Hyde Park Corner, Japanese Restaurant Guide

“Still the best Nobu for food in my opinion” – many “superb” meals are still reported at Nobu Matsuhisa’s first London outpost: the first floor of a boutique hotel on Park Lane (famous, in part, for Boris Becker once having fathered a child here in between courses in a cupboard off the main dining room). “The original black cod is definitely better than the many rip offs that abound” and its mix of sushi, tacos, steak, raw seafood and other luxurious Nikkei bites inspires uniformly high ratings. “The uninviting room undeniably needs a make-over”… but people have been saying that almost since it first opened.

“With the pâtisserie, the Japanese and Parisian influences are combined in such a wonderful way… and the coffee is sooo good”, according to fans of this mezzanine and foyer café, within a beautiful Belgravia landmark. But, perhaps predictably considering the frou-frou nature of this luxe locale, it can also seem plain “overpriced”.

2023 Review: The luxurious mix of sushi plus meat and seafood grills has inspired too little feedback as yet to rate the large, barrel-vaulted lower-ground floor of this Belgravia food and retail emporium. But such as we have is all positive.

2022 Review: On a strip of Sloane Street south of Harvey Nicks that has lacked its natural international passing trade in recent times, this outpost of the Moscow-based Sumosan empire serves a luxurious mix of Italian and Japanese dishes, often to the backing of live entertainment. Yet again, the level of expense is the main sticking point (and service can have its off days, too), but it has its fans for a glam night out.

A short walk from the Japanese Embassy, this veteran family-run operation in a Mayfair backstreet offers “immaculately prepared food” and “superb service” in a “calm and grown-up atmosphere”. It opened in 1978, well before Japanese cuisine became fashionable.

“Buzzy and still heaving” – Rainer Becker and Arjun Waney’s happening Eurotrash magnet, a short walk from Harrods, is “still a firm favourite after all these years” (and was the original site of what’s now a 20-strong global luxury chain). As well as its moody cocktail bar, the draw is “top-notch Japanese food” – sushi, tempura, robata grills, black cod, lobster – “if with prices to match”. “I feel like a cheat putting this as my top choice again… but it never fails to deliver!”

Aiming for ‘a new benchmark for omakase dining in the city’ – certainly when it comes to price… – this Dorchester Collection property (opposite the mothership itself across the road) opened in July 2023. It’s a spin-off from Shinji Kanesaka’s Tokyo Michelin two-star and will seat just 13 diners (9 at a counter, 4 in a separate room). Perhaps the UK’s most expensive set menu: it offers a 20-course omakase experience for £420 per head, plus paired saké at £150 per head. Go easy on the Coco Mademoiselle though: ‘we kindly request that you refrain from wearing perfume’.

2023 Review: Billing itself somewhat misleadingly as an ‘eccentric Japanese izakaya experience’ (which would suggest it’s down-to-earth… which it isn’t), this luxurious space decked with Japanese prints is this Knightsbridge hotel’s new incumbent for the basement space that was previously Bar Boulud (RIP). It is rated on limited feedback to date, but all of it enthusiastic. Top Tip – bargain set lunch menu featuring katsu sandos, plus cocktails.

2023 Review: Esteemed Tokyo steakhouse, Aragawa (est 1967, and actually predated by its Kobe branch) is set to open in late 2022 on the Mayfair site that for over 20 years as Miyama (long RIP) was an exemplar of traditional Japanese cuisine. Tokyo diners may pay over £400 per head for the best cuts… and that’s before you go wild with the list of Premiers Grands Crus on the wine list.