Last Updated on January 9, 2026
Junsei London – A Yakitori Restaurant in Marylebone Serving Skewers, Wagyu & Claypot Rice
4.5 out of 5.0 starsJunsei is a small Japanese restaurant in Marylebone, specialising in yakatori. The yakatori grill is long and narrow so that small skewers can rest above the white-hot binchōtan, a high-quality lump charcoal, without burning. The skill of the griller and the quality of the produce combine to provide a most satisfying series of small plates that encompass meat, fish, chicken and vegetables. When I travelled in Tokyo, I visited many izakaya where, after work, (mostly) men drop in for drinks and skewers before heading home. Some izakaya are smoky, hole-in-the-wall establishments; others are more salubrious, but all serve skewers. Translating as ‘grilled bird’, yakatori refers to chicken skewers, and Junsei restaurant in the heart of Marylebone, London serves a wide range of options from chicken thigh through to heart, liver, and gizzards. With Junsei’s zero-waste policy, you might think of it as beak-to-feet dining. Junsei goes in strong with the chicken but also serves Wagyu, vegetables, and seafood on its well-curated menu.
The restaurant has approximately 36 covers and was packed and humming with energy at 7 pm on a Wednesday, continuing to turn tables until it closed. Simple wooden tables were set with attractive stoneware goblets and side plates along with chopsticks. There was jazz on the sound system, and if you book in for a Thursday and Friday night, you can enjoy the live DJ. The restaurant is dimly lit with attractive circular lights, so if you want some light on your food, which I always prefer, ask for a seat at the bar counter. Here I watched as the chef dipped his skewers in marinades, seasoned them deftly, and spent the evening grilling and turning the small sticks. It was mouthwatering to watch.
We ordered more than strictly necessary for two people because everything was so tasty. We will definitely make a return visit. The enticing menu is divided into yakatori (all the chicken skewers), kushiyaki (grilled skewers with pork belly and a range of veg), otsumami (small plates you might find in an izakaya, a Japanese bar that serves food), donabe (dashi simmered claypot rice dishes), and a few sides. You can also order omakase, which means that for £71 the chef selects what you eat as part of a multicourse meal. You can add on a drinks pairing for £62. As is to be expected, there is a good range of sake and wines. Junsei offers authentic Japanese food in London
We worked our way through the menu sections, making sure to order an item or two from each category. From the yakitori menu, we enjoyed the momo – chicken thigh, which had a beautiful lacquer, was as tender as could be, had great seasoning and a deep umami flavour.
We also enjoyed the tsukune – visitors to Japan will no doubt be happy to find these excellent chicken meatballs on the menu – which are served along with a raw egg yolk in a tare sauce, traditionally made with soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar, and sake. The tare sauce is also used to baste the grilled meat. This results in a wonderfully spiced meatball which one dips into the egg and tare. This all combined into a deeply umami, salty, rich protein hit.
Completing the chicken theme was a wickedly good plate of chicken skin crisps. People talk about crisps being food crack, and these are the real deal. Thank goodness – for my health – Junsei does not package these and sell them in shops. They were well flavoured without being salty, not greasy, and they shattered satisfyingly in the mouth. I recently ate a portion of tremendous fish skin crisps in another Japanese restaurant in London. Who knew that such fabulousness could derive from the skin of fish and chicken? Japanese chefs.
Next up was a nikujaga tartare – a Wagyu tartare sitting on a slick of what tasted like a wasabi sauce. The beef , mixed with Wagyu fat, was hand-chopped, well-seasoned, and sprinkled with negi, a Japanese vegetable similar to a spring onion. It was topped with the skinniest potato crisp strips. I have not eaten tartare for years, since suffering a nasty bout of food poisoning from a Parisian restaurant, but I could not resist a Wagyu tartare, and I’m glad I ordered it, as this was excellent.
We ordered an okra skewer to include a vegetable in the meal. Okra is a vegetable that I like, but I am aware that many others might not. I think this is due to its mucilaginous texture when overcooked. I knew that I was in safe hands at Junsei, where the okra was perfectly grilled so that it retained some bite. It benefited from the grill flavour and lovely spicing, brushed with shoyu (soy sauce) and served topped with katsuobushi, dried tuna flakes known as bonito. These add a rich, umami flavour and visual appeal as they wave when presented at the table. I never tire of the simple pleasure of watching bonito flakes dancing on a dish.
At this point in the proceedings, we could have kept ordering more skewers, and there was plenty more to choose from. However, once I had spotted the dashi braised rice dishes, I knew where I was heading. Japanese cuisine excels in rice dishes, and on my travels, I discovered that the traditional multicourse Japanese meal serves the claypot rice dish last. This is partly because it cooks for a good 45 minutes, but it is also so that diners eat the rice last. Wisely, this prevents one from getting too full earlier on in the meal. Although we ordered two rice dishes and had anticipated taking some home, we ate every last grain. These are the pricier dishes on the menu, but they are sized to share.
Crab and lobster zosui is a rice soup that is similar to a wet risotto. Here, the rice had been cooked in a shellfish dashi and was topped with Devon crab, chunks of lobster and an egg yolk. In Japan, serving rice with a raw egg yolk is a popular dish and a lovely example of comfort food. This dish looked utterly splendid, served in a hot stone bowl, the rice generously topped with seafood and a sun-yellow egg yolk in the middle. We were excited to tuck in. The depth of umami flavour and the deep taste of the shellfish dashi, with the sweet layers added by the crustaceans, was a wonderful combination. My only concern was that the dish became too salty as one dug down to the rice level. To Western palates, Japanese broths can be oversalted, and even Japanese friends with whom I have eaten in Japan tend to leave the salty broth behind in the bowl.
Donabe with short rib arrived along with a serving of tableside entertainment. A large, covered earthenware bowl had its lid lifted before us. Through the steam we could see the short rib sat above the rice and a layer of mushrooms. The server poured over some soy sauce from a small white jug. Then she pulled apart the short rib with a spoon and fork. It was that tender. The aroma that rose from the bowl – well, you had to be there. She then dug to the bottom of the bowl – where the best bits of rice are always to be found – and mixed it all. We ate, using attractive, small wooden spoons.
The rice, meat and mushrooms were perfectly seasoned. The rice from the bottom of the bowl had caramelised slightly and added a richness to the umami flavour of the soft and silky Japanese mushrooms. The meat was braised to peak tenderness and was boldly flavoured. The combined textures of meat, mushroom and rice were deeply pleasing.
Junsei restaurant has three desserts on the menu, but all we could face was a shared bowl of sorbet. This citrussy pink sorbet had a good crunchy texture, was a lovely palate cleanser, and a most refreshing end to our meal.
Junsei is the kind of relaxed place where you could happily meet up with friends or go on a date, in which case, book a table at the bar counter. You could pop in for a beer and a couple of skewers or even a cocktail; the list looked impressive. Or you could work your way through the menu, taking your time to savour the range of dishes. At Junsei, you kick back, relax and eat well. I wish it was in my neighbourhood.
Junsei,
132 Seymour Place,
Marylebone
London,
W1H 1NS
T: 0207 7234058
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