Ukai

We stayed for dinner as we were meeting friends for drinks afterwards.
It was fine. Nice enough. I wouldn’t write home about anything apart from what a monumental rip off it seemed to be. The £21 platter had about as much on it as a £6 take out from Wasabi. (In fact leaving here left me craving Wasabi to the point that I’m now having it for lunch. Right this second. Heretic. Go figure)
The décor was ok, the service was over friendly but somehow still poor. Smiling and chatting while taking orders is fine but in an almost empty restaurant, having to wait upwards of 15 minutes for them to come clear the table, get the bill… we were piling up our plates in the middle of the table to hint that we were finished. We ended up having to wait at the counter. The guy produced the bill, I handed him my card and then another waiter said something to him and he started making a cocktail. Seriously. Like that couldn’t wait the 40 seconds it would take to just finish the task he was in the middle of.
The quality of the fish is pretty good… mind you on my walk over I did notice a fishmonger selling sashimi fish. It’s like one street over. So I don’t know if that kudos is due over there rather than here. Selection is unremarkable. Usual salmon/​tuna heavy fare. Not very imaginative.
I hate to sound mean but it just felt really underwhelming. I certainly won’t be rushing back.

A chic and calm refuge from the hustle of portobella road! And a great place for fantastic tasting, beautifully presented sushi and delightful cocktails. Whilst many minimalist sushi bars exhude an air of pretentiousness and feel tacky, this darkly painted restaurant with square seats and tables and strategically placed orchids, feels homely and warm. Meals cost towards the high end of being reasonably priced, but are worth every penny. I would definitely recommend the miso soup and sashmi. Whilst my apple and lychee cocktail was very tasty, the lychee was hidden by the overpowering apple. I would also recommend visiting this restaurant to try the asahi dark, I have never seen this variety before, but for asahi lovers this is a must try! These guys offer 5% off online orders, so also a great alternative to unhealthy take-​away.

My favourite Japanese restaurant in London. The miso soups are delicious and perfect for a cold night. The crispy duck futomaki is heavenly. Best of all they will make your sushi with brown rice if you ask for it.
Ukai is my delivery staple when I don’t feel like cooking. Delivery time is usually within 30 – 45 minutes. The only downside is the £15 minimum for delivery orders, but I usually order something to have for lunch the next day or one of the teas.

I went in around 7pm on a Friday and I was the lone diner. By the time I left at 745pm there was still no one else eating in the restaurant. I tried the seafood udon and the spicy tuna rolls. The seafood udon comes with some seaweed, shrimp, octopus, and imitation crab. Flavor is miso based so it was light and not too salty. The spicy tuna rolls were fresh and spicy and a good compliment to the mild flavors of the soup.
Ambiance is very relaxed trendy. They have some cool patterned lamp shades too. Service was quick and friendly as I would expect being the lone wolf here.

I was surprised by a torrential downpour in Notting Hill (yes, after having lived in the UK for almost 6 years I am still ‘surprised’by rain and never carry an umbrella) and fled into the next restaurant on my way, which happened to be Ukai Sushi. Being soaked might have been the better option in the end. As I was wet and frozen, I went for warming Vegetable Udon Soup (6.95) with some Edamame Beans (4.50) on the side. The Udon Soup was the blandest dish I have possibly ever eaten. It basically consisted of doughy tasteless things only marginally resembling my beloved udon noodles swimming in something that looked like washing up water and tasted like ehmm. water. The tofu tasted of absolutely nothing and so did the broccoli. It was the first time I had cherry tomatoes in my udon noodle soup and let me assure you it doesn’t work. I won’t forgive them what they did to the edamame beans. Overcooking them is one thing, not seasoning them another but immersing them in some brownish coloured, luke-​warm, watery sauce? Who would have thought that you can do so many things wrong when preparing edamame beans? The service was very friendly, and the tip was not included into the bill. This was about the only positive thing to say about Ukai. By the way, you might want to take a flash light with you, as the light in the toilet doesn’t work. Believe me, I was happy to be back in the rain after this little interlude

Went here for dinner on Friday, 7pm, was seated quickly. The place seemed to fill up towards 9pm.
The selection of fish was good. Seabass was the fish of the day and I had it as sashimi — lovely presentation and delicious fish. Salmon was shipped from Scotland that morning and indeed was fantastic — as sushi and sashimi. I also tried another fish, can’t recall the name (it was listed «if available» on the menu), and thoroughly enjoyed the sushi as well.
The tuna «special» (seared tuna), very nice flavours and good fish. I recommend trying it, alone or in a group (it comes in 5 pieces).
The oysters were OK — good oysters, but came with a little bit of soy inside the shell, I’m not convinced that’s a good idea. That said its not the month for oysters anyway.
As everyone commented, the teas are great — I had the raspberry/​lychee (Asian Rose I think it’s called). Very refreshing, and terrific flavours.
Atmosphere is great for meeting friends or for a date — not loud, intimate, comfortable lighting and right-​sized tables so that it’s easy to have a conversation.
I’ll be back!

Really impressed with the variety of sushi here. The fish is fresh and the atmosphere is really nice. The service can be a little slow when it’s super busy, but the waiters/​waitresses are really friendly. I always go for the plum wine and their teas are really lovely as well!

Generally good food but, the salmon always seems to be slightly luke-​warm and taste a bit odd to me (it’s fresh but, somehow not very nice). Atmosphere and interior are good.

