Asakusa Restaurant is popular with the Japanese community serving a variety of Japanese dishes including sushi. Catering for private parties of up to 25 people is available upon request. A takeaway menu is also available.
Asakusa Restaurant
Japanese Restaurant in Camden
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7 / 10 from 6 reviews
Address
265 Eversholt Street
Camden
London
NW1 1BA
265 Eversholt Street
Camden
London
NW1 1BA
Telephone
020 7388 8399
020 7388 8399
Cuisine
Japanese
Japanese
Region
Camden
Camden
Opening Times
| Monday |
Open 18:00 - Closes 23:30 |
| Tuesday |
Open 18:00 - Closes 23:30 |
| Wednesday |
Open 18:00 - Closes 23:30 |
| Thursday |
Open 18:00 - Closes 23:30 |
| Friday |
Open 18:00 - Closes 23:30 |
| Saturday |
Open 18:00 - Closes 23:00 |
| Sunday | Closed |
All In London Review
Authentic Japanese food at this cheap Camden eatery
Asakusa is close to Mornington Crescent station, in the slightly less desirable end of Camden High Street. The restaurant itself is dingy yet charming, walls are filled with posters of Japanese celebrities, and there are ornaments and lanterns peppering the dining area.
Another quirk is that this appears to be one of those restaurants that plays host to illicit affairs and bizarre relationships; we weren't able to stop ourselves from eavesdropping the conversation of an aging record producer and a much younger Polish girl, a young Lady Gaga lookalike with another elderly gentleman, and two very drunk females discussing their sex life.
But aside from the peoplewatching the main draw is of course the delicious food. The menu is extensive, with everything from maki rolls to nigiri sets, tempura, and meat dishes. Despite Japanese food generally being quite healthy we somehow managed to order the stodgiest dishes: deep fried tempura, breaded oysters with mustard sauce, and eel wrapped in egg, the latter containing very little eel and being mostly a rolled omelette.
The sushi sets are also very good and cheap; it’s easy to eat a plentiful meal here without breaking the bank. The usual variety of beers (Asahi, Tiger), sake, and teas are available, as well as Shochu, the Japanese spirit similar to vodka, though less strong. The waitress was clearly horrified when I ordered a glass, “do you know what it is?” she asked. I gather it is more of a man’s drink in Japan.
To end our meal we ordered the only dessert available, the ice cream, which comes in black sesame, chestnut or red bean flavours. A good value meal (a meal for two comes to around £35), just don’t drink too much Shochu.
Reviewed by Leila
Published on Oct 28, 2009
Best For
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Down with filthy wheat. Filthy.
What Asakusa may lack in glamour it makes up for in the sheer length of the menu, which has specialties like eels wrapped in omelette as well as all the expected sushi, teriyaki, noodle dishes and much much more. Prices are low too, resulting in this restaurant being packed most nights of the week; make sure you book ahead.
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A Camden veteran, Asakusa is cheap and has a sushi menu that seems to go on forever. It’s full almost every night of the week (booking is strongly recommended), and plenty of Japanese people eat here, a testament to the authenticity of the food.
London's best izakaya (Japanese pubs)
(Yep, we had to look it up, too).
This veteran Japanese haunt is beloved of ex-pats and Londoners alike. The lengthy menu extends from sushi, noodles and stews to deep fried octopus balls and honey glazed chicken hearts, perfect for soaking up several glasses of shochu.
Where to get a meal before a gig in Camden
Big meal + jumping up and down = fun times!
One of London’s best Japanese restaurants,it’s usually packed, and replete with Japanese customers. The menu is vast and very affordable, highlights include the rolled omelette stuffed with grilled eel, chicken katsu, and of course the mouth-watering sushi platters. Round off the meal with a glass of shochu.
User Reviews
BetsyLemon
Jul 8, 2016
The most delicious, reasonably priced sushi in London! It might take you a couple of weeks to get a table if you have a large party, but it is well worth the wait. Highly recommended!
Jackie
from London
from London
Dec 17, 2012
This restaurant is simply one of the best places to eat Japanese food in London - really delicious, authentic, and reasonably cheap. It's not luxuriously decorated, and the bathrooms are a little cramped, but the actual food is INCREDIBLE. Hugely recommended.
Name: Jackie
Location: London
Name: Jackie
Location: London
reck0ner
Jun 23, 2011
I love this restaurant. It is quirky, terribly decorated, 100% authentic and the antithesis of bland corporate "hospitality".
All of the sashimi and sushi is done by just one guy - he works behind the sushi bar and it really is almost impossible to keep up with the orders when it gets busy - and this restaurant gets BUSY because the food is great.
