MA/NA Mayfair and the Theatre of Contemporary Japanese Luxury
Credits: MA/NA Mayfair
There are restaurants that aim to impress, and there are restaurants that aim to transport. MA/NA Mayfair belongs firmly to the latter. Last week, we attended the exclusive preview of the new opening from the Thesleff Group, the hospitality collective behind some of London’s most recognisable dining spaces including Los Mochis, Sale e Pepe, Juno Omakase and Luna Omakase. The evening unfolded as an elegant introduction to what MA/NA intends to become: not simply another Mayfair restaurant, but a carefully choreographed experience where Japanese culinary philosophy, cocktail culture, music and atmosphere evolve together throughout the night.
Set on Upper Grosvenor Street in the heart of Old Mayfair, MA/NA immediately establishes a different rhythm from the moment guests enter. The lighting is low and cinematic. Reflections bounce softly across polished surfaces. Music pulses quietly beneath conversations. There is movement everywhere, yet nothing feels rushed. The space seems designed around transition. A place where dinner slowly dissolves into cocktails, where the mood deepens hour by hour, where Tokyo’s late-night energy meets the polished restraint of Mayfair.
The name itself carries symbolic weight. Drawing inspiration from the Japanese concept of mana, executive chef Leonard Tanyag describes it as “the spirit within ingredients, cooking, and the overall experience”. It is an ambitious philosophy, but one that becomes tangible surprisingly quickly once the evening begins.
The preview offered a first glimpse into the world Tanyag and Thesleff are constructing together. Guests moved through an endless flow of cocktails, sake tastings, sushi and refined canapés while resident DJs gradually shifted the atmosphere from elegant reception to something more nocturnal and intimate. It felt immersive rather than performative. Hospitality here is designed not as a sequence of services, but as a progression of moods.
Credits: MA/NA Mayfair
What has always distinguished the Thesleff Group is its ability to create spaces with genuine identity. Markus Thesleff seems instinctively aware that contemporary luxury is no longer solely defined by aesthetics or exclusivity. It is about emotional atmosphere. About understanding how people want to feel within a space. This sensibility already shaped Los Mochis and the omakase experiences at Luna and Juno. MA/NA feels like the most ambitious synthesis of those ideas so far.
There is also another detail worth noting: the group’s continued attention to inclusive dining, particularly gluten-free options, without compromising sophistication or creativity. It is still surprisingly rare within luxury hospitality to encounter restaurants where dietary considerations feel naturally integrated rather than treated as limitations.
At the centre of MA/NA’s culinary identity is Leonard Tanyag, whose career within the group and previously at Okku Dubai has refined a style that balances precision with indulgence. His cooking here is opulent, yet controlled. Luxurious without becoming excessive.
One dish served during the preview captured this philosophy perfectly: a remarkable combination of Wagyu, bone marrow and foie gras teriyaki that felt almost surreal in its richness, yet somehow remained balanced. It was the sort of dish that could easily collapse under its own ambition, but instead revealed remarkable restraint and technical confidence.
Credits: MA/NA Mayfair
The forthcoming menu continues this dialogue between precision and decadence. Signature plates include O-Toro Tartare layered with bluefin tuna, truffle soy and fresh wasabi, alongside Avocado Aburi with grilled avocado, teriyaki mushrooms and spicy aioli. The A5 Wagyu Ishiyaki arrives seared on Himalayan stone with garlic ponzu and Asian leaves, while MA/NA also joins the very small number of London restaurants officially certified to serve Kobe beef from the Tajima strain raised in Hyōgo Prefecture. Yet what makes the experience particularly compelling is the way food, drinks and design continuously mirror one another. Nothing feels isolated.
The cocktail programme, led by Pietro Collina, formerly of Side Hustle, Nomad and Eleven Madison Park, draws deeply from Japanese bartending traditions while filtering them through a contemporary London lens. The approach centres around precision, rhythm and heat. Three words that, interestingly, also describe the broader energy of the space itself.
Source: Own archive
Throughout the preview, cocktails reflected this interplay between elegance and experimentation. The Sparkling Lychee Martini combined Roku Gin, Kay Sake, lychee and St Germain with Ruinart Blanc de Blancs Champagne in a drink that felt airy and almost weightless. The Trinity Mule introduced Japanese whisky, green melon cordial and ginger with remarkable freshness, while the Sancho Negroni layered bitterness with subtle peppery warmth through sake, vermouth rosso and sansho pepper. Even the non-alcoholic serves received the same degree of attention. The Goya Sour, made with Everleaf Marine, pineapple and passionfruit, avoided the common trap of becoming merely decorative. It carried structure, balance and texture in its own right.
Alongside the cocktails, guests explored a thoughtful sake programme including Dassai 23 and Dassai 45 Junmai Daiginjo from Yamaguchi Prefecture, paired with Henriot Brut Souverain Champagne and Verdejo from Rueda. These combinations reinforced MA/NA’s broader philosophy of fluidity between traditions, geographies and dining rituals.
The design of the space itself completes this narrative. MA/NA does not attempt to imitate Tokyo directly. Instead, it evokes a cinematic interpretation of urban Japanese nightlife filtered through contemporary London luxury. Some moments feel intimate and restrained, followed by corners charged with movement and energy. As the evening progressed, the room subtly transformed around us. Conversations became louder. Music deepened. Cocktails multiplied across tables.
Credits: MA/NA Mayfair
This gradual transformation may ultimately become MA/NA’s defining quality. Many restaurants succeed at food. Some succeed at atmosphere. Far fewer understand how to choreograph an entire evening emotionally. MA/NA appears determined to do exactly that. It recognises that modern luxury hospitality is no longer static. Diners increasingly seek experiences that evolve organically throughout the night, spaces that feel alive rather than staged.
Perhaps this is why Japanese hospitality philosophy continues to resonate so deeply within global luxury culture. At its core lies attentiveness. Not extravagance for its own sake, but precision of feeling. The awareness that atmosphere, timing and detail shape memory as much as flavour itself.
As the preview came to a close and guests lingered over final glasses of sake and cocktails, MA/NA already felt less like a new opening and more like a place that had quietly found its rhythm. In a city saturated with restaurant launches competing for attention, that may be its greatest achievement of all.
