Turning Japanese: Mayfair’s 20 Berkeley to relaunch as NIJU with Endo Kazutoshi at the helm

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Creative Restaurant Group is to relaunch its 20 Berkeley Street modern British restaurant in Mayfair as a Japanese grill and sushi bar.

NIJU will be overseen by the group’s culinary director Endo Kazutoshi, who also is also behind the Michelin-starred Endo at the Rotunda in Shepherd’s Bush, Sumi in Notting Hill and upcoming Whitehall restaurant Kioku by Endo. 

20 Berkeley Street has only been trading for a little over six months having launched in summer last year. 

The venue’s launch executive chef Ben Orpwood - whose CV includes Gordon Ramsay Group’s Lucy Cat, Caprice Holdings and Zuma - is understood to have moved on from Creative Restaurant Group. 

Kazutoshi has appointed head chef Chris Golding, alongside David Bury as head sushi chef. 

NIJU will offer katei ryori-style cooking, meaning ‘home cooked food’ in Japanese that is being billed as ‘informal yet decadent’. 

The space is set to be ‘updated’. The venue’s 20-cover Nipperkin bar will not be re-branded and will continue to serve ‘expertly crafted cocktails’ with the addition of a menu of Japanese-influenced sando sandwiches. 

Founded in 2021, Creative Restaurant Group also operates Mayfair’s HUMO, which won its first Michelin star earlier this month.