Jeru is a two minute walk from the Ritz, which goes some way to explain the type of Mayfair clientele Jeru is aiming to cater for. Serving “modern Middle Eastern cuisine”, it’s an ambitious, vast space, with an extensive menu that is decidedly fine dining.
Made up of a bakery, bar, restaurant, wine room, and another restaurant, it’s a little like Mary Poppins’ handbag, in that we weren’t expecting it to contain quite as much as it does. We get the grand tour, which includes a stop in the ornately tiled unisex toilets.
Aussie chef Roy Ner is at the helm (you can catch him on Netflix’s The Chefs Line), and this is his first restaurant in the UK. The menu is designed to be shared, with a focus on hot and cold mezze dishes and substantial mains too big (read: expensive) for one. You won’t find bog standard hummus on the menu here, instead Roy is working with specialist producers so that he can offer unique menu items. For example, the charcuterie plate features the likes of lamb bacon and wagyu salami, alongside house pickles.
We tucked into a, quite frankly, obscene amount of food, so to do the menu justice we’d suggest going with a group of friends so you can try a wider variety.
We’re told the wood fired potato bread has become a firm favourite with guests, and we can see why. With a drizzle of truffled honey and chickpea miso butter on the side, it’s our must-order of the night. Elsewhere halloumi doughnuts with goats curd and lemon, and light, bright tuna ceviche are set to be crowd-pleasers.
Chocolate-aged wagyu sounds like something created for the ‘gram, but at £95 for 300g we didn’t risk trying it ourselves. Charcoal butterflied sea bass looked beautiful, served on a cucumber salsa with lemon tahini, but it was the parmesan-covered lettuce and crispy spiced potatoes which had us coming back for more. To finish, baklava cake was surprisingly light and delicious, and worth ordering even if you think there’s no more room for another bite.
Our take away? Jeru is a stunning space, with enthusiastic staff and a vibe fitting the Mayfair scene.
