Humble Chicken

Humble Chicken started in 2021 as a casual yakitori counter on Frith Street from chef Angelo Sato, and has since gone through two significant changes, first into a tighter, more ambitious tasting format in 2023, then into a full closure for a major refit in 2025 as Sato pushed towards a third Michelin star. It picked up its first star in 2024 and a second in 2025, an unusually fast rise for a restaurant built around chicken skewers, and the covers were deliberately cut from twenty to thirteen as part of the most recent overhaul.

The format now is a 13 seat counter with a 16 course omakase menu, built around Sato’s Japanese heritage and grill technique, mixing precise temperature work with flavour combinations that read as playful rather than strictly traditional. Michelin’s own inspectors have singled out the kitchen’s precision as the reason for the second star, describing it as one of the more genuinely exciting tables in the city right now.

Hospitality is a real strength here; several reviewers describe Sato himself as central to the experience, cooking and talking through courses at close range across the counter. That intimacy is part of the appeal and part of the limitation: with 13 seats, booking requires planning well ahead, often weeks rather than days.

The honest caveat is cost and format. This is a long, multi course tasting menu at two Michelin star prices, not a quick yakitori dinner, and anyone expecting the looser, cheaper bar it started as in 2021 will find a very different restaurant now. It suits a special occasion far better than a casual night out, and diners should set aside a proper couple of hours for the full sequence.

For anyone chasing serious, technically ambitious Japanese cooking in Soho, it’s one of the more interesting tables in London right now, chicken focused in name only.