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Londonderry

Europe

United Kingdom

Nestled in the heart of Marylebone, London, Dinings stands as a beacon of high-end Japanese cuisine, offering an intimate and exclusive dining experience. This sophisticated restaurant is renowned for its exquisite sushi and innovative fusion dishes that delight both the palate and the senses. With its discreet exterior, Dinings invites curious diners to discover a culinary gem that perfectly balances traditional Japanese flavors with modern culinary artistry.

Indulge in the renowned Toro Tar Tar Chip and Wagyu Tar Tar Chip, delicately prepared to melt in your mouth with rich flavors and textures. The restaurant's omakase menu offers a curated journey through seasonal sashimi, expertly sliced and presented with artistic finesse, showcasing the freshness and quality of their ingredients. Dinings is also celebrated for its innovative fusion dishes, such as the Black Cod with Chili Garlic, which combines smoky, tender fish with a spicy, aromatic sauce that elevates traditional Japanese flavors.

What is Dinings known for? It is celebrated for its high-quality sushi, innovative fusion dishes, and intimate dining atmosphere. Why visit? To experience expertly crafted Japanese cuisine in a discreet, stylish setting that offers a culinary journey unlike any other in London. What's nearby? Located in Marylebone, it's close to boutique shops, historic sites, and the vibrant West End.

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This is a glamours, high-end Japanese restaurant/sushi place in Marylebone London. I honestly would give it five stars but the price limits it for me. If money was no object, that's fine, but for the price/competition, I think it should stand out a bit more. 

What I did like is the inconspicuous outside that hardly shows it's a restaurant, it's as if, you should know it's there. That reminds me of true Japanese restaurants in Tokyo. This is in a residential street too, with cars that cost more than my home parked out front.  This maybe top for some people, I still recommend it.

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The sushi isn't bad, but for the price they charge and the quality of the competition in the area, it's hard to say they stand out. They're definitely priced more on the quality side than the value side  for sushi. 

Location is a little bit of a walk from London Paddington so it's fairly convenient at least, and better than some of the options closer to Paddington Station.

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We were in London for the weekend and met up with our good friends who luckily had reservations at Dinings.  We have been to Dinings a couple of years before and had a great experience.  We couldn't wait to go again.

Food: To make it easy we went with the omakase.  Our menu was the following:

1) Toro Tar Tar Chip
2) Wagyu Tar Tar Chip 
3) Appetizer 4 Ways (4 tasting spoons per person) 
4) Chargrilled Lamb Cutlets with Sakura Saikyo Spicy Miso Sauce and Seasonal Vegetables
5) Grilled Chili Garlic Black Cod
6) Aubergine "Nasu Miso"
7) Burikama - Salt Grilled Yellowtail Collar
8) Nigiri Special Toro "Shimofuri" with Malden and Black Pepper
9) Nigiri Seared Razor Clam with Yuzu Kosho and Lemon
10) Nigiri Yuzu Garlic Yellowtail with Caviar Sushi
11) Nigiri Japanese Wagyu Beef Sushi with Truffle Salsa
12) Spicy Tuna Roll
13) Double Crab Roll
14) Seabass Carpaccio with Fresh Truffle
15) Mixed Berries with Green Tea Cream Cheese and Apricot Yuzu Sorbet
16) Yuzu Posset with Shortbread and Raspberries
*Everything was DELICIOUS and full of flavor!!

Drinks: We ordered one bottle of sake, two glasses of white wine and three beers.

Price: It's not cheap.  For the four of us we paid £606.21.  In hindsight we shouldn't have ordered the extra 8 pieces of the Special Toro Shimofuri nigiri because they added an extra £71.80 to the bill - yikes - but they are so good.

Service: Excellent service.  We had an Italian woman who was very helpful, professional and friendly.

Ambiance: It's a very very small restaurant with a small sushi bar upstairs and about 20 seats downstairs, so there's no real ambiance per se, but you go for the food.  

Other: My only "complaint" I have is that, as expensive as this restaurant is (and me being Asian), they should really invest in nice chopsticks.  They have the crappy cheap disposable chopsticks you get when you order take away, which have splinters when you break them apart.  I really feel this is unacceptable, especially because 1) there are not that many seats in the restaurant itself so they can definitely afford nice chopsticks and 2) having nice cutlery is part of the whole dining experience.

Would I go back? Absolutely, but with my own chopsticks :) We have tried many of the high end Japanese restaurants in London and feel that Dinings is definitely one of the best.  It's not a place where you can go all the time since it's very expensive, but it's definitely a place to celebrate a special occasion.

