The best izakaya in London for a proper Japanese pub night are HIMI on Newburgh Street in Soho and Wild Izakaya on Old Jewry in the City, with the Kanpai taproom near London Bridge pouring sake brewed on the premises. Expect to pay £5 to £8 for edamame and £6 to £13 for fried chicken, plus a service charge of 13.5% to 15% at most of them.
This guide covers eight London izakaya we checked on each venue’s own website or menu on 1 November 2026, with addresses, the nearest Tube station and what to order. A price table lets you compare them at a glance, and a short section explains how an izakaya meal works, from the otoshi table charge to nomihodai.
What an izakaya is, in 60 seconds
An izakaya (居酒屋) is a Japanese pub where the food is made to go with drinks. A table orders small plates a few at a time, starting with quick dishes such as edamame, moving on to grilled skewers, fried chicken and sashimi, and finishing with rice or noodles. In Japan, a small dish you did not order often arrives first: the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s restaurant guide explains that this otōshi is part of the table charge.
London Izakaya Prices and How to Order
How an Izakaya Meal Works: Small Plates, Otoshi and Nomihodai
An izakaya menu is built for sharing. HIMI says on its own site that its food is served izakaya style, designed for sharing with your table, and most London menus follow the same running order. HIMI’s opens with toriaezu, a Japanese word meaning “for now”, for the quick starters that arrive with the first drinks. Wild Izakaya’s runs from appetisers through nigiri and skewers to rice dishes. Order two or three plates, then add more as the evening goes on.
Otoshi: the table charge dish
In many izakaya in Japan, a small dish appears as soon as you sit down. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s guide to izakaya culture calls it otōshi, explains that you receive it as part of the table charge, and says each izakaya sets its own dish and price. None of the London menus we read lists an otoshi or a table charge.
Nomihodai: all you can drink, against the clock
Nomihodai means all you can drink. The same Tokyo guide says you pay a fixed price to drink as much as you like from the plan within a time limit, that last orders usually fall about 30 minutes before the end, and that you normally finish one drink before ordering the next. It is rare in London. The closest thing we found is Yamatora’s weekend bottomless sushi brunch, which its booking page says can be paired with 90 minutes of free-flowing prosecco, house wine or beer.
Service charges in London
London izakaya add a discretionary service charge instead: 15% at HIMI, Wild Izakaya and Zuma, and 13.5% at Mitsu. At the Kanpai taproom you order food and drink at the bar.
London Izakaya Prices Compared, November 2026
Edamame and fried chicken appear on almost every izakaya menu, so they make a fair comparison. Prices are from each venue’s own menu, read on 1 November 2026. Where a venue does not publish prices online, the table says so.
| Izakaya | Address | Nearest Tube | Edamame | Fried chicken | Smallest sake serve | Service charge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HIMI | 4 Newburgh Street, W1F 7RF | Oxford Circus | £5 (kogashi edamame) | £6 (torikara, 2 pieces) | £8 (Chiebijin Junmai, 60ml) | 15% |
| Wild Izakaya | 33 Old Jewry, EC2V 8EY | Bank | £5 | £11 (WFC karaage, jidori chicken) | On the drinks list | 15% |
| Mitsu | 10 to 50 Willow Street, EC2A 4BH | Old Street | £6 | £13 (chicken karaage) | £6 (sake serve, size not stated) | 13.5% |
| Kanpai Taproom | 48 Druid Street, SE1 2EZ | London Bridge | Not on the menu | £8.70 (chicken karaage) | £7 (KANPAI sake, 75ml) | Order at the bar |
| Zuma | 5 Raphael Street, SW7 1DL | Knightsbridge | £8 | £9 (chicken wings from the robata) | On the drinks list | 15% |
| Oita Soho | 47 Gerrard Street, W1D 5QJ | Leicester Square | Not published | Signature dish, price not published | Not published | Not published |
| Yamatora | 120 Finchley Road, NW3 5HT | Finchley Road | On the menu, price not published | Tori karaage on the menu, price not published | Not published | Not published |
| Jin Kichi | 73 Heath Street, NW3 6UG | Hampstead | No menu online | No menu online | No menu online | Not published |
Map of HIMI
Eight Izakaya in London, From Soho to Hampstead
HIMI, Newburgh Street, Soho
HIMI is the husband and wife chefs Tamas and Tomoko’s homage to the drinking and dining dens of Tokyo and Osaka, opened in early 2025 by the team behind Roji. The MICHELIN Guide lists it and singles out the crispy fried chicken and the robata-grilled red shrimp with squid ink. On HIMI’s sample menu the torikara, two kinds of fried chicken with kombu mayonnaise and sansho pepper, is £6 for two pieces, and the shrimp, ebichili, is £19. The drinks list, put together by sake and wine sommelier Yuta Fujii, includes sake imported directly from Kimijimaya in Yokohama. HIMI opens for lunch and dinner Tuesday to Saturday, takes card details to hold a booking, and keeps four stools at the window. Book on HIMI’s website.
