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If you're a fan of Japanese food and drink, then we can't think of a better event to put in your diary than The Joy of Sake. For one evening only, London's Barbican Centre becomes a focus for beginners and enthusiasts alike to try a whopping 478 sakes from 192 breweries across Japan. And if that on its own isn't enough to get you booking, 14 top London restaurants are going to be there too, putting

Taking over three storeys on the King's Road, the Danish company's new sushi and yakitori sticks spot will feature a private dining room with a difference - you get your own chef, staff, music and even lift!

Backed by A-list sports people and entertainers, this new restaurant opening at the ME London hotel in Aldwych fuses Mediterranean and Japanese influences.

Covent Garden's Flesh & Buns is opening a second restaurant just north of Oxford Street and this one's going to be huge with more of a Peruvian Nikkei vibe going on as well as the old izakaya favourites.

Ahead of the opening of his upcoming restaurant at White City, sushi master Endo Kazutoshi is going to be popping up at the Berkeley in Knightsbridge this summer. Kazutoshi - who used to run all things sushi at the Zuma group, and whose White City restaurant will seat just 15 - is going even more exclusive with his Berkeley popup.

There’ll be space for 200 to dine in at Ichiba, the enormous new Japanese food hall that’s springing up as part of Westfield’s regeneration. It’ll be providing hefty amounts of traditional Japanese cuisine, plus sakes, baked foods, ingredients to take home and cooking demos.

If you've been craving the amazing katsu sandwiches chef Tim Anderson has been posting on Instagram, then the good news is he's now opened a place where you can get them.

Nanban have just opened Nanban Express, a hatch on Brixton's Electric Lane, serving up what they're calling "a grab-and-go menu of Japanese sandwiches and salads". The hatch, which opened

The Zuma group have opened their latest spot, a robatayaki, in Soho - we went along for lunch

Engawa chef Akira Shimizu is opening his own robatayaki and sushi restaurant in Japan's new cultural centre, Japan House on Kensington High Street.

After 16 years of business, Japanese restaurant Chisou is on the move - but they're not moving far. They're leaving their former base on Princes Street and opening up a bigger place on Woodstock Street (the same street that Neo Bistro is on). 

The new restaurant adds a chef's table at the sushi bar, and they'll be serving "by the piece" sushi omakase there as a new addition. And they're also adding two new basement private rooms for up to 20

London is getting a new robata grill restaurant from the team at Zuma. Inko Nito on Soho's Broadwick Street will feature Japanese charcoal grilled cooking with a Korean influence.

We don't know about you, but the idea of a Friday night pub menu devoted to Korean and Japanese style 'anju', or bar bites sounds EXACTLY what we'd want to stave off a Saturday morning hangover.

And if you live in Walthamstow, that's just what you've got as Chicken and Gochu become the latest folk to take over the Friday night slot at Ye Olde Rose and Crown. This is the first time the Highams Park-based husband and wife team have popped up anywhere. Korean

We head to Covent Garden to see what's new at the second Jidori. 

Honestly, Spring is on the way - we promise.

And with Spring comes the cherry-blossom and that's something that Yamagoya in Waterloo is taking full advantage of. They're already well known for their raindrop cake - the mizu shingen mochi- and now they're about to go one better - adding cherry blossom to the centre. It comes with molasses syrup (Kuromitsu) and kinako (roasted

Fans of Kanada-Ya will already know the deal: big, soupy bowls of rich broth, served with springy noodles cooked to your preferred level of firmness, likely preceded by a lengthy, but worthwhile session spent queueing outside.