finds this an authentic spot with a strong atmosphere and delicious food, well suited to a date.

The menu is led by brand chef Dmitry Tyan, who has brought the best items from the chain's two previous restaurants to Moscow. The raw-fish section, the right place to start, offers sashimi and nigiri in authentic style: wasabi and ginger are sourced directly from Japan, and the chef hand-prepares the nikiri, adding sake and dashi broth to the soy base. Among the dishes worth ordering for the table are the nori hand rolls, the signature pressed oshizushi, and crispy rice with crab. Among the hot dishes, the gyoza with crab-and-shrimp filling and the udon with duck or wagyu stand out. Dinner is typically wrapped up with a mochi dessert with white chocolate and mango.

The product deserves a separate mention. Oysters come from Japan's Hyogo prefecture, scallop and squid from Sakhalin, crab from Kamchatka. Tuna and hamachi are supplied from Japan, and Carabineros shrimp are brought in from Sicily. Every week there's a Fish Market: the chef receives rare fish beyond the regular menu and prepares it both as Japanese classics and as dishes not otherwise on the card. On the last days of each month, the restaurant holds omakase dinners, with the focus on rice temperature, rare fish varieties and zero compromise on quality.

The bar has assembled around fifty sake labels, and the collection keeps being refreshed several times a year. Among them are rare bottled selections with limited market availability, plus one flagship label always available by the glass. The wine list is built around the classic French regions, with each bottle chosen individually. The cocktail menu of ten drinks and three mocktails is built around soft, low-proof flavors, working with yuzu, shiso, cherry, wasabi, plum and kumquat.

The tableware deserves its own conversation. The tables and the chef's table are set with hand-painted porcelain brought in from Japan, plates from the Florentine manufacturer Richard Ginori, and bar glassware from Sydonios, Riedel and Gabriel Glass. Our secret guests gave the dinner 8 out of 10, noting the level of the product, the attention to detail, and the overall impression of the evening.