Spitalfields, Japanese Restaurant Guide

“Cheap as chips, but great value” – this “good-quality” self-service Japanese noodle chain (bowls start at under £5) also offers “excellent” katsu curry with rice and tempura. There’s “no fancy service” – “you wait in line with a full view of the chefs preparing the food, which arrives fresh and hot”. It has eight outlets in London, one in Reading – and 800+ in Japan, where it’s based. Top Tip – there are smaller bowls for kids, plus Japanese ‘Ramune’ lemonade.

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.

2024 Review: “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”.

“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.

Open in London’s Norton Folgate from March 2025: a new pasta and grill restaurant from the Angelina Dalston team in a converted, high ceilinged Victorian warehouse space on the border of Spitalfields, seating 75 around a large open kitchen. Similarly inspired by Japanese and Italian cuisine, it offers a menu featuring fresh pastas with a Japanese twist, alongside Italian- and Japanese-inspired ‘big cut’ Binchotan grill dishes (such as Aged Porterhouse or Skate Wing on the Bone) and crudi. The wine list features more than 300 Italian wines and there are also sakes and cocktails.

2023 Review: Kaz Tateishi’s “conscientious and consistent” (and therefore very Japanese) sushi shop with eat-in seats is tucked away in Islington’s cute Camden Passage. A meal here (or taken away in a box) “always feels like money well spent”. There is now a second outlet in Shoreditch.

‘Rebel against the establishment and join the sushi revolution!’ – purists should steer clear of this small Brixton pitstop, where various funky meat, vegan and veggie options sit alongside more traditional Japanese sushi combos. Feedback was limited this year, but continues to rate it positively all-round. And they must be doing something right, as a new Shoreditch branch opened in June 2024.