I have been dying to visit Black Roe ever since hearing about its opening back in March. It’s a small-ish restaurant on Mill St, Mayfair, specialising in Hawaiian cuisine, particularly poke (“po-kay”). Poke is similar to tartare or ceviche and is made with cubes of raw fish, usually tuna, seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil, and other Asian flavours. Mouth watering yet?

The poke at Black Roe is stunning even just to look at with loads of colour and finished off with edible flowers. We ordered the classic ahi poke and the Black Roe special poke. Both were very different but equally delicious with the bright yuzu dressing of the Black Roe poke and the contrasting rich sesame flavour of the Classic.

As the idea is to order sharing plates, we chose a few non-poke options too. The beef tataki with a shiso pickle, tomatoes and parmesan crisps totally blew my mind – in my head it just didn’t add up to the incredible flavour combination it turned out to be!

As soon as we saw lobster and crab pot-stickers on the menu we couldn’t wait to try them and they absolutely lived up to expectations. The filling was generous and succulent, and I particularly enjoyed the finishing touch of tiny dots of sriracha and chopped chives.

It was impossible to pick a star of the show, but the grilled monkfish and prawns would certainly be a fierce contender. The smokey flavour from the wood grill and the juicy tender monkfish had me speechless and is an absolute must-try if you’re heading to Black Roe.

We were pretty full by this point, but the selection of sorbets on the menu was too good to ignore. I chose the yuzu sorbet (obvs) which was topped with super-thin candied yuzu peel. I’m normally not a fan of candied peel and tend to avoid it, but this was so subtle, sweet and crispy and a perfect accompaniment to the sorbet. Mark’s cherry sorbet looked like it had been drizzled with a cherry glaze so they really pull the stops out even for sorbet!

Our meal at Black Roe has to go down as one of the finest meals I’ve had and one of the prettiest! It’s not cheap, but well worth the price tag for a special occasion.