Hi all,

Anyone have any sushi restaurants they can recommend in London? After living without sushi for a while I am desperate for a good meal out when we're there at the end of the month. We'll be wearing jeans and sweaters all week though, so nothing too fancy please!

Thanks in advance
PittPurple

You can try yo! sushi...it is certainly not gourmet but it is a typical conveyor operation but most of their branches will make other dishes for you besides that which is on the conveyor...they have a few branches (there's even one open now right across the street from St. Paul) but of cuorse as they have expanded both the novelty and the quality of the offerings has suffered; how much is a matter of dispute in some of the restaurant reviews...also you can check their web site (I think it's yo sush.com but don't hold me to it) where they often have discount coupones of some sort...

A similar operation is called kulu kulu somewhat cheaper but not with the same variety of non conveyor items but the food there is good and it is frequented by some Japanese which leads one to believe it is okay...as I said cheaper than yo and there are 3 branches...one is block from Convent Garden tube station another is opposite what used to be the Regent Palace Hotel near Picadilly Circus (not sure where the third one is)..

There is also a sort of "gourmet" conveyor restaurant called I believe Ikyu...it is located above Shaftsbury Avenue on the same street where the Queens (les Miz) is playing...walk up from the theatre and on the right side you will pass on the left side of the street Satsuma (a better IMHO version of Wagamama) and another block up, you'll find the restaurant on the left side. Haven't eaten there myself, a little bit more expensive than yo! but has gotten fairly good reviews.

None of these places will give a flying whatever if you come in with tourist dress uniform of t shirt, blue jeans and sneakers (I do it all the time and may even be overdressed!)

Two we really like:

Kiku Restaurant in Mayfair on Half Moon Street. A restaurant owned and operated by a Japanese family who also also own a ryokan in a hot springs town in some part of Japan I've never heard of (the ryokan is run by their relatives). Nice staff, very fresh sushi, good lunch specials. The decor is blond wood and white walls and...that's about it. At lunchtime, it's filled with staff from the nearby Japanese embassy, which I take as a good sign.
www.kikurestaurant.co.uk Reservations not a bad idea, but not always necessary. Jeans and sweaters are fine.

The other is Zuma, a very upscale Japanese restaurant in Knightsbridge, more or less across the street from Harrod's. Very popular. Very good sushi, huge sake selection, buzzing bar. Jeans and sweaters ok for dinner if they're the "right" kind of jeans and sweaters...this place draws a fashionable crowd with a fair sprinkling of celebrities. Can be quite expensive but they offer good lunch specials. Reservations highly advised.

Overall, you'd probably be happiest at Kiku. Close to the Green Park tube stop. We've been there many times for lunch and dinner and have never been disappointed (and we are fairly snobbish about Japanese food, after all those years in the Pacific NW where good sushi is commonplace).

Sushi at Yo! is not an authentic stuff. Very far from it, and not a good value. Rather inferior fish and rice is not properly cooked nor seasoned. Too salty miso soup.

For conveyer-belt budget stuff, I'd rather go to Moshi Moshi next to Liverpool St station. For better quality and more proper restaurant feel, I would recommend Chisou near Oxford Circus just off Regent St. You see Japanese people there--a sign of properly done sushi.

For real and low budget sushi/ Japanese food (aboout 10-15 pounds per person), perhaps you might like to try Toku restaurant at The Japan Centre by Piccadilly Circle, (www.toku-restaurant.co.uk), I eat twice a day over there quite often whenever in London (about 4-5 times yearly). The food store at the basement has very good take away sushi and bento also, I usually pick up some lunch before taking Piccadilly Line (1 minute walk to tube) to Heathrow.

Please don't go to the chain sushi places, it makes someone spending 3-4 weeks in Japan yearly shudder.

Thanks all!
I've actually never seen the conveyer belt sushi - my husband went to a place like that at Heathrow once. I'm allergic to shellfish and would never eat sushi that I wasn't exactly sure what it was - sorry, should have said that first! I forget that there is a conveyer belt option.

Super budget isn't necessary - we just don't have the clothes to go somewhere really fancy. Thanks so much for the recommendations! I'll print this and bring it with us.