Marylebone, Japanese Restaurant Guide

Views diverged this year on this modern Marylebone Japanese – an exponent of ‘Shun’ (meaning ‘food should only be eaten when it is at its best and at the height of its season’). Fans say it’s a “lovely” place offering “novel and delicious” flavours from its wide-ranging, funky menu (‘rock and rolls’, ‘plant-based power’, ‘raw to the core’, ‘robata’…) – sceptics say that it’s “overpriced, with miniscule portions”.

“Don’t let the décor fool you: the traditional sushi and other dishes here are really good and good value!”, according to fans of this “cheap ’n’ cheerful” small chain, whose most commented on outlets are the “really-Japanese-in-feel” Marylebone original and more deli-style Highgate spin-off (Bloomsbury and Bayswater inspire little feedback).

This ten-year-old rock ’n’ roll ramen concept is in expansion mode at the moment, having pushed into the southwestern suburbs with openings in Richmond and Putney in recent years, followed by High Street Ken and the former Eurostar terminal at Waterloo station in 2022. They “still do a very fine bowl of tonkotsu”, and the classic rock soundtrack stays the same.

2021 Review: Between Selfridges and St Christopher’s Place – a “busy and quite noisy” haunt, where some reporters are very impressed by its Pan-Asian small plates (including sushi and dim sum dishes), but others feel that they’re “not exciting, but OK”.

2022 Review: This Marylebone veteran claims to be the longest-serving Japanese restaurant in London, and wins high ratings for its “consistent” classics, ranging from sushi to teppanyaki. Food writer and chef Simon Hopkinson was for many years a regular here, although it tends to fly under the radar these days.

This contemporary Japanese outfit near Oxford Circus from the Chisou group is – according to its biggest fans – “simply outstanding” (“the head chef gave us personal advice and even created tailor-made sushi for us”… “sublime”). Not everyone would go quite as far, but all reports rate the food here as good or better.

This “slurpy Japanese noodles” outfit has grown from a 2011 pop-up to a fledgling national chain (14 branches in London, plus Brighton and Brum). These days it “feels formulaic, but the ramen does the business – the tonkotsu (pork broth, from which the place gets its name) is satisfyingly porky and the chilli chicken has a spicy hum”. Critics are not so sure, pointing to “very disappointing noodles” and “drab stock”.

A short walk from Oxford Circus, this five-year-old izakaya is well-worth discovering. “Like with many Japanese restaurants the food rather than the ambience is the reason to visit: the sushi is exquisite, the chef is extremely accommodating and the experience is consistently good”.

“High-quality sushi – the fish is super-fresh” and “very good tempura” are the highlights at this classic Japanese duo in Mayfair and Knightsbridge. A meal here is “certainly not cheap but it is fantastic”: “there are one or two London restaurants that do better Japanese and sushi. But not at these prices”. Top Tip – “ask for sea urchins in season”.

2019 Review: This Japanese tabletop BBQ is a “great place for a fun night out” in Holborn (there’s also a new branch at Oxford Circus), cooking your own meat from a “good, reasonably priced set dinner selection”. It is part of a Tokyo-based group with branches in eight countries.

“More modern in style than its older Park Lane sister and far more trendy now” – this “large, dark and warmly” decorated venue, with outside terrace, beamed down into this latest outpost of the international chain in December 2020. But while “popular and packed”, with Japanese-fusion cuisine that’s often rated as “wonderful”, it’s “an expensive option compared with other Japanese venues” and “the food isn’t quite as good as the original at The Met”.

The “superb Japanese food” at this little-known Mayfair veteran, now in its fifth decade, stands out in “an increasingly crowded market for Japanese gastronomy”. Like many traditional restaurants in Tokyo or Kyoto, it is understated and unflashy to a fault. The sashimi and sushi are “moderately expensive, but then fish this good should be”. Top Tip – “the Tekkadon Chirashi is simply delicious – sashimi of tuna, fatty tuna and seared tuna on a bed of rice”.

“A little bit of Kyoto in London” – Daisuke Hayashi’s highly ambitious new 10-seater in Marylebone opened in early 2022, and is hailed in most reports as one of London’s foremost Japanese restaurants. Sitting at the counter, is “like a trip to Japan” – you sample “a stunning 10-course tasting menu: a sublime experience with top-quality ingredients”, where “every dish has a story… and it’s wonderful”. One or two reporters would only say it’s only “good enough” at the “eye-watering prices”, but even so Hayashi looks set to earn the renown here that he failed to garner during his short stint at Tokimeite. Wash down your meal with one of the 70 sakes assembled by former UMU sommelier, Ryosuke Mashio.

“Nailing it every time” – Arjun Waney and Rainer Becker’s upscale Japanese-inspired operations endure on a deceptively simple formula of “great buzz… awesome food”. Centre stage are the “expertly prepared” small plates – “a lovely combination of hot and cold Japanese-fusion dishes” featuring “gorgeous sushi, sashimi and robata” (from the centrally placed grill) – that are “pricey yet exceptional”. As an offering, you could quibble that “it hasn’t really evolved” in recent years, or you could say ‘if it ain’t broke, why fix it?’

2019 Review: If it were not one of the restaurants that propelled Gordon Ramsay to fame (and also its erstwhile chef, Jason Atherton) – and if it wasn’t at the heart of a posh postcode – we would have long ago dropped this hotel grill room in Mayfair: it attracts precious little feedback nowadays, all of it disappointing.

“The basement of a department store doesn’t lend itself to high ambience”, but “half the fun of this place is the window shopping on the way in!” From Alexis Gauthier’s “interesting all-vegan selection”, the “amazingly crafted” sushi “looks amazing” and “is an engaging experience that comes close to ‘the real thing’ by look and taste”. Fans say items like the vegan burgers “are also terrific”, although there are also sceptics who find these other options “less convincing”. But in summer, “any shortcomings are more than made up for by the brilliant outside location, with a large paved terrace abutting Bond street, where you could be in Cannes under the large umbrellas as you watch the fancy shopping bags and their owners wandering by”.

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”.

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.

A second branch of this Nikkei specialist is opening in Marylebone, with a menu running from sushi and robata grills to tacos and ceviche and a drinks list that also combines Japan and Peru, with pisco sours, sakes and cocktails. The original site on the King's Road in Chelsea has now closed; another branch is due to open in Victoria in late 2023.

“Decent noodles at rock-bottom prices” means these “new, authentic, incredibly reasonably priced Japanese canteens” are “always busy”. An 800-strong global chain, it launched in London in July 2021 with a 100+ cover site just off Liverpool Street and is adding branches willy nilly, with the second half of 2022 seeing debuts in Oxford Circus, The Strand and Waterloo. “The food cannot be fresher than here: noodles are made on-site and tempura is fried just in front of you” and “they cater for both non-vegans and vegans”. Finish your meal with “unlimited ice cream, which is unexpectedly delicious too”.