Endo at the Rotunda
Endo cooks the rice in water brought from Japan, and the counter you eat at is built from timber brought from Japan, for a room that does about twenty covers a day.
Why go
Endo Kazutoshi cooks eight floors up a tower in the old BBC Television Centre, at an L-shaped wooden counter, and hands you each piece of nigiri from his own hand so you eat it at the moment he intends. Chet Sharma, chef-patron of BiBi, is the one who catalogued what that costs: the counter wood and the water for the rice both come in from Japan, and the room turns about twenty covers a day (The Glossary). Jake Missing scored it 9.3 and reported the fish as Cornish squid, Scottish langoustine and Irish oysters bought the morning you eat
(The Infatuation). It holds a Michelin star in the 2026 London list.
Order this / avoid
- Order: nothing. The whole thing is omakase, which the venue translates as "I leave it up to you". Wait for the langoustine nigiri with caviar and for the six-day-aged otoro.
- Avoid: turning up unchecked, since the room is on a break with no booking route on its own site. Eating beforehand, because it runs to twenty courses.
What locals & experts say
- Chet Sharma, chef-patron of BiBi, asked for his favourite London restaurants:
Endo has had wood imported from Japan that he used for the counter and he even brings in water from Japan to make sure the rice is cooked perfectly. It's a tiny place that does just 20 covers a day and the prices are very punchy, but it's worth every penny. He stands in the middle of the counter and personally hands you each piece of sushi so you eat it at the exact right time.
1 - Jake Missing for The Infatuation, scoring 9.3:
The head chef and headliner wields his sushi knife like a Fender and shreds tuna after tuna into the finest solo pieces of nigiri, before he, or a member of his backing band, places each individual banger from their hand into the palm of yours.
That review is from December 2019 and is still the only scored verdict anyone has filed.2 - Endo Kazutoshi on his own room, which is his statement of intent rather than anyone's endorsement:
Every detail, from the crockery to how we welcome guests into the Machiai, carries meaning and intention. Through the spirit of Omotenashi, we create an experience rooted in empathy.
3
Good to know
- Currently paused. As of 1 August 2026 the venue's own site carries a notice that the team is on a summer break after closing a pop-up at Annabel's, with no reopening date and no booking route. The Infatuation separately flags the venue as temporarily closed. It holds a 2026 Michelin star and was inspected by the FSA in February 2025, so the business is live; this entry will be re-checked on 15 September 2026.
- Where: The Rotunda, 3 Television Centre, 101 Wood Lane, W12 7FS, above Westfield White City.
- Format: a counter of roughly ten to twenty seats, twenty or so courses, one chef serving by hand.
- Price: the last published figure was two hundred and fifty pounds for twenty courses, and that was 2019. Chet Sharma's 2025 word for the current pricing is punchy.
- Hygiene: FSA rating 5, inspected 27 February 2025, all three components clean.5
Verdict
should-visit — Endo Kazutoshi brings water from Japan so the rice cooks the way he wants it, and the counter you sit at is built from wood he imported too. Chet Sharma, who holds a star of his own at BiBi, is the one who says so, and adds that the room does about twenty covers a day and that Endo stands in the middle of the counter handing you each piece himself so you eat it at the right moment. That is what conviction looks like when it is spent rather than said. Jake Missing scored it 9.3 in 2019 and described the sourcing as Cornish squid, Scottish langoustine and Irish oysters bought the morning you eat them. It holds a Michelin star in the 2026 London list. Two things keep it off the top rung. That 9.3 is nearly seven years old and nobody has filed a verdict since. And the room is not currently seating guests: the venue's own site carries a summer-break notice with no booking route, and The Infatuation flags it temporarily closed. Plan around it once it reopens.