Mr.N had it all planned out. We were going to get the 6.08pm train into London Euston in order to get to Barrafina just before the queue got ridiculously long. After our civilised meal we would head to Liverpool Street for Mr.N’s cousin’s birthday drinks.

The thing is, plans sometimes just don’t go to plan. It was 6.00pm and I was still curling my hair, I hadn’t even decided what shoes let alone what coat I was going to wear. Mr.N stormed into our bedroom, shocked at the sight of me leisurely styling my hair. “What are you doing? We need to be on the 6.08 and I still need to buy a train ticket” he said in that slightly riled up tone. I don’t tend to stick to timings very well, there, I said it. At work, yes of course I do, I have clients who sometimes need deals completed in days, and in those situations timing is everything. At home, however, I don’t even look at my watch, I just do things at my own glacial pace. Mr.N doesn’t like this.

“Fine then, now we’ll just have to get the later train and by then the queue will be really long” he said, the irritation now firm in his voice. I was so furious that he was rushing me even when strictly speaking there was no urgency, it’s not as though we were meeting any friends or anything. I immediately switched off the hair curler, threw on the nearest coat I could see, yanked on some boots, grabbed my handbag and marched out of the door. I didn’t even get a chance to put on my favourite weekend perfume, Valentino Donna. Forget that, I hadn’t even checked if my curls sat right or if my outfit ensemble actually worked. Royally angry.  It’s a good job I took The Girl On The Train to read during the train ride, it was the perfect excuse to punish Mr.N with cold silent treatment (although I’m sure a small part of him was grateful for the gift of silence that I very rarely give him).

We eventually rocked up to Barrafina at around 7pm to be greeted with a “for two people you are looking at a 45 minute- 1 hour wait”. No chance. Barrafina has been on my list for some time but the queues have always put me off. Tonight was no different. Ok, so what now, I thought. Chotto Matte looked insanely busy and we hadn’t even booked. It was worth a shot, I guess. I’d been here for drinks a few times but never had the food. The restaurant is all about the marriage of Peruvian and Japanese cuisine, or as they call it, Nikkei cuisine.

We were told that without a booking we would be seated upstairs on the chef’s kitchen bar stools. Ordinarily I’d be a bit pushy on this, but not tonight, we were lucky to even get a table. I must mention how visually captivating this place is, the alluring, bold art on the wall made me feel like I was in New York- it has that vibe. We definitely got the best seats in the house, we were within an arm’s reach of the chefs carefully decorating each plate, purple potato purée being squeezed on the one hand to chargrilled octopus being plated up on the other.

We ordered the seabass ceviche. Wow. I’ve tried a few ceviche dishes in my time and this dish really stands out from the rest. Next was the 8 piece Nikkei sushi comprising of tuna, sea bass, salmon, yellowtail, snow crab, scallop, turbot and aubergine miso. Without doubt the stand out dish for me was the beef short rib with asparagus, purple potato and teriyaki sauce. The beef just melted and the flavours were mind blowing- I can’t praise it enough. This all seemed too tasty to be true, surely not every dish can be this good. The traditional aji panca and aji amarillo chilli marinated and chargrilled chicken sprinkled with coriander came out. Mr.N thinks ordering chicken in these sorts of restaurants is a waste but I disagree, and more so now after tasting this. It wasn’t spicy like we were told but every mouthful was sensational. We had a side of fried brown rice with vegetables and soy (basically, a posher version of the spicy rice you get in Nando’s).

I wasn’t going to pass up a chance to sample everything I possibly could on the dessert menu so it was only natural we ordered the dessert platter. Little did I realise it was probably more fitting for a table of four rather than just the two of us. The platter was a tantalising display of salted caramel chocolate fondant, crème brulee, dulce de leche, mango, yuzu and green tea mochi ice cream, banana parfait with coconut and concha popcorn. We didn’t finish it all, unfortunately.

Considering we were in the thick of a frantically busy period on a Saturday night for the restaurant (450 covers to be precise), the service was absolutely spot on. Sall, one of the managers, was playfully cracking jokes with us and the chefs every now and then. I think successful restaurants sometimes forget about the inherent value of service and focus solely on their food, but Chotto Matte manages to do both exceptionally well. My only regret is not eating here sooner.

Food: 10/10  Atmosphere: 9/10  Value: 9/10

If this restaurant were a fictional character, it would be……Katniss Everdeen, The Hunger Games– striking, extremely skilled and fearless.