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I had one night in London and I wanted to find a nice place to eat. Most of my friends suggested Indian or Chinese restaurants but being a sushi fanatic I decided to find the best sushi spot around. My first choice happened to be closed, so I decided to visit Dinings. 

I was able to make a reservation a few days out and they asked if I'd be willing to sit at the sushi bar (of course). I walked into the restaurant and it was just a tiny room with a sushi bar - I assume the larger restaurant is downstairs but I didn't see it. 

The food was really excellent. I tried a number of recommended dishes and finished with a solid assortment of nigiri. The fish quality was excellent but the rice was a little basic. Better than most sushi places but not near the top restaurants in NYC and elsewhere.  The service was a little odd - I'm not sure if that's just London or this particular restaurant. The chef behind the bar was busy but very friendly. My waitress was slightly pushy - constantly urging me to try various things and seemingly judging me for not ordering everything she recommended. I read other reviews saying my similar things. 

Overall the experience was great and I highly recommend Dinings for anyone visiting London and wanting great Japanese inspired food and sushi.

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Fantastic quality and nice unique fusion approach.  Sushi that melts in your mouth.  The wagyu beef tapas was perfect.  Amazing job of getting the sauces to perfectly match.

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I booked in advance, but my late planning meant we had an early start at opening (6:30pm). First impressions were good, but in short, this place is not all its cracked up to be. While the food was good, portions were tiny, prices were high, and staff had a bit too much attitude, I don't mind smiles, but most were grinning like a cheshire cat throughout the night despite some really poor service.

To start off, the cheapest two bottles of Sauvingon Blanc Wine on the menu were 'unavailable', so we settle for nearest alternative - the Mansion Bay House at £38.20. However later when they ran out of the Mansion Bay, we are informed that actually they have some of the cheaper stuff available by the glass (might have been nice to know at the start of our meal.)

Our tiny Kelp Salad at almost six pounds was less than a mouthful, the Sea Bass sashimi at £6.95 was two tiny pieces. We enjoyed our Kizami Salmon Roll, Cornish Spider Crab Avocado rolls, Edamame and some 'late but lovely' Nasu miso Aubergine. However the dishes took forever to arrive. 

When we called the waiter over to ask for another drink, the waiter assuming we are inquiring about the late food snaps back at us 'It's coming, the food is coming'. 

Fed up with the tiny sushi plates, we decide to splurge and order the pan Fried Whole Lobster at £47.60, after a bottle of wine, and a sudden turn in our spending power, the waiters suddenly seem more attentive, offering us more drinks. We end with a dessert of Yuzu Shochu Pannacotta - not great.

Finally to add insult to injury the bill arrives and they've doubled up all the dishes we've ordered, to the less attentive diner one might assume this was a natural charge as there were two of us and perhaps many of the cash rich diners here may not question this, but this seemed to me like a sly trick. 

I scroll down the menu, and an extra appetizer and three extra main courses have been added to our bill, with the doubling up of all the sushi, the bill is over £100 dearer than it should be. 

Strangely as soon as I call the waiter over, holding the bill up - and without even having to explain, he announces there is a problem with our bill, again with his Cheshire Grin. I find this strange that he knew this before we said anything. 

The whole experience left a bad taste in our mouths, and I wouldn't be surprised if this happens 'by mistake on purpose' to quite a few 'merry' diners. Aside from the mains we didn't order, there was no reason the dishes we did have should have tallied twice. After all this, they even left the service on!

Unlikely to return...

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Make your reservation for Dinings now! This small, Japanese restaurant in Marylebone can be completely booked even a week in advance if not more. We tried our luck with the waitlist, and I was so happy to hear there was an open table during the first seating! 

The menu at Dinings changes, so your favourites may not be available at the next visit. However, this could just be an excuse to try everything now!

My recommendations:
- Toro fatty tuna w/ wasabi
- Tempura zucchini flowers
- Grilled chili garlic black cod
- Tempura strawberries w/ balsamic ice cream

The grilled chili garlic black cod is amazing, and hands-down my favourite dish from that night. The meat easily flakes off the skin, and the light chili sauce complements the fish perfectly. 

The special open sushi roll "Capricciosa" is also a really fun dish. You don't really know what you'll be getting as the chef selects the fish to top your rolls. Each one is different and some were pretty extravagantly decked out. 

