A Japanese tasting menu under £100 in London? Thursday deal at AKI Marylebone

Finding a Japanese tasting menu under £100 in London is harder than it should be. Too many menus in the capital promise precision, seasonality, and omakase flair, then quietly dilute the experience the moment value enters the conversation.

At Aki, we prefer clarity. Every Thursday in Marylebone, our full nine-course signature menu is available for £75 per person, normally £95, with a welcome Saketini included, which means a proper Japanese tasting menu, a proper cocktail, and none of the usual compromise.

This is not a reduced lunch menu dressed up as dinner. It is our full signature experience, served with the same discipline, balance, and sense of occasion that define the rest of the week.

A tasting menu that keeps its nerve

Value in London dining is often handled timidly. Portions shrink, ambition softens, and the menu begins to read like an apology. That is usually where a supposedly premium tasting menu starts to unravel.

At Aki, Thursday does the opposite. The menu remains intact, the pacing remains deliberate, and the experience still moves the way a serious Japanese tasting menu should, from freshness and precision to warmth, depth, and finish.

You still begin with refinement. You still move through sashimi, tempura, black cod, wagyu, nigiri, miso soup, and dessert. You still get a dining experience that feels composed from first course to last, rather than a collection of dishes stitched together for the sake of a price point.

Dishes on our menu that deserve your attention

The menu itself will sit beautifully as an image, but the most compelling dishes deserve language around them. A well-built menu should create appetite before the first plate arrives, and this one does so through contrast, rhythm, and a clear understanding of what each course is there to achieve.

The Omakase Sashimi Platter sets the tone immediately. Delicate slices of pristine fish, served with 30-year sashimi soya, deliver that particular kind of confidence only good Japanese food can sustain, clean, precise, and entirely uninterested in overstatement.

The Koji Den Miso Black Cod brings richness without heaviness. It has the lacquer, savouriness, and slow depth people hope for when they order black cod, but with more restraint than the sweeter, louder versions that tend to circulate elsewhere in London.

Then there is the Edomae Omakase Nigiri Selection, chef’s choice, and exactly the course that reminds you this is not a decorative nod to sushi culture. The rice matters, the temperature matters, the sequence matters, and the result is a sushi course that feels properly considered rather than merely included.

Wagyu, included properly

The presence of wagyu on an under-£100 tasting menu matters. Not because it sounds luxurious, but because it changes the entire value conversation. When a menu includes AAB-9 Wagyu Denver Cut Beef, alongside sashimi, nigiri, black cod, miso soup, and dessert, it stops being a “deal” and starts looking like what it actually is: a complete premium menu priced intelligently.

Here, the wagyu course brings depth, richness, and structure at exactly the right moment. It is not there as theatre. It is there because a multi-course Japanese menu should know when to introduce weight, warmth, and intensity, and when to do so without breaking the rhythm of the meal.

We do hold Kobe beef certification, and for us that stands less as a headline than as a testament to our dedication to serious Japanese produce and the standards behind it. The more immediate point for Thursday diners is simpler, and more compelling: wagyu is included in the menu, and it belongs there.[page:1]

A tasting menu that stands out in London

A premium Japanese tasting menu in central London rarely stays under £100 once drinks enter the equation. That is before you begin asking for the details that actually matter, sashimi with integrity, proper sushi, a composed hot course progression, serious beef, and a room that does not rush the experience just because it is midweek.

At £75, the Thursday menu changes that calculation. You are saving £20 on the standard price before the welcome drink is even considered, and that matters because the included start is not a throwaway extra but part of the evening’s structure.

This is where the offer becomes persuasive. It does not feel cheap. It feels assured, which is much harder to achieve.

The welcome cocktail is part of the point

Most restaurant offers include a forgettable glass of house wine, if they include anything at all. We prefer to begin with a proper cocktail, one that sharpens the palate and sets the tone before the first course arrives.

The welcome Saketini does exactly that. Crisp, cold, and quietly umami-led, it works as an aperitif in the true sense of the word, not just something handed over because the package demanded it.

That distinction matters. A thoughtful dining experience begins before the first dish lands, and the right cocktail changes how the opening movements of the menu are received, especially when sashimi and sushi are part of the progression.

Marylebone, on the right night

Thursday has a particular kind of London energy. The city still has momentum, but the weekend performance has not yet taken over, which leaves space for dinner to feel more intentional, more relaxed, and better paced.

That suits Aki perfectly. The dining room holds its atmosphere, the service stays warm and composed, and the menu has room to unfold as it should, not hurried, not flattened, not treated as a prelude to somewhere else.

We are in the heart of Marylebone, moments from Cavendish Square and within easy reach of Bond Street, Baker Street, and Marylebone station. For anyone searching for a Japanese tasting menu under £100 in London that still delivers sushi, sashimi, wagyu, and a proper sense of occasion, this is where the search becomes much shorter.

Aki London is in Marylebone at One Cavendish Square, where our Thursday Signature Menu is served for £75 per person with a welcome Saketini.