Machiya — Restaurant in London

Ordered a beef brisket and chicken katsudon. Both were fine but nothing to write home about and won’t be ordering them again. I would prefer the sliced beef (which was available in previous iterations of the menu) rather than beef brisket but I guess this is personal preference. The sauce of the chicken katsudon was pretty heavy. Quite salty and strong - fine for those with that palette - but definitely not the traditional Japanese taste (or to my taste).

The most disappointing dish was the chicken katsu curry. The rice used was not Japanese sushi rice but more the standard long grain rice. It’s not obligatory to have sushi rice I guess but I would have expected a better quality of rice at this standard / price range of restaurant. The curry was tasteless (very watery) and the chicken tasted like it was just cooked from frozen and fried directly in the katsu crumbs. Overall I think the quality of ingredients used was very poor rather than the actual cooking. The prices are on the mid to pricey end. It’s one of those places where if you had a great meal you would say that was good and it was worth the price but if it was bad then you will never go back again as it was not worth it.

There was hardly any service because you order and pay by scanning the QR code. Our QR code didn’t work and we reported this to the waitress. She indicated she would fix it and she assumed that she did fix it but it still wouldn’t work. We would have appreciated a confirmation from her that she was under the impression that it was fixed so we could tell her immediately that it wasn’t. We waited a while longer before reaching out and I also did an iPhone reaet lol. Anyway just shows the tech is not great. We heard another table also had an issue with the QR code ordering. It seems the restaurant needs to release the table so that table can actually view the menu and order but the releasing process is manual (and in this case doesn’t work) and not automatic. Bit odd and wasn’t a great start.

Makes you question why we are paying the 10% service charge if the service was to just give us some tap water, bring us our dishes. and address unsuccessfully the QR code issue. I also wasn’t too pleased when there was the additional tip option on paying the bill.

Not sure if they are under different management from the last time I visited. I see the restaurant has some solid reviews so hopefully my experience was...

This hidden gem of a restaurant has quickly become a firm favourite. Amidst the many other Japanese options in the area, with seemingly similar offerings, this one stood out. It can be best described as sophisticated comfort food. Hearty, but packed full of flavour. And contrary to other reviews, we found the portions to be more than sufficient- you’re definitely getting beyond what you are paying for.

On the two occasions we’ve been we’ve tried: Machiya hot wings: perfectly seasoned, very satisfyingly crunchy, but admittedly a slight bit too on the hot side for our taste. Chicken yakitori: this starter was the star of the show- it’s difficult to improve on a dish so standard in the cuisine, but Machiya dazzles. A perfect balance of sweet and salty, juicy and tender; a must try. Chicken katsu: mixed thoughts on this- the meat and its crispy coating were very solid, but the sauce was far too thin and lacked the homely feel of the dish. Ultimately there are better options available. Katsudon: the positives of the above, without the lacklustre sauce. Definitely would recommend. Oyakodon: very generous portion, well seasoned chicken, fragrant rice- what else could you want? Abura soba: this is an unexpected item on the menu that is truly enjoyable to eat. The noodles are surprisingly flavoursome, the pork belly is just divine (complaint would definitely be not having enough though!) and the egg yolk adds a creamy texture that ties the entire dish together. Matcha ice cream: unlike other places, they don’t skimp on the matcha. Strong, authentic flavour, but the bitterness still manages to not be overwhelming. Matcha fondant: ending on a high, this has been the best dessert we’ve ever had- no exaggeration needed. The matcha and chocolate create a heavenly blend that is further exhilarated by the warm, gooey inside. It’s small, and admittedly overpriced, but just so good.

And we hope to go back...

The food was okay although the beef was a bit on the dry side.

The bigger problem was the service. I was seated at the corner of the bar table under which there’s a hook for hanging your bag/jacket. It’s still 8 degree c so I had an overcoat which would leave part of my coat on the ground if I used the hook. What I usually do is to place my coat on the chair back but the chairs at the bar table had no back. So I left my coat on the table next to me which would take half the space of an adjacent seat which wasn’t occupied when I was seated.

Probably about 10 mins later a customer came and a server simply shoved my coat towards me without even asking or saying a word. I mean, I would be happy to take it elsewhere if you asked, but she wasn’t even bothered, said nothing and left. Seeing that, another staff member (probably the manager) came forward and offered to place my coat somewhere on another hook, who by the way seated me and my friend and took our orders so was obviously aware that I had left my coat on that part of the table and he could have offered that much earlier. It’s not a big deal to be honest but it’s definitely not service charge worthy.

And to pay, apart from the standard 12.5% service charge (of course) they used some sort of system where you scan the QR code and pay by Apple Pay, and then you are charged an additional fee of 50p which I couldn’t find a way to remove…again it’s just 50p but I would rather keep it to myself.

Don’t think I’ll...