Japanese Restaurants in Waltham Abbey
1. Wild Heart
Japanese restaurant in Westminster
20 Warwick Street - W1B
2023 Review: “Great name… even better food” say fans of this casual, Japanese-inspired dining experience within a Soho hotel, whose all-day dining possibilities (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and afternoon tea…) were conceived by star chef Garry Hollihead. Too limited feedback as yet, though, for a full rating of its mix of poke bowls, salads, sliders and main plates, complemented by an oriental cocktail list and sake menu.
2. Ginza
Japanese restaurant in St James's
15 Bury St - SW1Y
With its counters for teppanyaki and sushi, this sizable St James’s basement (with 70 covers) offers a high-quality, traditional Japanese dining experience. All reports on the food say it can be of an exceptional standard, but even ardent fans can also find it “overpriced”.
3. Chotto Matte
Japanese restaurant in Soho
11-13 Frith St - W1
Kurt Zdesar’s “loud and dark” haunts promise a culinary journey from Tokyo to Lima with some “brill cocktails” thrown in. It’s “great fun” and the Nikkei food is an “interesting fusion” too, if also a pricey one. Since 2022, the London presence has doubled with the addition of a Marylebone branch to join the first Soho one. It also has six siblings in North America and a couple in the Middle East.
4. SOLA
American restaurant in Soho
64 Dean Street - W1D
“Slightly unorthodox” but “exceptional” Californian food “made with super, luxury ingredients” and backed up by “an interesting and mainly Californian wine list” mean Victor Garvey’s acclaimed four-year-old is “the place to head for in Soho for an out-of-the-ordinary meal”; and some believe “it should have two stars from the tyre men”. (“Highlights included flambéed langoustines with a dashi broth and foie gras; and that rare thing, a grapefruit dessert with jelly, sorbet, consommé and meringue”). If there’s a reservation, it’s about the “small and cramped-feeling” space, which critics feel “for a VERY expensive meal has really no sense of occasion at all” (“it is essentially an unremarkable café in Soho with staff who might have been officiating at some kind of sacred ceremony in a High Temple!”).
5. Tonkotsu
Japanese restaurant in Walthamstow
Unit 4, 202 Hoe Street - E17
“Tasty, good-value noodles” in a “relaxed environment” make this 12-year-old London chain (14 branches, plus Brighton and Brum) “worth a visit”. The “ramen is deep and fabulous” if “limited in range (no fish-based dishes except prawn)”, and is augmented by “quite acceptable katsu curry”. Aficionados should head to the Haggerston branch to watch the noodles being made.
6. Tonkotsu
Japanese restaurant in Newham
Unit 1, Endeavour Square - E20
“Tasty, good-value noodles” in a “relaxed environment” make this 12-year-old London chain (14 branches, plus Brighton and Brum) “worth a visit”. The “ramen is deep and fabulous” if “limited in range (no fish-based dishes except prawn)”, and is augmented by “quite acceptable katsu curry”. Aficionados should head to the Haggerston branch to watch the noodles being made.
7. Dotori
Korean restaurant in Finsbury Park
3a Stroud Green Rd - N4
2021 Review: “Brill sushi and mouth-numbingly spicy Korean hotpots” draw a bustling crowd of overseas students to this “unprepossessing” operation near Finsbury Park tube – once “the best-kept secret in town”. But word has spread about the “sensational Korean and Japanese food for £10-£20 a head” – “authentic and in huge portions”. Cash only and no booking.
8. Tonkotsu
Japanese restaurant in Hackney
382 Mare St - E8
“Tasty, good-value noodles” in a “relaxed environment” make this 12-year-old London chain (14 branches, plus Brighton and Brum) “worth a visit”. The “ramen is deep and fabulous” if “limited in range (no fish-based dishes except prawn)”, and is augmented by “quite acceptable katsu curry”. Aficionados should head to the Haggerston branch to watch the noodles being made.
9. Angelina
Fusion restaurant in Hackney
56 Dalston Lane - E8
“Every time is a different experience thanks to the ever changing menu” at this “imaginative and wonderful” Dalston venture. “The food really is a mix of European and Japanese influences” and served in a tasting menu format (either the 10-course ‘kaiseki’ or 4-course ‘omakase’) that’s “excellent, without feeling too fussy, and great value for money”. The “dark and moody interior” creates a “pared-back but buzzy atmosphere, which makes this a perfect pick for a special dinner”.
10. Supa Ya Ramen
Japanese restaurant in Hackney
499 Kingsland Road - E8
Chef Luke Findlay brings his ‘traditionally inauthentic’ cult ramen (using ingredients such as Parmesan cheese or Cumberland sausages) to a duo of functionally kitted-out venues. First honed as a supper club, the Dalston original opened in March 2000, and a Peckham spin-off in late 2022. Not a huge volume of feedback, but all good for the big-flavoured bowls that had The Independent’s Kate Ng hail “a perfectly imperfect take on fusion food” in January 2023.
