Historical version 1 of Tajima-Tei, EC1N 7ST (view current version)

  • Telephone: 020 7404 9665
  • Address: 9-15 Leather Lane, EC1N 7ST (streetmap) (osm) (gmap) (bingmap) (streetview)
  • Website: tajima-tei.co.uk
  • Opening Hours: noon-3pm (last orders 2:30pm), 6pm-11pm (last orders 10pm) Mon-Fri; 6pm-10pm (last orders 9:30pm) Sat; closed Sun

Japanese restaurant in Holborn.

Here's an old review I (Kake) wrote a few years ago. The omakase is no longer mentioned on the menu on their website, but they're a Japanese restaurant with a proper sushi bar; they'll do omakase.

A very nice Japanese restaurant just at the end of Leather Lane. Highly recommended, though not cheap. The times I've been there, all of the customers except us seemed to be Japanese, which is generally considered to be a good sign. The service was very friendly and helpful, and the waitstaff seemed quite happy to explain what the fish we didn't recognise were.

Be aware that smoking is permitted throughout and it's not unusual for customers to smoke before dinner, between courses, and after dinner. I didn't find it smoky though; I assume good air conditioning.

There are tables plus about 6 or 7 seats at the sushi bar.

Two of us ordered the Omakase Sashimi (chef's selection) at £23 (price as of March 2003) and it was well worth it. Among the fish used were scallops, squid, tuna, salmon, yellowtail and plenty more. It was very good quality and a very well-sized portion. We had an order each and were very happy, but this might be a good one to share if you want to have another dish as well as sashimi.

There is a separate vegetarian menu, which you may have to ask for. Mike had the vegetarian set dinner at £25 (price as of July 2003) and I stole bits of almost every course — it was very good, with a vinegared seaweed salad to start, then spinach with sesame seeds and miso, then half an aubergine baked with bean paste, then rice and veggie tempura, and finally a choice of vanilla icecream or coffee. Mike is vegetarian and comes here a lot, so this would seem to be a good place for veggies.

Make sure you try the green tea icecream (£3.60, or £3.90 with sweet red bean paste, which is also very good). The coffee isn't bad, but for some reason comes with a little pot of fake creamer instead of real milk or cream.

Last visited by Kake, July 2003. Opening hours taken from the Tajima-Tei website, May 2007.
OS X co-ord: 531265 OS Y co-ord: 181770 (Latitude: 51.519096 Longitude: -0.107871)
This is version 1 (as of 2007-05-09 12:46:15). View current version.