HIMI

Counter Culture on Newburgh Street

Carnaby Street's retail-heavy grid has never been London's most obvious address for serious Japanese cooking, but the blocks running off it, particularly Newburgh Street, have quietly accumulated a more considered restaurant scene than the surrounding shopfront tourism might suggest. HIMI, which opened in early 2025, fits that pattern: a narrow, counter-forward room where the kitchen is the centrepiece and the evening is structured around the kind of standing-order drinking and eating that defines the izakaya format in Japan.

The izakaya model, transplanted to London, tends to bifurcate. Some versions arrive as full-service restaurants that borrow the aesthetic but retain formal pacing; others commit to the looser, drinks-first, dishes-as-they-come rhythm that gives the format its appeal in Osaka and Tokyo. HIMI positions itself clearly in the second camp. The counter seats face the kitchen directly, and the energy of the room is tied to what's happening at the grill and fryer rather than to a tasting menu's cadence. Tables are available for groups who want to face each other, but the counter is where the format reads most fluently.

Evening vs. Daytime: When the Format Works Hardest

The izakaya tradition is, at its core, an after-work institution: a place where the transition from the office to the evening happens incrementally, beer by beer and small plate by small plate. HIMI channels that specific function. The room operates at a different register in the evening than it would at lunch, if it serves lunch at all, because the format depends on a particular social loosening that mid-afternoon rarely produces.

Where comparable Japanese addresses in London, including Chisou and Humble Chicken, run more structured daytime and evening services, the izakaya format resists that division. A lunch sitting at HIMI would technically be possible, but the room's energy is calibrated for the post-work crowd: cold beer on arrival, robata smoke in the air, the kitchen moving at speed. This is a dinner venue by design, even if the menu's price point is closer to casual than ceremonial.

At the formal end of London's Japanese dining tier, addresses like Umu and Ginza St James's structure evening services around kaiseki progression and booking windows that extend months ahead. HIMI operates on different logic entirely: the menu is short, the dishes are designed to share, and the value proposition is built around frequency rather than occasion. You come here after work on a Tuesday, not to mark an anniversary.

What the Kitchen Sends Out

The menu is anchored by three points that recur across early assessments of the room: fried chicken with the crispness that makes the dish work alongside cold lager; Inaniwa udon with duck, a pairing that borrows from the richer broth traditions of northern Japan; and red shrimp from the robata grill, finished with squid ink. These are not dishes that require contextual explanation at the table. They are direct in their pleasures and precise in their execution.

The robata grill is the kitchen's central piece of equipment, and it shows in how the menu is structured. Robata cooking, which uses charcoal heat applied at distance rather than direct flame, suits seafood and smaller cuts that benefit from smoke without the intensity of direct grilling. Red shrimp is a natural fit: the sweetness of the flesh reads against char and salt cleanly. Squid ink as a finish adds salinity and a visual contrast that makes the dish legible at a glance.

Inaniwa udon is a different register, one of the four major udon traditions in Japan, distinguished by its thin, smooth noodle and delicate texture. Pairing it with duck, which has the fat content to carry a richer broth, is a considered combination. It sits alongside the fried chicken as a reason to return, rather than a reason to visit once and move on.

For context on what London's Japanese scene produces at greater formality, Akira operates at a different price tier and register. And if the Tokyo source of this cuisine is of interest, Myojaku and Azabu Kadowaki represent the capital of origin at its most precise.

The Roji Connection and What It Signals

HIMI was opened by the husband-and-wife team behind Roji, a fact that carries some weight in how the room is read by the London Japanese dining community. Roji earned a Michelin Star and established a reputation for careful, small-format cooking. HIMI does not replicate that format: it is deliberately looser, larger in ambition for frequency rather than occasion, and lower in its price architecture. That trajectory, from starred tasting menu to accessible izakaya, reflects a pattern visible in other cities where chef teams use a second venue to reach a broader audience without diluting the first project.

The Michelin Plate awarded in 2025, HIMI's opening year, confirms a minimum standard of execution without placing it in the starred tier. A Plate signals that Michelin's inspectors found consistent, honest cooking worth noting, and for a venue less than a year old, that recognition sets a floor. Among the broader context of London's decorated restaurants, which at the leading end includes addresses like The Fat Duck in Bray, L'Enclume in Cartmel, and Moor Hall in Aughton, HIMI occupies a different position by intent: accessible, repeatable, and priced at £££ in a neighbourhood where the surrounding offer skews more tourist-facing.

The Google rating of 4.8 across 103 reviews, gathered in a short opening period, reflects early momentum in a room that was clearly meeting expectations from its first weeks.

Planning Your Visit

HIMI is at 4 Newburgh Street, Carnaby, London W1F 7RF, a short walk from Oxford Circus. The price range sits at £££, positioning it as a mid-tier spend for London's Soho-adjacent dining, notably lower than the formal Japanese tier represented by venues like Umu. Counter seats are the recommended choice for the full kitchen-facing experience; table seats are available for parties who prefer a different arrangement. Given the format's after-work emphasis and the early recognition from both Michelin and Google reviewers, evenings from Thursday through Saturday will fill first.

For broader London planning, see our full London restaurants guide, our full London hotels guide, our full London bars guide, our full London wineries guide, and our full London experiences guide. If you are building a wider UK itinerary around serious cooking, Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Hand and Flowers in Marlow, and hide and fox in Saltwood represent the regional picture at varying price points.

Quick reference: HIMI, 4 Newburgh St, Carnaby, London W1F 7RF. Price range: £££. Michelin Plate 2025. Google: 4.8 (103 reviews). Counter and table seating. Leading visited in the evening.