Review: Kaji brings fire, flare and fine-dining to Bridge Street

Back in 2022, MUSU quickly bacme one of Manchester’s most talked-about openings. Primarily built around various-length tasting menus, the quality of both the food and accompanying drinks was immense, though, admittedly, not the most accessible.

Two years on, MUSU has reinvented its culinary offering. Now going by the name KAJI, this new iteration is crafted around the art of fire-cooking. At its helm is the much-lauded Chef Patron Steven Smith, whose previous includes owning award-winning gastropub, The Freemasons Wiswell, for 15 years.

Aesthetically, KAJI is still wonderfully over-the-top, clad with Blade Runner-esque neon backdrops, glossy surfaces and a huge metallic open kitchen that reflects the dramatic glow of roaring flames, cementing it as the dramatic centrepiece of the entire dining room.

The shift in menu allows diners much more freedom. A large portion of it remains devoted to sushi, though there is now also a variety of a la carte sharing plates, snacks and speciality charcoal-fired meat and fish dishes. For those who do prefer the tasting menu format, the option is still there and priced at £120, or £140 for the chef’s table. Two limited Omakese seatings are also offered each day, in which diners can leave the entire meal up to KAJI’s Executive Sushi Chef, Andre Aguiar.

To kick our evening off, we thought it best to leave things to the experts and opt for the Chef’s Sashimi Selection. Beautifully and meticulously presented, various precision cuts of tuna and salmon arrive in an explosion of colour, circling a smoking cauldron. At £67 for 12 pieces of sushi, this very much falls into the category of luxury, though if that is your thing, you’d almost certainly struggle to find better in the city.

From the snacks section, we’re assured that Smith’s signature KAJI Fried Louët-Feisser Oysters are a must, and it’s quickly evident as to why. Served in a light crumb with oyster mayo and smokey house bonito hot sauce, they pack in a plethora of contrasting flavours — brine, heat and citrus — that come together brilliantly.

At the other end of the spectrum, the simple ‘Bread and Butter’ is a crowd-pleasing winner. Dangerously moreish, crispy chilli buns come slightly charred with a pickled jalapeno butter that neither me nor my partner had any reservation about spooning and eating directly out of the bowl once the bread had gone.

Given the focus on fire-cooking, our hopes were understandably high for the meat and fish servings. It’s the Koji Aged Herdwick Lamb Rack for me, and it’s an absolute scorcher of a dish. The seared edges soak up all that gorgeous charcoal flavour, delivering a satisfying crunch and working wonderfully in tandem with the buttery pink meat. If there’s an advert for what this new concept is all about, it’s this dish.

The Wild Sea Bass, which comes with champagne, white miso and caviar, is another that falls into the indulgent luxury category. Delicate and flaky, the fish is another fine example of high-skill flame cooking, though at £43, we can’t help but wish for a little more on the plate.

Behind the bar, an impressive cocktail menu has been inspired by ‘Asia’s vibrant flavours’. Highlights include the Spicy Citrus, which is a fragrant, elevated take on a spicy marg, the ominous-looking Black Sesame, which blends activated charcoal and whisky for a toasty Old Fashioned flavour and the Sessame Espresso, a nutty and rich version of the after-dinner favourite.

Service is always impeccable, hitting the right balance between attentive and informed, but always super-friendly and casual enough to put you at ease.

KAJI, of course, is firmly a high-end restaurant, and it doesn’t pretend to be otherwise. The space is intentionally extravagant and flashy, and it’s not somewhere the majority of us are going to eat at regularly. However, if it’s a ‘special occasion’ dining experience you’re after, it ticks that box and then some.

At a much more moderate £30pp, the lunch and early evening menus do offer great value for anyone wanting to experience it on a slightly dialled-back scale. Given just how fantastic the drinks are, the idea of just dropping by for a couple of cocktails and grazing from the snacks menu — which, along with the Bread and Butter (£8.50), you can pick at Boneless Corn-fed Chicken Wings (£8.50) and Langoustine and Shiso Spring Rolls (£8.50) — is another appealing option.