Fitzrovia, Japanese Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: “Top ramen with great broth and good combinations”, win fans for this genuinely Japanese chain (originating in Fukuoka), which has branches in Holborn, Embankment and Canary Wharf. Ratings, though, fall short of the top heights at the hands of those who feel its food is “not bad, but not memorable”. A fourth branch is to open in Fitzrovia in autumn 2019.

“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.

2023 Review: “Melt-in-the-mouth Wagyu and exemplary sashimi” inspire rave reviews for Shrabaneswor Rai and chef Padam Raj Rai’s Fitzrovia newcomer (previously a second branch of Hot Stone, which they also own). There’s no à la carte – the format is one of a multi-course, omakase-style tasting menu and fans are “blown away by the quality of the food”.

From the team behind Islington’s Hot Stone, this February 2023 newcomer is a re-imagining of their Fitzrovia site, which previously traded as Rai and with a not-completely-dissimilar format. The cuisine is ‘contemporary Japanese’ in style, with sushi, sashimi and Kagoshima wagyu beef, chosen omakase-style for each diner and served in a presentation box.