Kumo is a cocktail of a restaurant, bar and nightclub. The fabulous sushi attracts diners but it's also a happy surprise for the post-work (or post-shopping) crowd who really just came downstairs for a drink - and later a dance - in the dark.

The Venue
Easy to miss on a street lined with shop windows filled with sparkly things, Kumo is modestly announced. The trip downstairs proves to be into the darkness as Kumo aims for an almost cave-like ambiance.

The Atmosphere
Kumo’s space is designed to look more like a nightclub than a restaurant, with a prominent bar, a ceiling that looks like a designer’s take on noise-proofing, and brass-coloured impressions of speakers on the walls. The tables barely sit at knee-height (woe betide the very tall) and seats are either banquets or stools, filling a dining space that's tiny, and which feels a little tucked under the stairs. Don't attempt to go to the bathroom to fix your makeup as it’s impossible to see yourself in the mirror provided - apparently we are all beautiful people here, at least in our own heads. Oh, and there’s a step down to the bathrooms – you won’t be able to see that, either.

The Food
The menu is predominantly made up of small sharing plates of modern Japanese dishes; six selections of sushi maki; and a sharing platter of the day’s mixed sushi and skewers. There seems to be a greater emphasis on the sushi and sharing platters, the latter of which are popular with groups of Japanese diners - no doubt a good sign considering Kumo is not somewhere you could happen upon and like the look of. The menu was put together by Nasa Laziri (formerly of Zuma) and Yuka Aoyama (formerly of Nobu) and is a considerately short and fairly conservative combination of dishes well-matched to the restaurant’s bar emphasis.

The crispy fried baby squid with green chillies and ponzu sauce (£7.95) crunches in the mouth like vaguely spicy sea popcorn and would be a fantastic choice for sharing with drinks; or as a good precursor to a meal. Juicy skewers of monkfish (£11.95) are simply served with garlic, chilli, ginger and coriander. The sushi maki really stand out though, the almost warm, soft sushi rice (the way it should be, rather than chilled and clammy) turned inside-out around soft-shell crab (£7.95) that's salted, peppered and fried to crunchy and juicy perfection. Avocado and tobiko (flying fish roe) and soft white crab meat (£7.95) versions also impress, reinforcing the feeling that ordering heavily on the sushi maki is definitely the way to go.

The Drinks
Cocktails are the drink of choice at Kumo and are the 80s-like vision of the Kumo mixologist, Douglas Ankrah. The list of signature cocktails includes the rather frighteningly titled Nuclear Fusion (£11), which arrived an almost glowing glass of layered liqueurs and spirits that include vodka, white rum, gin and blue Curaçao, only slightly diluted by crushed ice and topped with a selection of fat berries. Other cocktails such as the Persian Kiss (£11 of peach and passion fruit liqueurs, pineapple, grenadine and strawberry puree) are gentler, and of course there are a selection of beers and a list of wines that range from the purely quaffable to the Crystal (£320).

The Last Word
Prepackaged sushi from the fridge of a chain shop isn’t a patch on these freshly prepared mouthfuls. What’s on offer at Kumo makes for fantastic bar food, which is where the venue’s heart seems to lie.

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