Charing Cross, Japanese Restaurant Guide

The “reliable, delicious ramen” available at six sites across the capital, offering “tasty twists” on traditional Kyushu-style noodles from former pro cyclist Kazuhiro Kanada, is many people’s favourite Japanese fast-food option. “A newly opened branch in Westfield Shepherd’s Bush, although finding its feet, is still one of the better options for a bite to eat” in the mall.

With “clever”, “good-quality Japanese food” – in particular the “excellent, if relatively expensive, sushi” – and “busy, competent service”, these “fun, stylish and friendly” Scandi-minimal venues are “always buzzing”. Founded in Copenhagen by a pair of Danish-Japanese brothers more than 30 years ago, the company came under new ownership in 2024 with big expansion plans, and unveiled two times F1 champion Fernando Alonso as a major shareholder in April 2025. Recent London openings include a “huge new site” in Islington and Battersea Power Station.

“Sometimes it just has to be ramen”, and this group from Japan Centre owner Tak Tokumine provides noodles and broth that are “consistent, quick”, “high-quality and very reasonably priced” – “service isn’t amazing but the food makes up for it”. The 12-hour tonkotsu pork broth is a speciality of Hakata, Tak’s home district of Fukuoka city on the island of Kyushu.

“Kudos to the chef” – Seamus Sam, who arrived in mid 2024 and is maintaining the culinary renown of this funky 12-seater in the cellar of Layo & Zoë Pasking’s period pub on the fringe of Chinatown, where he delivers a five-course menu for £135 per person. By all accounts it’s “just a wonderful experience” with “extremely interesting cooking” and “some intriguing wine pairings”, all delivered by “excellent staff”. “Not one for claustrophobics” perhaps, but most reporters find its style “lovely and intimate”.

“Fun but fully priced” would be a fair overview of this funky fusion duo – outposts of a glossy US-based chain that started in NYC. The original is found at the top of one of West Europe’s fastest lifts, whisking you to the glamorous 38th floor of the Heron Tower (adjacent to Duck & Waffle, see also), complete with a stylish cocktail lounge and outside terrace. Its newer sibling opened in 2018: “it’s above the market in Covent Garden which is a great location/space (regardless of what currently occupies it!)”. In both spots, all reports agree its luxurious Latino-meets-Japanese bites are super-moreish and “consistently good”. Prices though are OTT, especially as “you can feel like you are in a machine, and they churn out huge numbers of covers so service feels rushed. And it’s big, it’s loud, feels like a bun fight!!” (“Sushi Samba was my 18-year-old daughter’s choice and was not as bad as I feared, but not particularly stand-out either”.)

Resurrected after a closure of three years, this high-quality St James’s Japanese has long been a feature of the nearby streets and has relocated three times in living memory. Its location until 2022 was north of Piccadilly, in cute Piccadilly Place; and this new incarnation opened in Summer 2025 in premises north of St James’s Square that were until recently occupied by Al Duca (now in Victoria, see also). Yoshino of old was always known for its unusual level of authenticity (which sometimes included an offering incomprehensible to non-Japanese speakers!). Reports please!

“Sometimes it just has to be ramen”, and this group from Japan Centre owner Tak Tokumine provides noodles and broth that are “consistent, quick”, “high-quality and very reasonably priced” – “service isn’t amazing but the food makes up for it”. The 12-hour tonkotsu pork broth is a speciality of Hakata, Tak’s home district of Fukuoka city on the island of Kyushu.

2024 Review: Yuya Kikuchi’s no-frills, very personal, small Soho six-year-old inspired little feedback this year, although we have received rave reviews in the past, particularly about the sushi. You can eat quite cheaply here, but aficionados of Japanese cuisine regularly go nuts for his £120, 18-course omakase. The FT’s Tim Hayward was one such in February 2023, declaring it “the best Japanese food in London” where “the chef’s attention to his ingredients is quite staggering… his craft skills second-to-none”. We have never had any complaints, but read Tripadvisor reviews if you are at all sensitive to poor service…

“Well priced” Japanese dishes make this small, no-frills 26-year-old chain a useful option, whether for a “quick pre-theatre visit” when in town or in one of the more far-flung branches (Catford or Brentwood), where “decent quality sushi is found in a local high street for the first time”. Top Tip – “the delicious honey 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.

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”.

2023 Review: This “tasty” and fun Soho side project from the Bone Daddies group sounds like a post-modern culinary joke – a western take on a Japanese take on western cuisine! It started out as a pop-up, but proved popular enough to stick around on a permanent basis, serving hits from Korean fried wings and tuna tacos to kinako French toast with soft-serve ice cream.

“Well worth the trip to Soho” – Victor Garvey’s California-inspired venue inspires high praise for modern American cuisine that’s “innovative, but without gimmicks”, centred around a ten-course tasting menu for £159 per person that provides “a brilliant balance of flavours”, all matched with “interesting” wines with splendid advice available (“had one of the tastiest wine flights and the sommelier adjusted it depending on our tastes, with some great American wines that I would never otherwise have tried”). And it’s a handsomely decorated place too. Just one thing: while acknowledging its all-round excellence, 1 in 5 reporters nevertheless considers it to be “overpriced”. Top Menu Tip – “the devilled egg is special”.

“Love the udon, sitting at the single long counter” – Japan’s most refined fast-food noodle option (whose popularity dates from the early Edo period 400 years ago), is showcased at this 15-year-old Soho fixture and its satellites in the City’s Bloomberg Arcade and Hackney. “Best to go at an off-peak time to avoid the queue”.

“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”.

“A reliable option for Japanese food on a budget” – this chain’s “functional decor” “looks and feels authentic”, while the “great, light tempura is always a good indicator of quality” and the sushi and sashimi tend to be “so much better than average”. Service can be “swift”, even “rushed”, and the venues “noisy” and “crowded because of the exceptional value” – but they’re “deservedly popular to eat in or take away”. Top Menu Tip – they sometimes have sea urchin, a real delicacy.

“Well-prepared Japanese cuisine” – be it in the small 7-seat teppanyaki room, at the sushi counter or in the main room – wins consistent praise for this “large basement restaurant” in St James’s, which has a long history as a high-quality Japanese destination, and has run in its current guise as part of a global chain since 2017. “On a quiet evening, it can feel a bit abandoned”, though. Top Tip – “they sometimes have special deals and when it’s particularly worth trying the delicious food, very well prepared and presented”.

“A reliable option for Japanese food on a budget” – this chain’s “functional decor” “looks and feels authentic”, while the “great, light tempura is always a good indicator of quality” and the sushi and sashimi tend to be “so much better than average”. Service can be “swift”, even “rushed”, and the venues “noisy” and “crowded because of the exceptional value” – but they’re “deservedly popular to eat in or take away”. Top Menu Tip – they sometimes have sea urchin, a real delicacy.

2024 Review: Despite tons of money thrown at its numerous incarnations, the site of the former Strand Dining Rooms, just off Trafalgar Square, has never really cut through in recent years. Maybe this new Nikkei (Japanese/Peruvian) operation – a ‘Coming Soon’ as we go to press – will break the mould, which will feature a sushi counter and bar named Lima; a main open kitchen called Osaka; and an outdoor terrace.