Yoshino

I wrote previously about the background to Yoshino. There is an extensive a la carte menu covering most of the bases, from sushi to tempura and beyond. There was also a tasting menu at £100 and two different surprise omakase menus, one at £100 and another at £200 featuring more luxurious ingredients. There was also a short menu at £50 available. The dining room has nicely spaced tables, and somewhat tentative air conditioning. 

We opted for the £100 omakase menu. This began with tuna and salmon sashimi, topped with a little salad. The salmon was from the Faroe Islands, farmed but raised in low-density pens and having quite a rich and buttery texture. It is still ultimately farmed salmon, which is never going to compare with wild salmon, but this is about as good a farmed salmon as you can find. I preferred the akami tuna, which had quite a silky texture (14/20).

Unagi teriyaki was excellent, served with pickled ginger and a little wasabi. The eel was nicely cooked, brushed with teriyaki sauce and a little soy sauce, the touch of bite from the wasabi nicely cutting through the natural richness of the eel (14/20). Miso soup was pleasant, but the elements within the soup were a little soggy so lost their impact. I have had some impressive miso soup in Japan, and the better versions tend to have a more intense stock than this (13/20). 

Chutoro tuna and more Faroe Islands salmon was served as sushi, along with omelette sushi topped with salmon caviar. The rice was served at a good temperature, which was a nice change as so many London restaurants serve sushi with fridge-cold rice. The tuna had very good flavour, accompanied by well-made pickled ginger (14/20). Prawn tempura was nicely cooked, the batter clean and avoiding greasiness, the prawns inside carefully cooked. Tempura in the UK never really compares to the specialist tempura restaurants of Tokyo, which have remarkably light, almost ethereal, ultra-thin batter. This was a good version nonetheless, accompanied by a dipping sauce. The latter is known as tentsuyu, a light savoury broth (14/20). 

Wagyu tartare was served as a very thin layer, topped with an egg yolk and micro leaves. The beef was Kagoshima A4 grade wagyu, which had very good flavour. This was a simple but enjoyable dish, the little salad usefully balancing the richness of the egg yolk and beef (15/20). Steamed spinach with yuzu was an interesting course to follow. This appeared wrapped in greaseproof paper, which you unwrap to reveal a layer of spinach and yuzu, with a single piece of red pepper. This may sound rather uninteresting but was superbly cooked, the acidity of the yuzu enlivening the spinach nicely, and a gentle bite of spice from the pepper (15/20). I also liked the use of this course to give some light relief between the two beef courses. 

The final savoury course was wagyu beef, this time cooked and served with a few root vegetables and a bearnaise style sauce. The beef was carefully cooked and had very good flavour (15/20). Dessert was a simple but enjoyable sphere of dark chocolate sorbet. This was quite rich, but a pleasant way to end the meal (13/20). 

The service, led by manageress Lisa, was charming throughout the evening. The bill came to £149 per person, with beer to drink. If you ordered a la carte then a typical cost per person might be around £90 or so. Yoshino is a very enjoyable experience, with good-quality ingredients that are prepared well, along with a particularly welcoming service experience.

Further reviews: 13th May 2026