You really can't go wrong with Dinings. The service is great, the sashimi is so fresh, and the combination of flavours are amazing. Make sure to check out their hand-written specials menu too!

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We went for omakase tasting menu and really enjoyed it all - apart from maybe black cod with miso. The reviews here say that it's a hit, but for me it was rather a miss. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't 'amazing!' either. Shame they didn't have the sea urchin either.

The highlight was the aubergine miso - not sure how Japanese that is, but it was delicious nevertheless.

I recommend bar seating if it's just the two of you, you get to see the chefs prepping your food and personally, I always enjoyed that. The place overall is tiny, which reminded me a lot of the restaurants in Japan, but not the fine dining types though... just the hidden good ones.

Service was very thoughtful & attentive, however I didn't like the waitress asking twice if we wanted dessert and when politely rejected acted all surprised. Perhaps the desserts there were amazing and we totally missed out. Yet, we left feeling full & happy.

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this should have been a 5 star review.
read on to find out why it is not!

nonetheless, dinings is still the best japanese restaurant in london till date.

the main entrance leads you into the sushi bar.
and the main dining area with table seating is in the basement.

the toilets though cramped, are very clean and modern looking.

service is attentive and friendly.

menu is extensive and well worth reading.:)

we settled for the gen mai tea which is green tea leaves with roasted brown rice.

to start we were served standard miso soup.
clear and not overpowering miso flavour but the pieces of tofu in the hot soup was cold!!! 
we made our objection known to the waitress who immediately apologised for it.

next our king crab tempura with spicy taramo sauce.
the meat of the king crab is wrapped in shiso leaf and seaweed then the package is tempura fried.
the meat though sweet was not distinctive.
the spicy light fish roe sauce did lift the taste slightly.

the char grilled iberian pork is to die for!
however, it's not quite in the mould of traditional japanese cuisine.
it was very tapas like.
but very well done.
maybe slightly heavy handed with the salt but the taste of the yuzu and lemon balanced it off somewhat.
the pork was heavenly, nicely charred but tender.

we also shared the sushi roll and chirashi.
the chirashi came with a choice of sashimi salad or mixed tempura on the side.
what impressed me most about the chirashi was the saba.
it was very fresh and not overly vinegared!
you get tuna, saba, salmon, scallops, ikura, tamago, ebi and snapper on top of a bed of sushi rice.
not premium cuts but at 15 quid, you cannot really complain.

the 15 piece sushi roll set was made up of mainly reverse rolls.
the vegetarian one that was wrapped in daikon on the outside was refreshing indeed. more like a vietnamese summer roll.
and we dipped it with the special dinings sauce that was meant for the side salad.
it worked amazingly together!
something about the sauce just taste so good.

but just as i was about to polish off the last of the reversed salmon roll i bit into something that should not be there!
a 1 cm long bone from the salmon was embedded in the sushi roll!
no real damage was done to me physically but this was a real thorn in an otherwise memorable meal!
we rightfully complained to the waitress about it and she swears that this is the first time something like that has happened.
thus, this is the main reason why i cannot give them 5 stars! sigh.

we decided to finish our meal with the yuzu and champagne sorbet.
and that did not disappoint at all.
very citrus and alcohol laden!
a very good palate cleanser indeed.

in the end, the waitress waived her service charge.
which though a nice act on her part is not the right thing to do in our opinion.
i.e. there was nothing wrong with her service but clearly the fault of the sushi chef and kitchen staff.

as long as they can fix what i believe to be minor imperfections, they will win that fifth star in no time.

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Well, I think it's the best tapas Japanese restaurant. But it's a solid four stars for just Japanese fare.

Two people and £220 lighter and a little bit heavier in our bellies we left this place pretty satisfied.

Memorable items:
- Caramelized Aubergine (eggplant)
- Wagyu beef tataki
- soft shell crab roll ( my sister Laura S. Loved it!)
- Seabass carpaccio with fresh truffles 
- maguro tartar 

We ended up ordering 12 or 14 small courses, as my rule of thumb is always go for omakase.

Dinings London: Luxury Japanese Restaurant & Sushi in Marylebone

Experience the finest Japanese cuisine in the heart of London

Discover an authentic Japanese dining experience

Indulge in exquisite dining at Dinings in London. Savor innovative Japanese cuisine in an elegant setting. Book now for a memorable culinary experience.

Dinings London: Luxury Japanese Restaurant & Sushi in Marylebone

Bill's

Paul

Quizonos