Aki’s Halloween party: dinner, cocktails, a DJ and trick or treat

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, which means every group chat in London is asking the same question at the same time: “Where shall we go for Halloween?” I am afraid the usual answers are not very tempting… There is the club night with the queue, the cloakroom and the overpriced drink, and there is the themed table where the spookiness stops at a plastic cobweb.

Luckily this year there is a much better Halloween party in London, and it sits right here in Marylebone. Aki is a contemporary Japanese restaurant in a Grade II listed former bank on Cavendish Square, and its Halloween comes down to one old question: trick or treat. The trick is the Sakura Cosmo, a blossom cocktail served with a touch of fire. The treat is the Wicked Pumpkin dessert. In between: dinner, a DJ, a roaming Halloween entertainer and, from 10pm, an exclusive party below in Kiyori, the cocktail bar in the original bank vaults.

A Halloween party in London without the queue: dinner and a DJ under one roof

The usual Halloween night out in London runs on logistics. A table in one place, a party in another, and a gap between them spent in a taxi. The smarter version of the night solves that with a single address.

Aki does it with a staircase. Dinner is served in the restaurant, with a DJ setting the mood and a roaming Halloween entertainer moving between the tables, and when you are ready the night moves down into Kiyori for cocktails and, from 10pm, the exclusive party. Among this year’s Halloween events in London, it keeps dinner, cocktails and the dancefloor in one building, and the tone is upscale rather than nightclub: dark, elegant and a little bit dangerous.

Halloween dinner in London: how the night runs at Aki and Kiyori

Three stages, one address, and a party that starts with a proper dinner instead of a queue.

Trick or treat: the Sakura Cosmo and the Wicked Pumpkin

Halloween at Aki is built on the oldest choice of the night. Here, you do not have to pick one.

“The mood lighting, lovely modern interiors with a touch of character, the lovely DJ spinning a mix of beautiful house music appropriate for dining – it was all perfect!”
Mae Therese Ramos, Google review, January 2026

Kiyori, a Halloween bar in London in the original bank vaults

Kiyori lies just beneath Aki, in the original vaults of One Cavendish Square, a Grade II listed former bank, and designer Francis Sultana has turned them into a low-lit, subterranean bar of gold and bronze tones, gilded ceilings and mirrored surfaces. Aziza Kadyri’s original artwork lines the walls, and mosaics by Bouke de Vries add quiet craft to the corners. It is part cocktail bar, part lounge and, as the night deepens, a fully working club with a dedicated dancefloor.

The room is the perfect space to celebrate Halloween: intimate, with space for around 80 standing guests, so the party feels like an invitation rather than a queue. It has a dedicated dancefloor, so when the party starts at 10pm the music has a proper place to land rather than a cleared patch of carpet. Its low-lit, subterranean setting of gold and bronze tones, gilded ceilings and mirrored surfaces suits the evening.

Halloween weekend in London: finding Aki and getting home

Aki and Kiyori share one address: 1 Cavendish Square, Marylebone, London W1G 0LA, minutes on foot from Oxford Circus and Bond Street. For a Halloween restaurant near Oxford Circus, or a Halloween night in the West End without the West End crush, it is close enough to reach easily and quiet enough to feel like a find.

A quieter kind of Halloween in London

Halloween in the West End tends to be a matter of volume: the queues, the crush, the costume that has outlived its welcome by midnight. Cavendish Square, minutes on foot from Oxford Circus, is the opposite. Aki sits in a Grade II listed former bank on one of Marylebone’s quieter addresses, where the dining is serious, the room is beautiful and the spooky is left to the details: a blossom cocktail that arrives alight, a pumpkin dessert with a wicked name, an live DJs and entertainment.

The food is the reason to come. Aki’s Japanese cooking, listed in the Michelin Guide, runs from sashimi and tempura to certified Kobe beef, and the new autumn menu adds an A5 Miyazaki fillet, a tobanyaki duck and a chargrilled octopus with satsuma. Dinner is à la carte, so the evening moves at your pace: a long table, a DJ keeping the room warm, no set menu to follow.

Then, when you are ready, the night goes down a staircase. Kiyori, in the original vaults, is all gilded ceilings, mirrors and low light, reshaped by Francis Sultana, and from 10pm it becomes the party. It is Halloween the way a grown-up would have it: dinner first, a drink in a vault, dancing if the mood takes you. The group chat, for once, will agree.

Planning for a bigger table? See group dining at Aki or private dining in central London. Prefer something quieter still? Aki also works as a date night restaurant in Marylebone.

Aki is a contemporary Japanese restaurant at 1 Cavendish Square, Marylebone, London W1G 0LA, minutes from Oxford Circus and Bond Street, and listed in the Michelin Guide. Kiyori, the cocktail bar, is beneath it. Reserve a table at Aki.