Kensington, Japanese Restaurant Guide

This offbeat, “really high-quality Japanese” outfit in a Kensington backstreet from Yasuhiro Minemo and Shinya Ikeda has carved out a niche for itself over the last 13 years with its “delicious sushi” and “extremely attentive staff”. It’s pricey, but “the lunch menu is great value”. Its offshoot Ocean House is in the former Brompton Library, while the latest addition from 2022, Sushi Kamon in Arcade Food Hall on Oxford Street, offers a cut-price 45-minute omakase experience.

“Exquisite” (or “expensive”?) is the apposite word to describe a meal at the first-floor restaurant of the Japan House cultural centre on Kensington High Street, where tableware and presentation are given equal billing with the food. “The bento boxes are beautiful”, too.

“The ramen is excellent” at this West End-based group from the Japan Centre’s Tak Tokumine – although “the rest of the menu is not as good” and the venues tend to be “too cramped and/or noisy to be ideal”. A drive to expand via franchise operations has apparently stalled since the summer 2022 opening of a branch in Kensington High Street – a possible sign that “we may have passed peak noodle”.