I will preface this review that this restaurant just opened to the public, and still has a few bits…read moreand pieces to sort out, but that's the reason I'm giving Tokyo Retro 4 stars instead of 5. I fully expect to come back in a few months time when this place is running like a well-oiled machine to be a 5-star restaurant. I live just around the corner and only moved here recently. My flatmate told me he'd been eyeing this place for a while and wanted to try it as soon as it opened, which couldn't have been more than a week ago. He went Friday night to try and get some ramen, but currently they're only doing it for lunch. He got some scrumptious crab croquettes instead and invited me for a ramen lunch the next day. No objections from me. The decor is minimal and the seating is plentiful, though I can see this place getting busy pretty quickly. For lunch there were maybe 2 other tables seated and my flatmate said about three other tables were seated when he went for Friday dinner. The servers were very polite and armed with big smiles. I believe they're still a little new serving, as we had to wave them over and then wait a few minutes for service despite 2 servers waiting 3 seated tables. I ordered the Negi Chasiu Ramen (ramen with a double helping of pork belly + spring onions) while my flatmate ordered the Chasiu Miso Ramen (miso ramen with double pork belly). We ordered the burned rice tea, which the servers kindly refilled with hot water once the pots ran empty (I believe there are unlimited refills). The tea paired really well with the ramen, as it was a tad on the salty side, but that's my only complaint. The soup tasted very good, the ramen was perfectly cooked, and the pork belly was SPOT ON. I could not quickly recall when the last time I had pork belly this good. The double portion (4 slices vs. 2) was just right for me, though a few people might find it a bit on the generous side. This is my go to ramen shop now, as going all the way to Bone Daddies for an equal-par ramen just doesn't make sense anymore. The little logistical things that will be sorted out: - I believe they're doing somewhat of a soft opening right now, so not all of the menu items may be available at all times. I believe this will be quickly sorted out. - Waiting time (both for service and food). A few parties came, ate, paid, and left before we completed the cycle - perhaps because we were located at the corner of the restaurant by the window. This was due to slower service and waiting about 5 minutes for the check when we were finally finished and presented with the bill (I think the waitress just forgot). Also, the food took a good 10-15 min to come out, though I think it was because we ordered ramen vs. other people ordering non-soup dishes. I hope it doesn't become a logjam once things scale up, but I guess that's why they have soft openings - to get these things fixed. - Door doesn't close well. The day was a bit chilly and windy. The waitress shut the door but it kept blowing open. She went and got a hammer and tried to sort it out, but it didn't really work. I just thought it was kind of strange seeing a waitress hammering at a door hinge while I was eating - though I'm sure they'll get that fixed too. All in all, I think this place will find its own on Abbeville Road and the days of only 3-4 seated tables will quickly disappear. And as this place grows, I will continue to enjoy my ramen lunches and the occasional dinner there.

Gorgeous little place on Abbeville Road in Clapham. The ambience is welcoming and the food...the…read morefood is so good! Japanese food is meant to be elegant and simple. And less is definitely more, here! Having said that, they do not skimp on portions. The ramen bowls are sizeable and incredibly tasty. Pretty close to what I would expect home cooked Japanese food to be like. I would thoroughly recommend coming here with an appetite. The menu has a lot to offer and you can be adventurous or play it safe. We had ramen and dessert. Honestly there was no space for starters! The ramen that I had was tasty, nutritious and the pork just melted in my mouth! The chicken soup base...had a lot of depth and was super tasty. For dessert, you must try the black sesame ice cream. However, there's also mochi buns and green tea ice cream on offer. I was honestly bedazzled for quite a while. Life really is hard sometimes!

Nice enough "neighbourhood" Japanese restaurant/takeaway, with a menu covering a gamut of sushi,…read moreramen, udon, etc. Bento boxes are good here. Staff are friendly and helpful. Large dinner for two + drinks will run you about £75.

This isn't Japanese fine dining. Its good value for money, especially their lunch sets which are…read morehuge and I think was £5-6.

Best sushi place I've ever found! Humorous, attentive service and sumptuous, delectable food for a…read morecheap price. The cucumber hosomaki is my personal favorite. Also available for takeout on UberEATS and deliveroo.

From the owner: Family owned Japanese restaurant, serving a traditional menu specializing in quality fresh…read moreingredients and freshly made to order.

