Last year the only new two-star Michelin restaurants in London were The Araki and Umu while last month star chef Jason Atherton opened his first Japanese restaurant, Sosharu, in Clerkenwell. London has some of the best Japanese restaurants outside the Land of the Rising Sun; here is our top 10, from traditional sushi masters to creative contemporary fusion. Some chefs are content to oversee their empires from afar, but not Mitsuhiro Araki, who moved his three Michelin-starred Tokyo restaurant lock, stock and barrel to London at the end of 2014 so he could be closer to his daughter’s boarding school. Araki cheerfully plays host from behind a cypress counter that seats a mere nine diners in two sittings per evening; they pay upwards of the entry-level price of £300 for the privilege of feasting on grilled yellowtail and steamed abalone of unrivalled quality. Tuna is the house speciality, caviar and truffles Araki’s accompaniments of choice. 12 New Burlington Street, London, W1S 3BH

Michelin bizarrely stripped both London Nobus of their stars a couple of years ago, but don’t let that put you off: the fusion of Japanese and Peruvian technique is as expertly rendered here as it is at the 30 other links in the world’s poshest restaurant chain. The classic dishes are begging to be ordered: a bracing mouthful of yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno, or the silky pleasures of the legendary black cod with miso. Nobu London, with its sylvan views of Park Lane, is better for lunch; nightclubby Berkeley St for cocktails and dinner – even if the gaggle of expectant paparazzi outside has been replaced by a huddle of smokers. Keep your eyes peeled for Nobu number three in Shoreditch later this year. 15 Berkeley Street, London, W1J 8DY and Nobu London, 19 Old Park Lane, London, W1K 1LB This Japanese spin-off from Hakkasan is worth a visit for the building alone, part of The Economist Plaza designed by Alison and Peter Smithson in the 1960s. An escalator whisks you up to the first floor dining room where guests eat among the stilts of a wooden skeleton meant to look like a futuristic forest.

The wide-ranging menu takes in salads, soups, grills and of course sushi and sashimi; sake pairing is done particularly well and until June 18, the bar has been transformed into a bower of cherry blossom, complete with falling petals, twinkling lights and the cherry on the cake: cherry chocolate sake mousse. sushi grade tuna near me23 St James’s Street, London, SW1A 1HAwhat to order at sushi restaurant when pregnant The tuna and spring onion temaki at Jason Atherton’s first Japanese joint is hands down one of the best things I’ve eaten all year, the kind of revelatory mouthful that comes along once in a blue moon and makes time stop around you while you savour its deliciousness. what to order at sushi restaurant when pregnant

So obviously I ordered another, and then another, and then I thought I’d better try the rest of the menu too; sea bream sashimi wrapped around crisp potato was almost as good. This is highly creative and assertively modern cooking with a strong respect for traditional Japanese technique. sushi takeout long beachApril sees the opening on site of Kisetsu, a 10-seater chef’s counter serving an omakase menu. 64 Turnmill Street, London EC1M 5RR I’ve always had a soft spot for Sumosan, and not just because it’s a favourite of Penelope Cruz and Nicole Kidman and I love the idea of them meeting up here to have a girlie gossip about Tom Cruise over a sashimi salad. You can eat excellent classic nigiri sushi here, but it’s the more bonkers in-house creations that are the best things on the menu: crunchy rice "pizza" topped with salmon, or the tuna T&T roll so heady with truffle it’s a wonder there aren’t pigs snuffling around under the table. 

6 Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4HY The fact that Sushisamba serves Japanese food by way of Brazil is probably incidental to the many diners who book a table here because of the gob-smacking views from the 38th floor of the Heron Tower and the possibility of sitting next to sometime visitor Hugh Grant. But Sushisamba has serious foodie credentials: this is one of a handful of UK restaurants licensed to import Kobe beef, the most premium form of Wagyu available. £1,000 buys you 1kg of Kobe beef, served ishiyaki style, with thin slices of meat cooked on a hot stone at the table. Kobe ribeye (£144) or two pieces of Kobe beef nigiri (£24) might be a more palatable way for first-timers to get a taste for the famously rich meat. 110 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4AY Before The Araki, sushi obsessives slavered over Sushi Tetsu, an even smaller (seven seats only) chef’s counter, run by husband-and-wife Toru and Harumi Takahashi and hidden away down a Clerkenwell alley. It is famously hard to get into (bookings are only taken on the first and third Monday of each month) but the bill, at least, is easier to swallow than at The Araki: £68 or £88 for an omakase tasting menu for which diners are asked to give 24 hours’ notice so that Toru can pick out the finest ingredients for his classic nigiri

, sashimi, hand rolls and omelettes. 12 Jerusalem Passage, London, EC1V 4JP Transatlantic restaurateur Marlon Abela has just bought two-starred The Square, which along with The Greenhouse and Umu, brings his haul of Michelin stars in Mayfair to six. The multi-course kaiseki menus of Japan’s former imperial capital Kyoto are what’s on offer at Umu, where hands-on chef Yoshinori Ishii makes everything from the sushi to the crockery. Commitment to sourcing means wasabi supplied from the UK’s only producer as well as Cornish fish that might be transformed into sashimi sliced so thinly it is almost transparent. Melt-in-the mouth Wagyu and a cellar of 1,000 wines are further refinements. 14-16 Bruton Place, London, W1J 6LX Norman Cherner stools, a green tiled counter and herringbone floors make Yashin look more like a tapas bar than a sushi bar - until you see the neon sign reading "without soy sauce". The deftly flavoured sushi needs no accompaniment as the chefs have provided the best flavour match already, so that quail egg and wasabi might partner marinated tuna.