Japanese restaurants in London
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Tsunami
The food at this celebrated restaurant exhibits the style and taste you'd expect from an ex-Nobu chef. The sushi is exquisite, but it's the more unusual dishes, like ebi prawns wrapped in Greek pastry and butternut squash, and especially the mint-tea duck with pear and sweet honey miso, that will really bowl you over.
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Tokyo Diner
Everyday Japanese food at everyday prices is what Tokyo Diner's all about, and you can't ask for fairer than that. The waiters are all Japanese; they are discreet and graceful in their service, and very knowledgeable about the food. The miso is ordinary but the Japanese-style curry is tops, as are the noodle dishes.
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C
Fujiyama
This deceptively small Japanese place behind Dogstar, with its welcoming dark-red interior and communal benches, has a large choice of bento (meal) boxes, noodles, tempura, miso soups and sushi and sashimi on its lengthy menu.
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Nobu
You’ll have to book a month in advance to eat here, but you’ll get to chew and view the greatest celebrity restaurant magnet in town. Nobu recently made headlines with its introduction of a one-line warning on its menu that its prime dish, bluefin tuna, is an endangered species so, the menu advises, ‘please ask your server for an alternative’. The restaurant’s been lobbied for years to stop serving bluefin tuna altogether, but it’s been to no avail. Anyway, whatever your stance, this place serves some of the best Asian food in London. It’s minimalist in decor, anonymously efficient in service, and out of this world when it comes to exquisitely prepared and presented sushi…
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Ubon
Ubon gets as many rave reviews as its big sister, Nobu, which is of course its name spelt backward. While customers argue over whether you really get value for money here (set lunch is a snip at around £21 to around £31), the selling point has to be the breathtaking Thames views from every corner, including the fabulous sushi bar. The restaurant has its own dedicated entrance next to the Four Seasons hotel and its own lift.
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Matsuri
This high-quality and very authentic Japanese restaurant on the fringe of the City can sometimes feel a little sterile, although the quality of the food is extremely high. With a sushi counter and stylish dining room on the ground floor and a large teppanyaki (hotplate) room in the basement where the meals are prepared in all seriousness by celebrated chef Hiroshi Sudo, there’s plenty of choice.
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Abeno
This understated Japanese restaurant specialises in okonomiyaki, a savoury pancake from Osaka of cabbage, egg and flour combined with the ingredients of your choice (there are more than two dozen varieties, including anything from sliced meats and vegetables to egg, noodles and cheese) and cooked on the hotplate at your table. There is a range of set lunches (£7.80 to £12.80).
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Jin Kichi
A disproportionate number of London's Japanese residents live in Hampstead, and a disproportionate number of them eat at this slightly shabby and cramped little place. It's a particularly good bet for sumiyaki(char-grilled meats) with sets at around £9 and around £11, though they do standard stuff like sushi, sashimi and tempura. Be sure to book.
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Chosan
This little Japanese restaurant whose name means Korea in Korean (go figure) doesn’t look like much from the outside – or the inside for that matter – but it does turn out excellent sushi and sashimi as well as tempura and kushiage (more deeply fried than tempura) dishes.
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Sakura
This very authentic Japanese restaurant has something for everyone throughout the day – from sushi and sashimi (£2 to £5) to tempura, sukiyaki and a host of sets (£9 to £24). Just opposite is a small Japanese shopping centre with a grocery store, cafe-restaurant and pub.
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Itsu
Board the sushi train at this fun Japanese restaurant close to South Ken tube. The colour-coded sushi plates cover all the bases (prices are calculated from the empty plates at the end of the meal), and there’s a sleek upstairs bar where you can wait for a seat to come free.
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Roka
This stunner of a Japanese restaurant mixes casual dining (wooden benches) with savoury titbits from the robatayaki (grill) kitchen in the centre. It has modern decor, with the dominating materials grey steel and glass. Sushi is £5 to £9, set lunch is £37.
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Zuma
Zuma is about 20% less trendy than it used to be, which means that you can actually get a table these days. Chefs still produce the same high-quality Japanese food, including freshly rolled sushi and steaks cooked on the charcoal robata grill.
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City Miyama
This rather soulless Japanese basement restaurant serves some of the finest sushi in the City, which comes in both 'traditional' and 'new' styles. Set lunches, representing the best deals, are from around £13 to £25.
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Japan Centre
Part supermarket, part bookshop, part café, part restaurant and part sushi bar, Japan Centre offers the full Tokyo experience. Come for fast sushi, slurpy ramen noodles and cute Japanese homewares.
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Asakusa
This somewhat scruffy but clean place has cheap sushi for £1.10 to £1.40 per piece, along with more elaborate set menus (£6 to £10).
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