Tombo

Japanese Restaurant in South Kensington

7 / 10 from 1 review

Address
29 Thurloe Place
South Kensington
London
SW7 2HQ

Map

History

Telephone
020 7589 0018

Cuisine
Japanese

Region
South Kensington

Nearest Station
South Kensington
0.04 miles

Opening Times

Monday	Open 11:30 - Closes 20:00
Tuesday	Open 11:30 - Closes 20:00
Wednesday	Open 11:30 - Closes 20:00
Thursday	Open 11:30 - Closes 20:00
Friday	Open 11:30 - Closes 20:00
Saturday	Open 11:30 - Closes 20:00
Sunday	Open 12:00 - Closes 19:00

Edit Restaurant Information

Tombo, Japanese for dragonfly, a symbol of renewal and positive force is London’s first authentic Japanese café and delicatessen.

Situated in the heart of the South Kensington museum district, Tombo offers a new experience in modern Japanese food and the art of tea.

We offer you the choice of a range of delicious Umami rich dishes so that you can create your own well balanced healthy meal from our deli counter.

We also carry specialist cakes many containing green tea as well as Japanese desserts such as daifuku, mochi ice cream and dorayaki pan cakes.

Tombo Picture Gallery

All In London Review

Chic Japanese all-day café, minus the SW7 price tag

It’s always reassuring to see Japanese people eating in a Japanese restaurant. At Tombo they seem to make up the majority of the clientele, even if they could very well all be clueless tourists. This is South Kensington, aka Museumland after all.

Tombo’s menu has all the staples: katsu curries, noodles, sushi and bento boxes; it also makes a big fuss over matcha, the finely ground green tea which is revered as an elixir of eternal living by some. Here it appears in desserts, hot and cold drinks and a shochu-based matcha cocktail that’s a snip at only £6.90. A section labelled ‘tapas’ is slightly misleading as they’re merely standard snacks like gyoza and edamame rather than anything out of the ordinary.

There are health conscious options like the ‘no carbs’ bento box which replaces rice with salads and can be customised for meat-eaters, pescaterians and veggies; for the vegan pal it had tofu and a lot of beans and seaweed. Sashimi of the day was tuna and salmon cut into appealing thick wedges, and chicken katsu curry was a comforting dish with heaps of rice and sauce.

It’ got too late for us to have dessert (they close at 21:30) but there’s an interesting array of fusion puds like pancakes filled with azuki beans and walnuts and matcha tiramisu. Tombo is a chic café and takeaway deli for SW7, but without the area’s usual mark-up.

Reviewed by Leila
Published on Mar 26, 2015