THE MENU AT EAT TOKYO in Notting Hill is an encyclopaedia. It’s also incredibly tedious to find snip-its online. No, it’s not an omakase restaurant. Natch, a member’s club in Notting Hill, you say? No, not that either.
Eat Tokyo isn’t hidden down a cobbled street. Tucked away; it is not. Quite the opposite of Omakase style Japanese restaurants in London, this one leaves it all up to you, my friend. Come prepared.
I used to study here, in Notting Hill. Not in this authentic Japanese restaurant. In fact I knew nothing about its existence. We’re talking about a pre-social media era: when literature was respected. Books were a gift. Reading for was for pleasure. Carving out knowledge, through the vessel of a well-constructed sentence, was honourable. Coveted, even.
Before cobbled cul-de-sacs; cozy cat cafes, there was a fishmonger right by Notting Hill Gate station. Only the tiny Pret à manger and Starbucks remain.
Now we have Eat Tokyo – an authentic Japanese restaurant. They operate several branches across London. The locations in Soho, Hammersmith, Holborn, and Golders Green offer different menus.
Recently, director Mr Hiroshi Takayama was proud to bring the Taste of Japan to the Grand London Sumo Tournament (the first held outside of Japan). Here are some clips from the event at The Royal Albert Hall, along with the Eat Tokyo Company’s Head Chef Motohashi and Head Chef Wu discussing Chanko Nabe with a Director of Fallow restaurant, Chef Will Murray.
We won’t be eating Chanko Nabe at Eat Tokyo.
Here’s what you can eat at a sit down, authentic Japanese restaurant in London that serves sushi.
The menu at Eat Tokyo Notting Hill Gate
There are restaurants I scrape to find a full online, up-to-date, a la carte menu for and this is one of them. Extensive higher-low end price points: from A5 wagyu cuts of beef, to cucumber rolls using Premium Grade sushi rice; a high quality, short grain variety. I am not a sushi making expert but I hear that rice is one, if not the most important elements that classify good sushi from bad sushi.
Reviewing uni nigiri in London £7.80 per piece
I love when I find sea urchin roe in London. Having Japanese sea urchin roe, or uni when it’s in season, makes Eat Tokyo stand out for me. Especially as this delicacy tends to be found in Omakase style restaurants in London. Or, it’s bad uni from a forgettable sushi spot.
Uni here is buttery; nutty, with just the right amount of richness coming from full fat tomalley flavours. This taste lingers precisely in the mouth, from the first to the last bite. Generously portioned here it is, too. Nigiri style, with rice, is enough without being cloying.
There’s only one thing better: fresh sea urchin eaten out directly out from its shell with, perhaps, a squeeze of citrus circulating in between the strips of pumpkin coloured gonad.
Flying fish roe or tobiko crackles and pops in the mouth with a moreish briny sweetness. A bite of pickled ginger in between the two nigiris to cleanse the palate make this a well rounded choice of nigiri for someone, like myself, who appreciates good rice but doesn’t need a lot of it with every bite.
Eat Tokyo sushi rolls & sashimi menu Notting Hill
Eat Tokyo also has branches in Japan and Germany. In a saturated market of London restaurants offering sushi as Asian fusion foods or high end authentic Japanese sushi, Eat Tokyo hits that mark at being welcoming to enthusiastic eaters. There’s a tapas style to the way the dishes read in print that screams more.
There’s no unspoken “I’ll leave it to you” request to the Sushi Master. At Eat Tokyo you pick from a menu with helpful pictures. A laminated picture booklet, that reads like a scroll, blankets the dark dining wooden table top. A good read after many visits will get you it.
Foodies engrained in us terror of the big, picture menu. Too many items! Must be bad! Depeneds on how many chefs there are, what ingredients they’re working with. London’s a bit different, you know?
Unique sushi rolls & sashimi in London
There are appetisers expected of an authentic Japanese restaurant in London. Then there are surprises. Vegan salmon tartare; unagi or sake foie gras, fatty funa or otoro. No holding back at chu-toro here. Eat Tokyo lets ramen take a bow here, as well as soups. Most regulars go for a set dish or all out on the range of wagyu beef selections to choose from. It’s fun, is what I’m getting at.
A simple butter asparagus dish is executed perfectly. Sweet, salty, light, yet rich with the lemon butter. White pepper subtly clings to the trimmed, steamed, three-biter. If it wasn’t so tasty there’s no way I could finish all the sweet, green sticks of earthy goodness.
The California rolls and asparagus rolls can be seen in the background of the photo above are not to be dismissed by their price point. Fresh ingredients; the use of chunks of crab rather than surimi, for example, generously fill or wrap all the rolls and temaki I have sampled at Eat Tokyo.
The sashimi selection cannot be faulted. If you prefer your raw fish without rice, you won’t be disappointed with the freshness and quality they provide.
London menu dish: sea snails or bulots in broth
Getting my teeth into tender sea snails is as jolly a mouth workout I can get. Counteracting other rich dishes, spoonfuls in between, revives the appetite. Only a single inedible part; a flat delicate piece of shell on the end, is easy to remove after the whole body slides right of its curly shell cone by fork.
Like a cockle without vinegar, a mussel without cream: each sea snail in this dish is squeaky; meaty to the bite. A yummy treat on the end of a fork or toothpick. As ugly as they are delicious. Order them.
Their fragrant broth is reason enough. Much like in the sea, the snail bathes in layers. Instead of water temperature change, this broth has savoury undertones, rounded off by a sweetness that’s typical in Japanese cooking. Clean fragrance is owed to plentiful ginger, steeped within the bowl. Marginal suggestions of white pepper are detected, signalling a warm end-note to this dish.
I didn’t know what to expect from sea snails at Eat Tokyo. I’ve mentioned that the typical restaurant preparation in Europe can come from a can, then re-stuffed into used shells. This was more of a bulot which was exceedingly popular and equally affordable in Normandy, France.
Eat Tokyo – Notting Hill branch restaurant review
Eat Tokyo Notting Hill Gate
Date of visit: October 2025
Paying a visit to Eat Tokyo, in Notting Hill, comes with a guarantee. At least one dish will keep you coming back. If not, at the very least, the menu will.
Ratings!
Food – 7.9/10
Value for money 7/10 (£25-35 pp including alcoholic beverages)
Vibes – 6/10
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