Address: 4 Newburgh Street, London W1F 7RF. Nearest Tube: Oxford Circus.
Oita Soho, Gerrard Street
Oita is named after the Japanese prefecture it calls the home of karaage, and its restaurant on Gerrard Street describes itself as an izakaya with a Western twist, pairing Japanese food with cocktails. Karaage is the signature dish: Oita says its chicken comes from a local farm and is fried in premium oil. A second branch trades at 13 to 27 Station Road in Wood Green. Oita does not publish prices on its website, so ask when you book through Oita’s site.
Address: 47 Gerrard Street, London W1D 5QJ. Nearest Tube: Leicester Square.
Wild Izakaya, Old Jewry, City of London
Wild Izakaya opened opposite the Goodman steakhouse on Old Jewry on 9 February 2026, run by the same group, with executive chef Satoru Hashimoto, formerly head chef at Koyn. Its menu leans towards sushi, with nigiri from £4 a piece, and the izakaya side shows in the skewers: negima of chicken and spring onion at £8 and tsukune chicken meatballs with egg at £12. The WFC karaage, fried jidori chicken, is £11. The kitchen serves lunch from noon to 2.30pm and dinner from 5pm to 9.30pm, and the bar stays open from noon to 11pm. For more counters, see our guide to the best sushi in London, and book on Wild Izakaya’s website.
Address: 33 Old Jewry, London EC2V 8EY. Nearest Tube: Bank.
Mitsu, Willow Street, Shoreditch
Mitsu took over the Nobu Shoreditch space in the Aethos London Shoreditch hotel in spring 2026 and models itself on the neighbourhood izakaya of East Tokyo, with live DJ sets and a robata grill at the centre of the menu. Snacks start at £6, with spicy or salted edamame and kinpira burdock, skewers include tsukune at £12, and kamameshi rice pots cooked in dashi start at £28 for wild mushroom. Signature set menus run from £85 to £150 a head. Mitsu opens from noon to midnight Sunday to Wednesday and until 1am Thursday to Saturday. See Mitsu’s page on the Aethos website for bookings.
Address: 10 to 50 Willow Street, London EC2A 4BH. Nearest Tube: Old Street.
Kanpai Taproom, Druid Street, London Bridge
KANPAI has brewed sake in London since 2016 and calls itself the UK’s first sake brewery. It has moved from Peckham to Druid Street, under ten minutes’ walk from London Bridge station, where the taproom pours its sake from 10 taps inside the brewery. KANPAI Kitchen, run by Onigiri Kome, serves what the brewery calls izakaya-inspired comfort food built around rice: chicken karaage at £8.70, onigiri from £5.50 and grilled yaki onigiri from £5. Most tables are kept for walk-ins, and groups of up to nine can book. It opens Wednesday and Thursday 5pm to 10pm, Friday 5pm to 10.30pm, Saturday noon to 10.30pm and Sunday noon to 7pm, with a midweek happy hour from 5pm to 7pm. Details are on KANPAI’s taproom page.
Address: 48 Druid Street, London SE1 2EZ. Nearest Tube: London Bridge.
Zuma, Raphael Street, Knightsbridge
Zuma’s original restaurant has been in Knightsbridge for two decades, and Zuma says its menu was inspired by its founder’s years of eating and drinking in Tokyo izakaya after work. This is the izakaya idea at the top of the price range. On Zuma’s sample menu, edamame with sea salt is £8, chicken skewers with baby leeks (tori negima yaki) are £11 and robata chicken wings with sake, sea salt and lime are £9. The bar serves drinks all day and welcomes walk-ins. Menus are on Zuma’s London page.
Address: 5 Raphael Street, London SW7 1DL. Nearest Tube: Knightsbridge.
