Fitzrovia, Japanese Restaurant Guide

“I keep going back to Roka, and have never had a bad meal there” – so say fans of Arjun Waney & Rainer Becker’s slick Japanese-inspired venues, which are celebrating their 20th year in 2024. “Despite increasing competition, it remains a good choice, with sound cooking and good-value sushi, sashimi and robata dishes”; and despite perennial complaints that they are “way overpriced for tiny portions”, quality has held up well. All that said, service is more often “amateurish” and “erratic” than it once was; and long-term fans have a point when they say the general performance is “not as good as it used to be” – the 2024 openings will be in Bahrain, Germany and Greece and there is growing impression of ‘the same old, same old’ in its original home market.

Noisy izakayas in Fitzrovia and Covent Garden from the Bone Daddies group, “serving a good range from the stickier and more crowd-pleasing end of Japanese cuisine”, along with “tasty pan-Asian small plates including their signature bao buns”. Top Menu Tips – “great yakitori, lovely beef-fat chips”.

“Excellent, artful sushi”, plus carpaccios, steamed dumplings, salads and ceviches – all washed down with a good selection of sake and Japanese draft beer – are the draw at this modern spot near Oxford Circus from the high-quality Chisou group. The interior, dominated by a long sushi counter, is “somewhat drab” for those with more exuberant tastes.

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 Valetta in 2020 and offers a contemporary take on classic Japanese dishes.