Despite the recent wave of formal, high-end Japanese restaurants opening in London – including the 16-seat omakase restaurant Taku in Mayfair, which was just awarded a Michelin star – there’s nothing quite like returning to your go-to Japanese place for sushi or noodles in much-less-precious surroundings. For me that’s Koya in the City at the weekend, when that part of town is deserted; ordering kakuni (braised pork belly with cider) with vegetable tempura udon and genmaicha is my kind of reset.
For guest editor Kate Moss, her cherished spot is to be found “hidden in plain sight” in leafy NW3. “You would be forgiven for missing the entrance to Jin Kichi, just off Hampstead High Street, but that’s what I love about it,” she says. “[My daughter] Lila and I love nothing more than tucking up next to each other downstairs and ordering our favourites. I have never had a bad meal. The food is so fresh and the service quick and non-intrusive. It’s always busy no matter the time of day. It’s a little slice of Tokyo in north London.”
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