Best Japanese eating in London

Who knew buckwheat soba noodles could be elevated to such heights?

Their nutty earthy texture is quite sublime at Yen, where they are handmade – the buckwheat is actually ground freshly – on a twice-daily basis in a bespoke glass space by two Japanese chefs trained in Yamanashi by a certain Mr Takahashi Kunihiro: a man widely acknowledged as the Grand Master of Soba.

Yen is the Pastaio of noodles, and far healthier (gluten-free) too. We like the simple ritual of drinking a little broth, using chopsticks to add condiments to the noodles – spring onion and wasabi – then adding more soup, savouring the noodles with a delicate slurp before finishing the broth. And what's more, soba noodles are best eaten cold for full impact.

Other dishes are superlative too. Whether it is an appetiser of freshly made tofu with a soupy grainy texture in a jewel like blue bowl, or mesmerising marbled otoro tuna belly sashimi that melts with peerless zing.

Yen is appealingly zen. The vast interior including a mezzanine cocktail bar is decorated with minimalist jenga like timbers, exquisite backlit shoji screens with leaf motifs and Ikebana displays that exude serenity.

Price: £120.00 dinner for two with drinks

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