Sushi on Jones, King’s Cross 

Last Updated on April 18, 2023

A Fishy Tale

Sushi on Jones first opened in 2016 in Bowery Market as New York’s first outdoor sushi bar. With two more New York branches, at Hell’s Kitchen in Gotham Market and West Village subsequently launching, a London branch of Sushi on Jones opened 3 years ago just pre-Covid.

 Italian sushi chef Mattia has been in charge of the London outpost since day one. He trained under a ‘sushi master’ who worked at some of the top Japanese sushi restaurants in London. Mattia is clearly a talent to be watched with an approach that shows respect both to the tradition and to the integrity of the fish.

The restaurant has 4 sittings with 8 covers per hour and offers a 12 or 20-course ‘Omakase’ (chef’s choice) sushi menu at an affordable price and will soon be moving to bigger at a London Bridge site (10 covers per hour!) near Borough Market. 

The interior is intimate with the restaurant sitting on the first floor of a building that houses several other food outlets. You sit on high stools at a wooden bar, with the chefs preparing the sushi in front of you.  In practice, that means rolling the sushi rice by hand, cutting and placing the particular cut of fish on top of the rice, and then placing any seasoning or dressing on the fish. But first things first…

And if you’re eating sushi then that means sake! We enjoyed the floral notes of our flask of Tamanohikari, Jumai Ginjo, from Kyoto which was an excellent match for our Omakase menu. The Omakase journey is designed to move from the simpler and cleaner flavours of white fish to the more complex, oily, darker-skinned varieties. With that in mind, we started with a delicate and super-fresh slice of Halibut lifted by a hint of lime. 

Next up was sea bass with a gentle wasabi accompaniment.  and then some gorgeous torched sea bream, the flesh was sweetened by the mild char, given a bit of bite by some fresh ginger and served in a kombu seaweed wrap.

A sweet and juicy scallop was given an extra zing by some charcoaled sea salt and the spotted prawn from Canada (a first for me!) was tender and flavoured with lemon.

Soft-fleshed yellowtail came infused with the rich flavour of summer Italian truffle. Pure luxury!

Uni (sea urchin) often has a deep pungent flavour, but wrapped in seaweed and supplied from Iceland this variety is much milder, with a surprising hint of sweetness. 

Freshly pickled every two days in sugar, salt and vinegar, pickled mackerel was tender and gently spiced. Salmon came topped with grated cucumber which cut through the natural oiliness of the fish. 

Akami tuna loin, aged for one week, had a deep rich flavour. 

Both the seared Toro (Sliced tuna belly aged for 2 weeks) and the A5 ribeye cut Wagyu from Miyazaki prefecture were both buttery and melt in the mouth.

And to finish off caviar again in a seaweed wrap was salty and sweet.

Looking for something in a different part of London?  We also love Nobu on Park Lane