Marylebone, Japanese Restaurant Guide

‘Fry or Die’, ‘Raw to the Core’ and ‘Rock & Rolls’ are all titles for menu sections of this high- quality Japanese bar/restaurant in Marylebone Village. It’s part of a less reverential approach to Japanese cuisine that’s a departure for Japanese-run venues like this: here the owner is Taiji Maruyama, who also owns Maru (see also). There’s a nine-course omakase here for £95, but you can eat cheaper from the à la carte.

2024 Review: They look modest, but “great value Japanese food” (for example, “delightful sushi” and “very fresh salmon and tuna”) of “consistently high quality” is served by “lovely people” at this well-established Marylebone restaurant and its more deli-style offshoots in Highgate, Bloomsbury and Bayswater.

“Delicious ramen with rich home-made broth” draws a steady crowd to these “quick, casual” joints “with a fun classic rock soundtrack”; and whose “great noodles are very consistent across their branches” (there are now seven across the capital). Top Menu Tip – “bao bun specials are good too, and great value”.

Claiming to be London’s oldest Japanese restaurant (although originally it operated a couple of streets away), this Marylebone veteran just off Baker Street has always had its pros and cons. The main plus is its traditional sushi and other fare incorporating “super-fresh fish”. On the downside, critics have perennially found it OTT pricewise; and even fans – who say it’s “super-relaxed at the counter chatting with the friendly Itamae” – also note that “atmosphere can be a little lacking”.

“Sit at the counter, preferably with a lychee martini, and watch the delicious sushi being made” at this modern outfit just north of Oxford Circus from the Chisou group, where a long wooden bar dominates the room (there’s a basement with banquettes for larger groups and private parties). Ceviches and seafood carpaccios are served alongside a wide sushi selection, plus hot dishes and lunchtime sets with miso soup. To drink there’s wine, sake, shochu, Japanese draught beer and tea.

This 15-strong London noodle chain (now with branches in Brighton, Birmingham and Bristol) is “a good stand-by” – perhaps it’s “not as good as some of its competitors”, but it is widely seen as “good value”: in particular “the lunch-time meal deal” is a winner.

Takamasa Mogi (Chef Masa) is the chef-patron at this ‘Japanese Tapas & Sushi Fine Dining Restaurant’ off Bond Street. You can eat omakase if you wish (for £125 per person) but there’s a large and flexible à la carte menu, incorporating individual sushi, grill and other dishes, as well as a number of set menus and lunchtime bento boxes.

For impressively competent sushi and other Japanese delights in a “no-fuss oasis of calm”, these understated but upmarket fixtures in Knightsbridge and Mayfair “do everything right without charging a fortune” – “if you want Japanese, Chisou is top of the list”, agree fans who reckon it’s a “‘go-to’ Japanese when in London, whether for lunch or dinner” as “you know what to expect and it’s never a let down”. “Ambience and decor could do with an uplift” – but for most that’s a small price to pay.

“Love all the London Nobus, but this has the best sushi by a large margin” – Nobu Matsuhisa’s long-established international chain spread from NYC’s Tribeca in 1994, and opened this London flagship in 2020. Its ratings are extremely strong in this year’s annual diners’ poll thanks to Nikkei dishes that are “always spectacular” and a better interior than the first Park Lane branch. In particular, for expense accounters “it’s a great place to take clients – they are always impressed” and “it’s not too noisy”.

2024 Review: After half a century, this high-quality Mayfair veteran is “still one of the best Japanese restaurants in London”, with particularly “good fish” – although it has a lower profile than many newer and more flashy rivals. “Having the kitchen open to the dining area adds some theatre to aid the digestion”.

“Massively expensive but superb Japanese food is served around a beautiful bar where you can watch the chefs at work creating exquisite dishes” at this four-year-old, Kyoto-style kaiseki venue in Marylebone, presided over by chef-patron Daisuke Hayashi. Amongst the West End’s posh Japanese venues this is both one of the highest-rated and most popular, attracting a much stronger following in our annual diners’ poll than many of its competitors. “It may be a pricey night out, but it’s a wonderful one for a once-in-a-while treat” and you don’t have to go for the multi-course kaiseki menus (seven courses for £160 per person or nine courses for £190 per person) and can instead eat à la carte (with most mains about £50). BREAKING NEWS. In July 2025, the restaurant announced a temporary closure from July 1 for renovation, and ‘a renewed concept’ on reopening. We’ve left the ratings and pricings, but significant change may be afoot.

“The vegan sushi is wonderful, fresh and inventive” at this Mayfair outlet, which is a spin-off brand for plant-based evangelist chef Alex Gauthier, who runs the celebrated Gauthier (see also) in Soho. Following the closure of Fenwick’s department store – he has moved it to the tucked-away nearby site vacated by Native at Browns (which itself has moved out of London, to Worcestershire). 123V’s menu used to be wider than just sushi, but has narrowed its focus to the Japanese-inspired plates that were everybody’s fave – even among omnivores. Top Tip – the new site has a gorgeous courtyard, which comes into its own in the summer months.

Back in the day (in 2004), Arjun Waney & Rainer Becker’s successful Japanese fusion-favourite on Charlotte Street helped forge new expectations for fashionable dining out – with its slick combination of sushi, sashimi and robata-grilled items – and “it’s still a winner, even if we have now seen it all before”. Over the years four London siblings have been added, alongside another nine in the eastern Mediterranean and the Gulf. A particular hit with business diners, some reporters visit several times a year, and say “it’s always an enjoyable experience, with delicious options like the black cod, crab gyoza and fillet beef”.

2023 Review: With its outdoor rooftop terraces over central London near Regent Street, this Hong Kong-owned Japanese joint (a sibling of more famous Aqua Shard) makes a “romantic” location – “even a touch exotic” – to dine on “lovely food” which “looks as good as it tastes”. “The rent must be pretty steep, presumably explaining why prices are very high too”.

2023 Review: Within the first international branch of a Japan-based group of five-star luxury hotels, this dining room near Marble Arch serves a non-traditional menu, focused on sushi, sashimi, seafood and meat cooked on the robata grill. Reports are too thin for a rating, but the odd exceptional meal is reported here. Top Tip – to give it a go, look out for their extremely keenly priced set menus.

2024 Review: This high-street Nikkei hangout’s first Chelsea branch opened in 2021 and shut in mid 2023 in favour of a new Marylebone location. No feedback as yet on either site, which purveys a trendy fusion of sushi, tacos, ceviche and robata bites, and of course pisco sours, sakes and cocktails aplenty.

“Excellent sushi” is prepared in front of you at this three-year-old omakase in Marylebone, where just 11 diners eat at the curved wooden counter each sitting. The London outpost of a Beirut-based operation, it’s a stylish spot with luxury ingredients playing a prominent role: wagyu beef, lobster, caviar – and prices strike some reporters as toppish (“dishes were all good but not exceptional…which they should be for the price”). There’s an even smaller bar in the basement, where six is a full house. More affordable options here include a bento box available at lunchtimes.

Another grand Victorian bank now put to arguably better use – this Japanese-inspired restaurant and cocktail bar is open from autumn 2025 in a Grade II listed building on Cavendish Square, behind Oxford Circus, following a reported £15million refurb by its Maltese owners. The original Aki was launched in Valletta in 2020 and offers a contemporary take on classic Japanese dishes.

2024 Review: One of London’s top omakase-style experiences is provided by husband and wife chef team, Tamas Naszi and Tomoko Hasegawa, at this small 10-seater counter experience, in a yard just off Mayfair’s pedestrianised South Molton Street. Feedback in its first year of operation has been limited, so our rating is a conservative one.