Last Updated on October 21, 2025
3.7 out of 5.0 starsJapanese BBQ in Central London
High Yaki is a Japanese BBQ restaurant in London’s Chinatown that serves a wide range of meats, seafood, and vegetables to grill, as well as sukiyaki, donburi, sushi, sashimi, and tacos. It is the sort of place that you might find in Tokyo or Osaka, filled with young people grilling their dinner on a small BBQ set into their table.
High Yaki is a good-looking restaurant. While the BBQ tables are simply designed, the long counter behind which the sushi chefs work has a floor-to-ceiling display of sake bottles on back-lit gold shelves as a backdrop. The lighting has also been creatively designed, with blue lights that snake across the restaurant.
High Yaki aims to provide good quality Japanese food at reasonable prices, and certainly, if you bring a group of friends, you could order a large BBQ known as Beef 12 Kinds, along with some sushi sides and have a fine time, dividing the cost between you. We were only two diners, and spent roughly £120 (without service) on one sushi roll, a donburi dish to share, some seafood and a Wagyu steak roll to BBQ and matcha ice cream to finish. We did not partake in the 14 sakes, wine, or soju (a Japanese spirit) on the menu, but instead, we had grape juice and an oolong tea.
The long menu was available on an iPad, and we were given a couple of laminated menus. Being of an older generation, it was not clear to us that we had to place the order on the iPad, and a miscommunication with the server meant that we sat for almost 40 minutes before being asked if we had ordered. After this was clarified, service was brisk. If you try High Yaki, you might want to confirm the ordering process with the server when seated.
We began with an aburi A5 Wagyu tempura shrimp roll. Aburi means that the sushi topping has been flame-seared, which lightly caramelises whatever is placed on top, in this case, a small square of Wagyu. Enclosed in the rice were slices of tempura shrimp. The roll was cut into eight slices, the tempura was crispy, and the Wagyu was meltingly tender and topped with a mustardy sauce and thinly sliced spring onion. It was attractively served with two sauces – one of chilli and the other a sweet, soy glaze.
I was pleased to find a section of donburi on the menu at High Yaki as rice bowls are one of my favourite Japanese dishes. Our donburi was a very rich dish, which we could have anticipated since the rice was topped with Wagyu, foie gras and eel. It was served in an attractive bowl with two small bowls containing a seaweed salad and a spicy mushroom salad. The eel was tender and well sauced, the foie gras was tasty, and the Wagyu was very tender. The emerald green, fresh seaweed salad was delicious and cut through the richness of the donburi topping. The mushroom salad contained an assortment of tiny mushrooms with medium chilli heat.
We were less impressed with the BBQ experience. Towards the end of our meal, two young men took the next table and ordered the Beef 12 Kinds BBQ. This wooden, crescent-shaped, stepped serving tray holds 12 small dishes of meat and chicken, all to be BBQed. It certainly looked appetising.
I was concerned that the Beef 12 Kinds would be too much for two people, so we ordered a seafood platter and a Wagyu steak roll. The seafood platter had three scallops, three prawns, two baby squid, and tentacles. Perhaps the server had the measure of us by this stage and took control of our meal by grilling everything for us. This instead took the DIY element out of the experience. I noticed other tables cooking for themselves. The grill itself is an electric element set into the table. Water was poured over it and sat in the base of the grill, presumably to create steam. Unfortunately, the seafood was devoid of taste, and the flavour derived from a dish of three sauces that we ordered along with a bowl of spicy condiment. Do make sure that you order the sauces along with the BBQ.
The meat had a better flavour, having been marinated. There were two rolls of steak. The first was chewy but had the pleasant fattiness from the marbling that Wagyu boasts. The second roll was also chewy, but a layer of fat on the meat created an unpleasant mouthfeel.
We ended the meal with a matcha ice cream, a welcome palate cleanser. The ice cream had a good matcha flavour and was refreshing.
We visited High Yaki midweek, and I imagine it might be full on a weekend night and pump out good vibes with a young clientele. There are a wide selection of dishes across a range of prices. From my experience, the sushi and donburi dishes were more enjoyable than the BBQ. However, if I visit again, I will take a couple extra people, order the Beef 12 Kinds and a few extra sushi rolls and see how that plays out.
High Yaki,
10 Newport Place,
Soho
London
WC2H 7PR
T: 07707988888
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