My sons went to this small Sushi Restaurant for Dinner (Take-Out) while we were visiting the…read moreLavender Hill area in London. Small place with limited seating but very bright and clean. My sons shared a Spicy Tuna Hand Roll as an Appetizer. One had the Salmon Chirashi and the other had a Ying-Yang Roll (Salmon/Avocado) - see pics. They were in the mood for Sushi and they both really liked the food. And I liked that the prices were reasonable. They said on a scale from 1 to 5, they would give it a 5. So that's a pretty great endorsement. :-)

From the owner: Choja Sushi offers fresh handmade sushi made daily on site, so pop down, say hello and see your…read moresushi being lovingly prepared by our trained sushi chefs.

Legit good Japanese izakaya-style place specializing in okonomiyaki. Overall all the food is solid…read moreif not spectacular but certainly better than you might expect in London. Even though your okonomiyaki options in London are limited, they're still strangely plentiful compared to the USA where the embrace of Japanese food culture is much more codified into life; it's still strange to me that during the last 30 years the Japanese cuisine that took off was sushi instead of ramen and all things izakaya. But here in the UK capital you have Abeno, which is good but takes itself a little too seriously for what is supposed to be the most casual and customer-focused of dishes (the translation is basically "as you want it"), and Jeux Jeux which is solidly meh. Okan sits right inbetween and feels as close as you can get to eating the famous dish in Osaka. I don't want to stretch that comparison too far but squint a bit and suddenly you might imagine for a moment you're eating in the middle of Shinsekai instead of Brixton. You can order your okonomiyaki as western as you like it (take out all that seafood, add the cheese!) and it'll still be just as delicious if you had ordered something closer to the spirit of the "nation's kitchen". Vibe is good, food is good, people are pleasant. Recommended!

Just happened upon this specialized okonomiyaki place in Brixton Market, but the food is top…read morequality. I guess such goodness comes from cooking the same item over and over, until it gets to perfection. The okonomiyaki here has a good balance between salty, tart, sweet and savory, without anything too overpowering. The portion is quite generous and well executed. Personally, I found it to be quite authentic Japanese street food. Service is super friendly and attentive, even though it's essentially a food stall. It's easy to tell why this place was able to expand to several different locations in London. Good job!

Great little restaurant that specialises in both Chinese and Japanese food. I've eaten here several…read moretimes (and always tending towards the Japanese end of the menu) and always been very impressed. The portions aren't massive, but the food itself is very nice and surprisingly reasonably priced. These is a little gem of a place, and deserves to be a lot busier than the sub-par Wok Wok next door. Last time I went it was 50% off all food before 7pm, so now is a great chance to give this place a try.

I was drawn by the name Soba and went in, expecting to try some authentic Japanese noodles. It…read moreturns out interior decor is Chinese and their menu included Chinese, Japanese and even some Thai, Vietnamese and Singaporean. After going through the menu, I've decided not to try soba or udon because the descriptions didn't seem authentic. Here are what we ordered: Crabmeat & sweetcorn soup Very good especially on a cold day! Crabmeat, corn and eggs are well mixed in thick and clear soup. Pad thai Their sauce was more like Chinese oyster sauce and didn't taste like anything Thai. It was too salty and had to stop eating midway. And we had to let our waitress know that peanuts were stale. Singaporean noodle It would be great for those who can handle spicy food. It was pretty good according to my boyfriend :) The table next to us had some yummy looking salmon sashimi and hand rolls. I saw bento boxes at another table. Maybe those are what I should try next time if I come back. But I'd say stick to Chinese dishes here!

Really good food, cocktails and friendly service! Starter and main for £20 was a great deal and…read morewould go back just for this. Also, around 10pm dining area turns into a dance floor with DJ and fun lighting

I came here for an early dinner with friends. We shared a few small plates and one large along with…read morecocktails. Service was friendly but the bartender was slow. We enjoyed our drinks, they have a well rounded cocktail menu. Pisco is on! Prices are about average. Ambiance was classier than I was expecting. Nice decor and lighting. Womens toilets can use a good cleaning. As for food, presentation was great. We sampled the prawn scampi, fish and chips, grilled green vegetables, and chips with dip. I didn't prefer their two types of dip, would be better with a spicy red salsa or guacamole. Overall the meal was delicious.

Again, lovely food but seriously. The service here is continuously abysmal. Every single time we…read morecome here, the servers seem really ignorant of what their jobs are. We finished our starters and no one came to collect the dishes. The server then comes around with the mains and waits while we clear the table for her. Seriously, this is her job. Not ours. Then after we finish the mains, the plates just linger. Alongside the growing collection of empty beer and wine bottles. We end up piling them up on the edge of the table but no one collects them. People, your job isn't just too bring food. You need to take stuff away too. Management need to better train their staff. We ended up removing the optional service. Our waitress didn't even bother to ask why. Obviously, she just doesn't care!!

