Entering Ichibuns – a pun on the Japanese term for ‘number one’ – is a little like stumbling into a hallucinogenic Japanese version of Alice in Wonderland.
The brainchild of Robin Leigh (New York’s Bondst and Nobu Tribeca), the restaurant in London’s Soho quarter confounds on several fronts. The first is its eye-popping interiors, which Tokyo-based Studio Glitt has conceived on paper as a genuinely Japanese mash-up of American diner, and the 50s and 60s by way of Tokyo’s genre-bending subcultures. Fully realised, this translates into three floors of theatrical drama – practically every surface, including the ceilings, is festooned with an energetic magpie collection of memorabilia, manga comics, cushion covers made of kimonos, period film posters, old coal stoves repurposed as washroom sinks, and a montage of origami paper magnified as wall panels.
As it turns out, the theatricality is almost a diversion, because in the kitchen, executive chef Brendan Fong executes an equally eclectic spread that takes in burgers of Australian wagyu and British grass-fed beef – paired with sautéed shitake mushrooms, white truffle oil and blue cheese fondue, or encrusted with panko flakes – alongside steaming bowls of ramen with king crab, snow crab maki, and milkshakes spiked with sesame ice-cream, maple syrup and peanut butter.
INFORMATION
Website
ADDRESS
22 Wardour Street
-
Finnish Design Shop has unveiled an interiors collection inspired by the modernist art of Helene SchjerfbeckThe collection’s serene colour palettes and refined finishes draw directly from Schjerfbeck’s paintings, translating her Nordic modernist sensitivity into contemporary objects
-
Lose track of time at a retro-futuristic listening bar in MelbourneLB’s Record Bar is a cinematic sanctuary designed for lingering and listening
-
A revived public space in Aberdeen is named Scotland’s building of the yearAberdeen's Union Terrace Gardens by Stallan-Brand Architecture + Design and LDA Design wins the 2025 Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award
-
Montcalm Mayfair opens a new chapter for a once-overlooked London hotelA thoughtful reinvention brings craftsmanship, character and an unexpected sense of warmth to a London hotel that was never previously on the radar
-
Follow the white rabbit to London’s first Korean matcha houseTokkia, which translates to ‘Hey bunny’ in Korean, was designed by Stephenson-Edwards studio to feel like a modern burrow. Take a look inside
-
Poon’s returns in majestic form at Somerset HouseHome-style Chinese cooking refined through generations of the Poon family craft
-
One of London’s favourite coffee shops just opened in Harvey NicholsKuro Coffee’s latest outpost brings its Japanese-inspired design to the London department store
-
Enjoy a Kyoto-inspired menu with London attitude at this new restaurantAki London offers a serene counterpoint to Oxford Circus, where stately interiors and elevated Japanese cooking cross paths
-
At this charming bolthole in The Cotswolds, doing nothing is an art formLeave your mobile on ‘do not disturb’, switch off and slow down at this 16th-century manor-turned-hotel
-
Lee Broom reimagines the Christmas tree at Mandarin Oriental MayfairThe London hotel unveils an inventive take on the festive tradition – with absolutely no needles
-
Cinema’s tastiest moments to be celebrated by Mubi in an all-day festival‘Let’s Eat! A Film Feast’ spotlights the sensory power of food on film with a day of screenings, talks and culinary delights in London