Yamatora, Finchley Road
Yamatora sits opposite Finchley Road station and calls itself a sushi and yakitori bar. It says about 90% of its ingredients come from Japan, and its robata skewers include ox tongue and minced chicken with egg yolk. In winter its garden terrace is covered and heated, and the private dining room hides a karaoke set. It opens from noon to 3pm and 5pm to 11pm on weekdays and from noon to 11pm at weekends. See Yamatora’s website for the menu.
Address: 120 Finchley Road, London NW3 5HT. Nearest Tube: Finchley Road.
Jin Kichi, Heath Street, Hampstead
Jin Kichi is a small Japanese restaurant on Heath Street whose menu covers yakitori skewers and sushi as well as rice dishes and noodles. It is one of the picks in our guide to the best Japanese restaurants in London. It opens Tuesday to Sunday for lunch, 12.30pm to 2.30pm, and dinner, 6pm to 10.20pm, and is closed on Mondays. Jin Kichi does not publish its menu online, so book ahead on Jin Kichi’s website and ask about the day’s skewers.
Address: 73 Heath Street, London NW3 6UG. Nearest Tube: Hampstead.
Two names you may see on other lists are left out on purpose. Humble Chicken in Soho holds two MICHELIN stars, and the MICHELIN Guide still describes it as a modern izakaya, but it now serves a single set omakase menu at £250 paid in advance. Shackfuyu on Old Compton Street closed in early 2026 and became a Bone Daddies ramen bar.
Sake by the Glass and Japanese Beer at London Izakaya
Small serves make sake easy to explore. HIMI lists each sake by the 60ml glass, the 125ml carafe, the 180ml tokkuri and the bottle, so a table can try several. KANPAI pours its own sake in 75ml glasses, from the dry, nutty SORA Honjozo at £7 to the TORI Junmai Daiginjo at £12, alongside guest sakes from Japan such as Kikumasamune Futsushu Nama from Hyōgo at £6.50. When a list names the prefecture each sake comes from, our guide to sake regionality explains how place shapes the taste.
Beer is the other izakaya opener. HIMI pours Siren’s Pastel Pils at £7 for two thirds of a pint, and KANPAI keeps a collaboration beer of its own on tap next to Japanese lagers. If you finish the night wanting noodles, our list of the best ramen in London has bowls in Soho and the City.
Izakaya in London: Questions and Answers
An izakaya (居酒屋) is a Japanese pub that serves small plates made to go with drinks. Tables order a few dishes at a time and share them, usually starting with edamame or pickles, then skewers, fried chicken and sashimi, and finishing with rice or noodles. In London, HIMI in Soho and Wild Izakaya in the City follow this format, alongside sake, beer and cocktails.
Otoshi is a small dish served when you sit down at many izakaya in Japan, which you have not ordered. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s guide to izakaya culture explains that it comes as part of the table charge, and that each izakaya sets its own dish and price. None of the London izakaya menus we read in November 2026 lists an otoshi charge.
Nomihodai means all you can drink. You pay a fixed price and drink as much as you like from a set list within a time limit, with last orders usually about 30 minutes before the end, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s izakaya guide. It is uncommon in London; Yamatora on Finchley Road offers 90 minutes of free-flowing drinks with its weekend sushi brunch.
On menus checked on 1 November 2026, edamame cost £5 at HIMI and Wild Izakaya, £6 at Mitsu and £8 at Zuma. Fried chicken ran from £6 for two pieces of torikara at HIMI to £13 at Mitsu, with KANPAI’s karaage at £8.70. HIMI’s sake starts at £8 for a 60ml glass and KANPAI’s at £7 for 75ml. Most add a service charge of 13.5% to 15% on top.
For dinner at the smaller Soho izakaya, yes. HIMI takes card details to hold a booking and charges £50 a head for cancellations with less than 48 hours’ notice, though it also takes walk-ins when there is space. The KANPAI taproom keeps most tables for walk-ins and takes bookings for up to nine, and Zuma’s bar welcomes walk-ins all day.
Start with something quick, such as edamame, and a first drink, then add skewers from the grill and karaage fried chicken. Good London examples are HIMI’s torikara with kombu mayonnaise at £6, Wild Izakaya’s tsukune chicken meatballs with egg at £12 and KANPAI’s grilled yaki onigiri from £5. Finish with a rice dish, such as Mitsu’s kamameshi, or noodles.