I've edited my review of Nanban because I feel they are worthy of 4 stars moreso than the 3 I…read moreoriginally gave them. I've been three times now, and I have a bit of a weird like for Nanban, in that I usually prefer more traditional Japanese style ramen, but I have still enjoyed the fusion style food offered at Nanban. I've tried the Kumamoto Pork ramen as well as the Miyazaki Chicken ramen. I liked the Kumamoto Pork more. I've also found that the Jamaican hot sauce offered on the tables actually complements the ramen very nicely with a sour and spicy kick! It is quite spicy though, so be careful to test it before adding too much into your soup. In terms of appetizers, I've tried the Salmon Kake-ae, the Beef Tataki, and the Electric Eel. The Salmon Kake-ae was fantastic, with a very nice citrus-y flavour. The Beef Tataki is quite good as well. The Electric Eel was probably my least favourite as it was the least flavourful and a little bland. Nanban is definitely non-traditional style ramen, but the fusion Japanese/Carribean style works well in my opinion. Service has been good the times that I have gone. All in all, I'll probably continue to visit Nanban when I feel like eating in the Brixton area.

Japanese share plates go down a treat at Red Monkey, preferrably with a cocktail or a Japanese…read morelager. Menu is a step above nromal chain barfood - and features stuff like grilled meat and veg skewers, tempura, katsu, maki sushi, marinated code, sliced steak, tori karaange (battered chicken with soy dipping sauce). Downstairs are 3 private karaoke rooms loaded with 1000s of songs . Awesome! No outdoor seating but windows at front of bar open completely out on warm evenings...

A friend of mine was in London and craving Japanese food, so we came here on a Saturday night…read morearound 9 pm. The restaurant is small, but charming and clean. There appeared to be just 1 table for eating outdoors; there were 4 or 5 small tables inside. It was a really hot summer day so the restaurant was a bit stuffy, but that's not unusual in London. The lady manning the counter was friendly; there was also at least 1 other person working in the kitchen. The restaurant was empty when we arrived (the 1 table outside had customers though), but 2 couples came in shortly after us. My friend and I ordered 2 iced matcha green teas, the gyu don (beef and red ginger on rice), the seafood don, and a takoyaki starter; everything was pretty easy to split/share. The iced green tea was not a latte, but just matcha in water with a bit of syrup; we were given extra syrup on the side in case it was too bitter for us. Our food took about 20 minutes to come out; however, the couples who arrived after us, both of whom ordered just sushi, got their food in about 10 minutes. We were given some cooked teriyaki fish in a tiny dish as kind of an amuse-bouche while we were waiting, which was a nice touch. The takoyaki was really tasty and piping hot in the middle; it came with mayo on the side and was topped with fish flakes. I loved the gyu don--also piping hot with a generous amount of meat. The seafood don was also great, and not too difficult to split, although there was generally only 1 of each type of fish. I did feel it was overshadowed by the gyu don though. The restaurant closed at 10 pm; we were a bit worried we wouldn't have enough time to eat, but the staff did not ever rush us while we were there. They did begin cleaning up the rest of the restaurant around 10 pm, but we were able to finish up our meal shortly after 10 pm without anyone saying anything. Our meal came out to be about £35 for the 2 of us; this included a dine-in service charge of 12.5%. I was able to pay with my America bank card (signature required). The restaurant had some charming origami decor and was a really cozy place to pass a Saturday night. I would definitely recommend stopping by here if you're in the area. The restaurant is conveniently located a short walk from the Fulham Broadway tube station.

The chef is Japanese!…read more I wish we had known the chef was Japanese before ordering and eating so we could have ordered in Japanese and gotten the good stuff not on the menu. If only I had read more extensively in the reviews on here. Or opened up their website. Gah. We were in a hurry. Oh well, next time. It was still very good in this tiny spot reminding us of little restaurants in Tokyo. We did Japanese style here of ordering lots of little dishes and sharing. The takoyaki was good. The karaage was ok. The shrimp tempura was ok. The sushi was good (but a bit too much rice on some of the maki). After the meal, our non-Japanese server mentioned that the chef was Japanese. What luck! So we spoke to him in Japanese right before we left. Next time we will order directly in Japanese!