Like anywhere when it is busy, sometimes the bill takes a while or orders go astray, but really is that such a big deal? I guess in some people's eyes. But the food, the food, the food...
All of the sashimi and sushi is done by just one guy - he works behind the sushi bar and it really is almost impossible to keep up with the orders when it gets busy - and this restaurant gets BUSY because the food is great.
Like anywhere when it is busy, sometimes the bill takes a while or orders go astray, but really is that such a big deal? I guess in some people's eyes. But the food, the food, the food...
Adam
from Manchester
from Manchester
Mar 14, 2011
Booked at table for 2 on a saturday night after hearing good things about this place. Came from Manchester specifically to eat there. Ordered 2 Sashimi meals and was told there would be a 50 minute wait!
When i asked why they said because everyone was ordering Sushi. I don't understand why that should even be a problem, thats why people go there after all. A pizza place isn't thrown into hour delays because everyone orders pizza. How can raw pieces of fish with nothing else take 50 minutes to make is beyond me. We finished our drinks and left. I suspect they'd rather let people sit around drinking for 50 mins instead of jusr serving something so simple as sashimi.
Name: Adam
Location: Manchester
When i asked why they said because everyone was ordering Sushi. I don't understand why that should even be a problem, thats why people go there after all. A pizza place isn't thrown into hour delays because everyone orders pizza. How can raw pieces of fish with nothing else take 50 minutes to make is beyond me. We finished our drinks and left. I suspect they'd rather let people sit around drinking for 50 mins instead of jusr serving something so simple as sashimi.
Name: Adam
Location: Manchester
Mosey
Oct 28, 2009
We went here on a Wednesday evening, so traditionally not a very busy night for restauranteurs. Upon arrival we were asked if we'd booked a table, so I felt assured that we'd come to a popular and therefore decent restaurant.
However, I was pretty disappointed.
Around fifteen minutes after we ordered, some people came to sit at the table next to ours. The tables are really crammed in together, so now the restaurant was completely packed. Our neighbours ordered their food, and ten minutes later it began to arrive for them. By this point we had recieved our beer and our miso soup, so nothing that requires more than removing from a fridge or a vat.
Forty five minutes after we had initially ordered, we finally gave in and asked where our food was. The waitress said she didn't know, and ten minutes later it turned up at our table. Neither dish was very complicated, so this wait was by no means reasonable.
We had to wolf down our food as we had been told that we had to be out of the restaurant by 9.30, and it was 9.10 by now. The food itself was alright- the sushi tasted old and dry, unfortunately, but the salad was excellent. My tonkatsu was adequate, but it's a very hard dish to get wrong, as was my partner's beef shogayaki.
The big sting came when the bill arrived (about 20 minutes after asking for it). Our bill was £34.83, so I put down £44.83, having been in customer service and knowing how tedious it is to count change. When I recieved £6 back, I was annoyed but figured it was because they were fairly busy. However, the waitress insisted that we were owed only this amount. Having had almost two hours wasted simply waiting for things here, I no longer cared.
I'm aware that I was in the basement of the restaurant, where there were only two waitresses, and that this may have affected the service we recieved. If I were to go back to Asakusa it would be only when it wasn't busy, on the ground floor, and expecting to spend a lot of time there. Otherwise, do
However, I was pretty disappointed.
Around fifteen minutes after we ordered, some people came to sit at the table next to ours. The tables are really crammed in together, so now the restaurant was completely packed. Our neighbours ordered their food, and ten minutes later it began to arrive for them. By this point we had recieved our beer and our miso soup, so nothing that requires more than removing from a fridge or a vat.
Forty five minutes after we had initially ordered, we finally gave in and asked where our food was. The waitress said she didn't know, and ten minutes later it turned up at our table. Neither dish was very complicated, so this wait was by no means reasonable.
We had to wolf down our food as we had been told that we had to be out of the restaurant by 9.30, and it was 9.10 by now. The food itself was alright- the sushi tasted old and dry, unfortunately, but the salad was excellent. My tonkatsu was adequate, but it's a very hard dish to get wrong, as was my partner's beef shogayaki.
The big sting came when the bill arrived (about 20 minutes after asking for it). Our bill was £34.83, so I put down £44.83, having been in customer service and knowing how tedious it is to count change. When I recieved £6 back, I was annoyed but figured it was because they were fairly busy. However, the waitress insisted that we were owed only this amount. Having had almost two hours wasted simply waiting for things here, I no longer cared.
I'm aware that I was in the basement of the restaurant, where there were only two waitresses, and that this may have affected the service we recieved. If I were to go back to Asakusa it would be only when it wasn't busy, on the ground floor, and expecting to spend a lot of time there. Otherwise, do
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