The Japanese Canteen

Pretty decent lunch hour food. The only thing I’ve ever tried (time and again) is their Chicken Katsu Curry with Multi-​Grain rice. At £6.95, it’s priced pretty well for a good, filling portion. The curry adds a decent taste to the otherwise bland breaded chicken. They have a Chicken Katsu option too, without the curry that is. Unless you are not a fan of that sauce/​curry, I’d recommend going for the curry option. It just gets to dry otherwise! And definitely Multi-​Grain rice!
It’s your typical fast food joint. Lunch time gets crazy, but if you go after 2:00 pm you’ll have plenty seating and no rush!
The staff is quick and efficient.

Well, I can assure you that when my work colleague called me up during the day and said that we were going to have Japanese for lunch I actually got excited. With this restaurant please do not get your hopes up (or even have any hopes about this one).
Customer Service:
Apart from the «what do you want» the employees behind the counter failed to participate in an active conversation as well as not wanting to acknowledge my existence. Due to it being a long morning at work I had asked the cashier what she would recommend on the menu that was filling as I had been hungry all morning and to my surprise she just stared at me blanky and had the audacity to continue staring without a word until her work colleague intercepted as she could see what was happening and recommended the chicken ramen noodle soup. I must bring it to everyones attention that the woman who stared at me blanky spoke and understood proper English as she was the one who resumed my order with no apology or at least a (if this was the case which I highly doubt) «sorry I wouldn’t know what to recommend you».
Food:
So after experiencing such appalling service I was still excited about my purchase (the chicken ramen noodle soup) which also too failed to impress. It was bland and contained more springbeans than chicken or noodles. It was certainly not worth the £6.45 I paid and to make things worse my colleague (which she had the stir fried chicken noodles and disappointed as it was coated with way too much ginger which took away the taste) we were both still left really hungry after our meals.
***Tasteless meal with bad customer service in the heart of the city. 2 stars deserved only for existence and the good idea of the company to not charge anyone over £7. Décor was of standard canteen structure with just a tiny twist and could have been more innovative***

To be fair, I understand why this place exists. 10 years ago this filled the gap between the sandwich shop and the restaurant but there are much better places around. The food is supermarket ready meal-​quality and pre-​cooked, such is the speed it turned up. You’re probably better off at the local Subway.

It’s OK. Really fast Japanese food. I mean really really fast. Sometimes it’s ready in under 20 seconds. Other times, when they’re really busy (and they do get busy) it can be 10 minutes.
«Canteen» is right. It’s not a restaurant or a café. Price is kinda reasonable for the centre of London. Food is tasty. Not cordon bleu, by any means.

We went here in high hopes for this kitschy, cute, and decently priced Japanese place right near Spitalfields. It was quiet, but not overly quiet for a Friday night. The décor consists of long tables and benches in a oak veneer style, with abstract bright yellow lamps resembling lanterns.
The ordering system is similar to Nando’s — place your order at the front counter, pay, and get a stand with a number to put wherever you sit down.
There are a wide variety of choices — from teriyaki chicken, to yaki udon, to sushi, to bento boxes, to some takes on Korean fair. My group ordered duck yaki udon, beef yaki udon, seaweed salad, and the salmon sushi platter. For drinks, we got green tea and bubble tea.
The girl behind the counter was sweet and helpful, and suggested that we order just regular water rather than a bottle to save money.
The food and drinks came quickly. The yaki udon dishes were medium sized, but significantly smaller than the same dish at Wagamama’s. The sauce was overly sweet and overabundant, drowning out any differences in the meat choice. The kale in the yaki udon was overcooked, and tasted only of the sauce used. Edible, but not delicious.
The salmon platter was huge. Large pieces of salmon, and large pieces of avocado were artfully arranged. The salmon wasn’t great, but tasted fresh enough, and was decent with some soy sauce.
The seaweed salad seemed to be half regular salad, half exotic seaweed. This isn’t your usual seaweed salad with sesame ginger dressing. While I applaud the variety of seaweed served, the small portion and lackluster taste meant that we left most of it.
Finally, the bubble tea was overly sweet.
For the price, this place isn’t awful. The staff seemed pleasant, there was plenty of room to sit, and everything was clean and well laid out. However, the disappointing food, and plenty of alternatives nearby, makes this a place I probably wouldn’t choose again.

I had a chicken curry here and the food is probably comparable to what you get at those Chinese/​Indian food stalls at Camden Stable Markets (where the ready-​made food is kept warm all day). I say probably because I’ve never tried the food on offer at Camden Stable Markets.
I won’t be running back to this particular JC but may give the Middelsex Street JC a try; their menu seems to be a bit more ambitious, which hopefully means that the quality of the food is also more ambitious.

The quality of food at the Japanese Canteen cannot be adequately expressed in words. Once you have eaten there, it will be the subject of conversation for a long time. It is rare to get food of such quality these days. The future of the Japanese Canteen is not in doubt.
Eating at The Japanese Canteen is an experience not easily forgotten. The existence of places like The Japanese Canteen continues to surprise people. There are several points about the food at The Japanese Canteen which discerning diners always agree upon. Amongst such discerning diners, their opinions about The Japanese Canteen are unwavering and consistent, and so is their surprise. There is never any doubt about the quality of food here.
It is a rare experience to dine at a place like The Japanese Canteen. The taste lingers on your tongue rather longer than you expect. One cannot but feel that The Japanese Canteen richly deserves it’s ranking in the culinary world, which would be difficult to contest. I am sure that there are many others who would also like to add their opinions about The Japanese Canteen.
As regards the abovementioned ranking, this place may have only 7,500,000 food joints ranked above it worldwide but it is surely comparable to the best restaurants serving pizza calzone in Outer Mongolia or sashimi in Siberia. Or perhaps roast suckling pig in Saudi Arabia.