Inside MA/NA Mayfair : Ingredient-led Japanese Dining
London’s most discerning dining postcode has a new arrival, and it arrives with considerable conviction. MA/NA Mayfair is the latest venture from Thesleff Group, the group behind Los Mochis, Juno, Luna Omakase and Sale e Pepe and it represents perhaps their most considered opening to date.
Situated on Upper Grosvenor Street, a short walk from Hyde Park, MA/NA brings ingredient-led Japanese dining to Mayfair. It’s luxurious, yes. It’s also genuinely fun. The kind of place where you could close a deal at one table and celebrate a birthday at the next, and both would feel entirely at home.
The Name, The Philosophy
The name is drawn from the Japanese concept of mana — the belief that ingredients carry an invisible life force, an energy that flows through everything they touch. It is a philosophy that underpins every aspect of the restaurant, from the provenance of its produce to the precision of its cocktail programme. Here, the quality of ingredients is not merely a selling point; it is the founding principle.
The Space
The space was designed by Los Angeles-based studio OV&Co, led by Olya Volkova, and the result is an interior of considerable refinement. Dark wood panelling, warm amber lighting and a sculptural dragon-shaped banquette define the lounge, while a hand-blown Magma lighting installation by EWE Studio commands the main dining floor above. Brown and golden tones run throughout, evoking, in the designers’ own words, “the serene warmth of a Kyoto autumn with the energy of Tokyo at night”
The layout is clever. You move from lobby into lounge and bar, where the bartenders are already mixing something you want, before descending a couple of steps to the main dining floor. There’s also a private dining room for up to 18 guests for more intimate, chef-led evenings, and an open wine room where just four diners can hole up with the sommelier. Low-key one of the best seats in the house.
The Drinks
Start with a cocktail. Specifically, start with the Blistered Margarita, Patrón Silver Tequila, lime and blistered jalapeño agave. It’s elegant with a kick that earns its name, and it sets the tone for the evening perfectly.
The drinks programme is overseen by Pietro Collina, Thesleff Group’s bar director and the award-winning mind behind Viajante87 (previously of Nomad and Eleven Madison Park). His menu is built around three pillars: precision, heat and rhythm, drawing on Japanese bartending traditions, rare spirits and a level of technique that borders on obsessive. If you’re not sure where to start, the taste chart on the menu maps drinks by flavour character, refreshing, umami, spirituous or fruity. Non-alcoholic options are well-considered too.
The idea is that as the night unfolds, MA/NA slowly transitions from dinner destination to late-night cocktail bar, with resident DJs doing exactly what they should, keeping energy up without drowning out conversation.
The Food
At the pass is Executive Chef Leonard Tanyag, whose menu takes Japan’s time-honoured kitchen techniques and reframes them through a distinctly modern London lens. The result is food that feels both rooted and alive, respectful of its influences without being bound by them.
The menu is unapologetically decadent, and deliberately so. The kani tartare, composed of king crab, yuzu masago and caviar pearls, is precise and beautifully restrained. The avocado aburi, robata-seared in a flaming shell, is more theatrical by design. The Wagyu ishiyaki, featuring M5 Wagyu cooked tableside on a Himalayan salt stone, is the kind of dish that rewards patience and attention in equal measure.
Elsewhere, a bulgogi robata of grilled bone-in ribeye sits alongside shrimp tempura with black truffle and king crab paired with caviar and truffle ponzu. These are luxury flourishes that feel purposeful rather than performative, a distinction that separates the very good from the merely expensive.
The Experience
What distinguishes MA/NA Mayfair is not any single element in isolation, but the coherence of the whole. Service is warm without being overbearing, knowledgeable without condescension. The room is beautiful without demanding acknowledgement. And the food is ambitious without losing sight of pleasure.
It’s the type of place that works on a Tuesday dinner with a close friend and a Saturday night with a group.
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