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One of my favourite Japanese restaurants in London is Donzoko (which I believe means “The Lower Depths”? - but don’t let this put you off :-)) and definately one of the best Japanese restaurants in town.  It is a small restaurant on Kingly Street just behind Regent Street which I have been visiting at least once a month for the past 4 years.  I made a last minute booking at Donzoko last Friday after feeling a little too lazy to cook and got to the extremely packed restaurant for 8pm.  I was lucky to be given a table as the restaurant only seats around 25 people and 8 at the sushi counter.  They have an extensive menu with a lot of dishes that you would not normally find in other Japanese restaurants around London.  The food is very authentic and cooked by Japanese chefs in an open kitchen in a corner of the restaurant. 

I would highly recommend the aubergine with garlic and miso sauce (see picture below) which is the best I’ve ever had in any restaurant.  The aubergine just melts in your mouth and the miso sauce and garlic complement each other well (very tasty!).  I also had a generous portion of pumpkin tempura which was perfectly cooked in a light crispy batter and tanuki udon (udon soup with tempura bits) which again I think is the best I’ve tasted as the soup is deliciously sweet.  I tend to stick with these few dishes everytime I visit as its so good that I can’t help but keep ordering the same thing!  However, what I’ve tasted from the rest of the menu has been excellent although the sushi is maybe not as good as other places.  The green tea ice cream is a perfect ending to a meal there and has a strong sweet green tea flavour with a bitter aftertaste as opposed to some green tea ice creams which I’ve had that taste like vanilla ice cream with green food colouring!

Staff are always polite and efficient and the owner is a lovely lady who will always greet you with a smile and thank you profusely when you leave.  Cost for a meal for 2 is around £30 which is excellent value for an authentic experience.

So that’s 2 down now for my Japanese Restaurant Mission, another gazillion to go!!

Donzoko Address: 15 Kingly Street, London, W1B 5PS
Telephone Number: 020 7734 1974
Opening Times: 12pm - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10.15pm (Mon - Fri) 6pm - 10.15pm (Sat)

Aubergine with garlic and miso sauce

 Pumpkin Tempura

Tanuki Udon

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I am going to start off my Japanese Restaurant Mission with Matsuri (St James Branch) which I visited last weekend.  Every summer they have a lunch buffet on Saturdays and Sundays throughout July and August where you can eat as much california roll and Hiroshima style okinomiyaki to your heart’s desire and you also get either a seafood, steak, chicken or vegetarian teppanyaki with steamed rice (this is not all-you-can-eat though).  I have been going to this for the past few years and although it has changed from being a complete all-you-can-eat buffet to a combination buffet and teppanyaki, it is still well worth the price of £12 (it has gone up from the even better £10 price tag last year). 

The california roll is very fresh with the avocado perfectly ripe to complement the crabstick and cucumber.  The okonomiyaki is tasty (if you haven’t come across okinomiyaki before I will be writing a post on this soon) and although I’m not really as keen on teppanyaki as I am on other Japanese culinary delights, the seafood that I had was fresh and not overcooked apart from the squid which was a bit too rubberlike.  I also would have liked them to use a bit of garlic butter as I prefer teppanyaki restaurants to use a little in the sauce to give it more flavour otherwise it can be quite bland.

I would definately recommend this lunch buffet even if you don’t like teppanyaki and are just going to fill up on california rolls and okinomiyaki because this is the best part of the menu.  It would probably be wise to make a booking too as the restaurant does fill up pretty quickly although it sits 120 people.  The service in the restaurant is excellent and staff are very attentive, the restaurant is also nicely laid out with a good atmosphere although you are sitting with strangers around a teppan.  All-in-all this lunch buffet  is a good taster of what Matsuri offers if you are not prepared to fork out around £50 a head for dinner.

Matsuri St James Address: 15 Bury Street, St James, London, SW1Y 6AL
Telephone Number: 020 7839 1101
Opening Times: 12pm - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10.30pm (Mon - Sat) 12pm - 3pm, 6pm - 10pm (Sun)

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As you may have read in my about me page I am a self-confessed Japanese food addict or Japanese foodie :-)  Call me what you like but I absolutely love Japanese food, from sushi and sashimi to okonomiyaki and teppan-yaki!  I have decided to go on a mission to eat in all the Japanese restaurants in London, every last one of them!  Mad as you may think I am considering that there are around 400 Japanese restaurants in London, not to mention the great expense that I am going to incur, but I will be documenting my pursuit and reviewing each restaurant in this blog.  This will hopefully also be useful for those who are visiting or who don’t necessarily want to visit every Japanese restaurant in London…

When I have visited a restaurant I will add a link to it below and hopefully build the list into a directory of Japanese restaurants in London.

Japanese Restaurant Directory (London)

• Hare and Tortoise
  Address: 38/39 Haven Green, Ealing, London W5 2NX
  Telephone Number: 020 8810 7066
  Opening Times: 12pm-11pm (Sun-Thurs), 12pm-11.30pm (Fri, Sat)   
• Itsu
  Address: 118 Draycott Avenue, Chelsea, London SW3 3AE
  Telephone Number: 020 7590 2400
  Opening Times: 11am-11pm (Mon-Sat), 11am-10pm (Sun)  
• Bincho Yakatori 
  Address: 16 Old Compton Street, London W1D 4TL
  Telephone Number: 020 7287 9111
  Opening Times: 12-3pm, 5-11.30pm (Tues-Sat), 12-3.30pm, 5-11.30pm (Sun) 
• Donzoko - CLOSED
  Address: 15 Kingly Street, London, W1B 5PS
  Telephone Number: 020 7734 1974
  Opening Times: 12pm - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10.15pm (Mon - Fri) 6pm - 10.15pm (Sat)
• Matsuri St James
  Address: 15 Bury Street, St James, London, SW1Y 6AL
  Telephone Number: 020 7839 1101
  Opening Times: 12pm - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10.30pm (Mon - Sat) 12pm - 3pm, 6pm - 10pm (Sun)
• Sushi World
  Address: 58 Pitshanger Lane, London W5 1QY.
  Telephone Number: 020 8997 6057
  Opening Times: 6pm - 10pm (Mon), 12pm - 2pm & 6pm - 10pm (Tues, Wed), 12pm - 2pm & 6pm - 10.30pm (Thurs - Sat), 12pm - 2pm & 6pm - 9.30pm (Sun)
• Yakitoria - CLOSED
  Address: 25 Sheldon Square, London, W2 6EY
  Telephone Number: 0203 214 3000
  Opening Times: Mon-Fri 12pm - 3pm, Mon-Sat 6pm - 11pm
• Zipangu 
  Address: 8 Little Newport Street, Chinatown, London, WC2H 7JJ.
  Telephone Number: 020 7437 5042
  Opening Times: Mon-Thurs: 12:00-23:00, Fri-Sat: 12:00-23:30, Sun: 12:00-22:30

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