Aqua Kyoto

Five floors above Regent Street, in the former Dickins & Jones department store building, Aqua Kyoto trades on a combination most restaurants can’t offer: genuinely good Japanese cooking and a rooftop terrace within walking distance of Oxford Circus tube. The dining room is large and polished, all dark wood and low lighting, with the terrace opening out to views over the rooftops of Soho.

The menu runs through sushi, robata grill and a fairly extensive à la carte, and the lamb cutlets, marinated and cooked on the robata, are the dish most regulars point you towards rather than the sushi itself, which is competent but not the headline act here. Weekend brunch, served from midday with unlimited sushi to start and a choice of mains, is a genuinely good value way to try the kitchen without committing to a full à la carte dinner.

Cocktails and sake lean into the Japanese theme convincingly, and the terrace bar works well as a standalone destination for drinks even if you’re not staying for dinner, particularly in summer when the outdoor seating is at a premium. Service is generally attentive, though it can slow down noticeably when the terrace is at capacity on a warm evening.

À la carte dinner for two with drinks will run to around £150 to £180, weekend brunch is considerably better value at a fixed price per head. It suits after work drinks that turn into dinner, celebratory meals with a view attached, and anyone who wants Japanese food with more theatre than a neighbourhood sushi counter offers.

The honest caveat is that the terrace, which is the main draw for a lot of bookings, is weather dependent and first come first served for the best spots even with a reservation for the area generally. On a wet evening you’re essentially paying central London prices for a very good but fairly conventional Japanese restaurant without the view that sold you on it. Book through the Aqua Kyoto website and specify the terrace if that’s what you’re after.