11. Mio Yatai
Japanese restaurant in Hackney
129a Pritchard's Road - E2
2022 Review: In Hackney’s Broadway Market and next to the Regent’s Canal, this Japanese street food and ramen bar opened in December 2019. It’s smallish – 45 seats – mixing communal seating and some individual tables. Early reports suggest it’s an OK standby – not enough feedback for a more hearty endorsement at this stage.
12. Tonkotsu East
Japanese restaurant in Haggerston
Arch 334, 1a Dunston St - E8
“Tasty, good-value noodles” in a “relaxed environment” make this 12-year-old London chain (14 branches, plus Brighton and Brum) “worth a visit”. The “ramen is deep and fabulous” if “limited in range (no fish-based dishes except prawn)”, and is augmented by “quite acceptable katsu curry”. Aficionados should head to the Haggerston branch to watch the noodles being made.
13. Akari
Japanese restaurant in Islington
196 Essex Rd - N1
“Still a bit of a hidden gem, which is a real shame as this place should be packed” – this converted pub by Essex Road station is a longstanding fixture of the area. With its mix of sushi and other “enjoyable and very tasty” fare, fans say it serves “really wonderful izakaya dishes in a pretty chilled-out environment”; and that even if “it’s not as cheap as it once was, it’s still good value”.
14. Jiji
Fusion restaurant in Islington
6g Esther Anne Place - N1
“An amazing variety of small, tasty and unusual combination dishes served in a very cool environment” continues to win a thumbs up – if from a tiny fan club – for this Israeli-Japanese one-year-old in the shiny new Islington Square development.
15. Issho-Ni
Japanese restaurant in Bethnal Green
185 Bethnal Green Road - E2
“Top-end sushi for a fair price” is the deal at this Bethnal Green izakaya from Claire Su, who delights her guests with “the freshest sushi and some great hot dishes too”. The weekday bento-box lunches are extremely good value, and the “unlimited brunch (starters, sashimi and maki rolls) on Saturdays is fantastic”. Top Menu Tip – “don’t get me started on the butter fish”.
16. Kanada-Ya
Japanese restaurant in Islington
35 Upper Street - N1
“The best ramen in London, IMO – the rich, porky broth is perfect”, say fans of former pro-cyclist Kazuhiro Kanada’s five noodle bars – in Angel, Piccadilly, Covent Garden, Carnaby and Ealing. “If you’re going to do one thing, do it well, and they do” – so they “deserve the frequent queues”.
17. Tonkotsu
Japanese restaurant in Shoreditch
New Inn Yard, 1 Anning Street - EC2A
“Tasty, good-value noodles” in a “relaxed environment” make this 12-year-old London chain (14 branches, plus Brighton and Brum) “worth a visit”. The “ramen is deep and fabulous” if “limited in range (no fish-based dishes except prawn)”, and is augmented by “quite acceptable katsu curry”. Aficionados should head to the Haggerston branch to watch the noodles being made.
18. Hot Stone
Japanese restaurant in Islington
9 Chapel Market - N1
Many diners do applaud “wonderful ingredients, impeccably presented” at this ambitious Japanese venue on Islington’s Chapel Market, and say that the “signature sashimi, maki rolls and different types of wagyu that you cook on a hot stone are all spectacular”. But a slew of critical reports – in particular regarding voucher promotions – has dented ratings; and such feedback is peppered with a variety of critiques and disappointments, including some “fairly average dishes” and some items charged at “outrageous prices”.
19. Apothecary
Japanese restaurant in Shoreditch
36 Charlotte Road - EC2
2022 Review: On the sizable Shoreditch site that was Merchant’s Tavern (RIP), this mid-2021 newcomer is nowadays a 130-cover Japanese izakaya, with more of an emphasis on drinking (and DJs) than of old. It comes complete with open kitchen and robata counter, serving skewers, sushi and steamed buns to soak up the hot or cold sake, beers and cocktails.
20. Bone Daddies, The Bower
Japanese restaurant in Old Street
211 Old Street - EC1V
These funky (and noisy) ‘rock ’n’ roll ramen’ bars shook up the capital’s Japanese fast-food scene when the first outlet opened in Soho 11 years ago, spawning a small group now reaching as far as Richmond. Their “super ramen” is served with 20-hour pork bone broth cooked these days at a kitchen on Bermondsey’s ‘beer mile’. But the business has not been immune to the industry’s difficulties: a Putney spin-off only lasted a year before closing, and a long-touted outlet in the old Eurostar terminal at Waterloo has yet to eventuate.
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