I came here on a date with two of my girlfriends and we had a lovely time.
Tasty teas (my flatmate ordered the strawberry & basil one, though the honey and melon one sounded delicious) and really good quality sashimi. Their seaweed salads are really nice, made of REAL seaweed, not the artificially flavored neon green stuff. I ordered the seafood udon which was super flavorful — I appreciate the way they definitely didn’t skimp on the seafood either!
Service was very slow and inattentive. One thing I liked, though, was that they seemed to know a lot of their customers, which means they either have lots of repeat visitors or they’re just really good at recognising faces.
Not sure if I will come back anytime soon (prices are a bit high for this student’s budget!), but it’s a great place to bring friends and enjoy a quality dinner.

Wow! What a Gem!
Great Sushi, Good service (a bit slow at times), and a nice atmosphere! The chairs weren’t very comfortable, but it is a Japanese restaurant, right?
For a California girl I was pleased to find such fantastic tasting sushi and fresh as well! Great plum wine that you have to try as well as a Plum Mojito that was to die for!
The prices aren’t bad, as sushi prices can be steep in London as well as the States. So we were pleased with that…
All in all, I give Ukai a 2 thumbs up!

The reason we eat in this Japanese restaurant is they have free Internet. It’s pretty cold in London, so I didn’t order any cold sushi, but hot seafood udon soup. The seafood tastes pretty fresh.
I spent all my dinner time in front of their computers.
Their sushi is cheap, but drinks are more expensive than sushi.

Really good sushi, good wine, excellent cocktails, no wait for a table, and very friendly service. Not to mention it didn’t require a tube ride and jostling lots of people on the sidewalks to get there (referring to the high end sushi places in Soho and the West End). Plus, they seem to do a lot of take-​away business, which should be great for the locals.

Ukai was great. Good food, very friendly, good service an enjoyable evening. Interesting interior which appears to be black painted chipboard and actually looks very Cool and asian!

Mmm… Friday night at home with sushi takeout. I chose Ukai because they have 5% off (wow!) and everyone thinks they are nice, and well, they are kinda close too! The sushi arrived super duper quick, in 15 minutes! The fish were fresh for London standard and was yum. However, the tamago (omlette) was shop bought, dense and felt waterlogged/​mushy. It also came with lots of pickled ginger, shredded daikon and enough pickles to sink a ship.
Why would it only get 3 stars then? Well, every sushi came in its own box, making it the most environmentally unfriendly take out I’ve ever had the (mis)fortune to have.
If you are going to be all posh and environmental like and serve organic salmon, please think of your packaging as well.

Most of these stars are coming from the «to die for» iced tea dream that was made for me here.
It is damn hard to find good sushi in London and I think that this [lace is pretty much a winner. Fresh fish, great sticky rice, fabulous drinks and a wonderful little shop attached where you can buy yummies to take home.
A little expensive and the service was quite slow but we were relaxed and enjoying ourselves that day so it didn’t bother us too much. One thing this place would be great for it a date, nice atmosphere and good food for sharing and conversation!

Sure, I loved Finding Nemo as much as the rest of yas, I would just rather find Nemo on a communal platter with fresh wasabi and pickled ginger. Especially if he happens to be of the sashimi variety that melts like buddah in my mouth. Please Ellen, don’t hate me.
Ukai served up some tasty fishies for a reasonable price, and as LIzzie mentioned, their fruity teas were fabulous. I also snooped around enough to find a little gallery space upstairs where you could book a special group outing. Veeery niiiiice-​a!
Overall, it wasn’t an all out mouth party, but I did go home with a veritable fish bowl for a stomach, and a happy one at that. So a-​ok it is.
…I guess the «fish are friends, not food» thing went in one gill and out the other.

Portobello Road has so many great eateries and Ukai (pronounced oo-​kaaee) is up there with the best of them.
I’ve been several times for lunch in groups of four and the quality of the sushi, the atmosphere and the lovely waiting staff have never faltered. It’s a relaxed contemporary Japanese affair, with groups and lone business men alike all frequenting during lunch hour. Whilst if you don’t have time to eat in you can also collect to take away, I used to enjoy doing this, although I don’t think my office did as the fishy aromas hung around for the rest of the day!
We’ve tried most things from the menu; Sashimi, Chirashi, Nigiri, Hosomaki, Futomaki, Uramaki and last but not least the Temaki. The flavours are so delicate and fresh that I’d put Ukai at the top of my list for high quality sushi. They do a very good Octopus Nigiri (molded sushi rice, topped with octopus and teriyaki sauce) that tastes like it was caught only hours ago.
They also have a small Japanese store cupboard range, so if you’re inspired to have a go yourself you can get very good advice on how to do your own from the waiting staff which I find is a nice touch.
We’re always very impressed with the food here and if you’re a sushi fan it’s not to be missed.

This has to be my favourite Sushi Restaurant and place to eat in Nottinghill. All the food served is as fresh as you could wish for and presented as either mixed platters or individual portions, perfect for mixing and sharing or for just a quick lunch.
Japanese teas are the perfect accompaniment to the refreshing food. Order the lily flower tea and watch as the whole flower head opens up displaying beautiful colours and delicately flavouring the water.
The décor is simple and you can even stock up on your home sushi supplies or purchase the traditional Japanese bowls and plates that all the food is served on. Everything about Ukai is executed perfectly, providing quality, delicious fast food.