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Kikuchi

Japanese·
££££
·
Silver Award
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SquareMeal Review of Kikuchi

Silver Award

Tucked away on Hanway Place, tiny and unassuming Kikuchi has since 1998 been an antidote to the flashier likes of other high-end Asians such as Hakkasan around the corner. But Kikuchi isn’t immune to change, and has recently introduced an omakase style of dining, where dishes are selected by the chef at two separate sittings. Superbly fresh sashimi is the house speciality, with fatty tuna and yellowtail among the stand-outs. Other hits include salmon sashimi pre-loaded with wasabi, slippery sea urchin with bright bubbles of baby salmon eggs that burst in the mouth, as well as a dainty portion of grilled sea bass, with crunchy asparagus and edamame beans wrapped in light pastry. Sushi is also available while, to drink, a paired flight of saké comes with a helpful notecard explaining each one and the order in which to drink them. Pudding is limited to a helping of fluffy black sesame ice cream (you might want to go elsewhere for a more substantial dessert). Eating at Kikuchi might not come cheap (menus start at £48 and head upwards) but graceful, sweet service and top-drawer raw fish make this a must for sushi and sashimi purists.

Good to know

Average Price
££££ - £50 - £79
Cuisines
Japanese
Perfect for
Group dining [8+]
Food Hygiene Rating

Kikuchi is featured in

Location

14 Hanway Street, Fitzrovia, London, W1T 1UD

020 7637 7720 020 7637 7720

Website

Opening Times

Mon-Sat 6pm-11pm

Reviews

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4 Reviews 
Food/Drink
Service
Atmosphere
Value

Hugh N

28 February 2024   - Verified Diner
Food & Drink 5
Service 5
Atmosphere 5
Value 5

Best value quality Japanese in central London. Lovely, lovely people work here. It should be impossible to get a seat but it is surprisingly easy.

Brian R

03 August 2018  
OMG the best sushi in town.

29 January 2014  
Food & Drink 3.5
Service 2.5
Atmosphere 3
Value 2
Used to go often......
It used to be a good reasonable (in many ways) authentic sushi restaurant for casual use, but the price has sky rocketed after the renew. Sushi Rice taste is good, which is extremely rare in London. Sushi making Technique is average, which is not so bad in London. Fish quality is average or a little above, which was totally acceptable for the old price range. It might be difficult to believe for no Japanese, but making the rice ball for sushi requires very high technique and I know only one chef in London who can make decent one. London is Sushi refugees area so we can not expect much, but we miss the old Kikuchi.

Russell N

23 January 2013  
Food & Drink 4
Service 4
Atmosphere 4
Value 3.5
I went to Kikuchi with my wife & teenage sons. We're all big fans of Japanese food and so we were not fazed by the online reviews saying this place was not easy if you didn't know what you were ordering. The next table was occupied by two Japanese businessmen who were clearly frequent customers, as they had their own bottles of saki/whisky. That's always a good sign and adds to the ambience. The sashimi & sushi were excellent – particularly the o-toro. The grilled dishes were also nice, though the sizes were a bit unpredictable: the unagi was a generous helping which was fine for a couple of people to share; the duck was two skewers. The blackened cod was tasty and the giant prawn tempura were good, too — though we were not sure what to do with the head & legs, which were also deep-fried (and the staff weren't sure either, when we asked them). Were they decoration or can you eat them? The service was friendly, though some of the dishes took quite a long time to arrive (we didn't mind because we were having a nice evening and were not in a hurry). The restaurant was fairly quiet when we arrived around 7pm Saturday, but filled up very quickly and had a nice buzz to it – but it's not at the ‘plush’ end of the spectrum in terms of decor, if that's what you're looking for. It is not a cheap place – we spent £240 for four people and only drank soft drinks, but we ordered quite a lot of sushi & sashimi including specials like o-toro. I would definitely put the food in my top five for London Japanese restaurants, though sadly we still haven't found anywhere to match Tokyo quality :((
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