Dinings Marylebone Tempura Restaurant: Lobster Rolls and Ex-Nobu Small Plates

Tomonari Chiba and Keiji Fuku left the kitchens of Nobu and, in 2006, opened Dinings on Harcourt Street, a quiet residential road on the western edge of Marylebone. Their own story page says they chose the street deliberately, wanting an intimate, relaxed room rather than a showpiece. Two decades on, the menu still reads like that brief: Japanese technique bent toward European ideas, served as small plates and sushi, with tempura threaded through several sections instead of sitting in one corner.

Hot Tapas is where the straightforward tempura lives. The current à la carte lists three versions: Prawns at £16.25, a Daily Whitefish at £19.50, and Seasonal Vegetables at £16.00. Whitefish is the one that changes with the market, so asking which fish the kitchen is frying that evening is worth the question before ordering. Prawns are the safe anchor for a first visit, while the vegetable plate gives a table something lighter between richer dishes.

Nigiri is the second route in, and it is easy to miss. Under Sushi & Sashimi, black tiger shrimp comes as Tempura, Sweet Soy at £5.50 a piece, and scallop gets the same treatment at £6.50. Each is a single bite of warm battered seafood pressed onto rice and brushed with sweet soy, which makes them a neat way to add tempura to a sushi order without committing a whole sharing plate to the fryer.

Signature Open Rolls carry the most inventive fried dishes. Lobster Tempura Open Roll with jalapeño mayonnaise costs £16.45 for three pieces or £29.45 for six; Scallop Tempura Open Roll with taramo sauce runs £13.95 or £23.95. Pop Corn Shrimp Tempura Open Roll, finished with spicy sesame and sweet chilli soy, is £19.50, and vegetarians get a Cauliflower Pop Corn Tempura Roll with truffle soy at £17.50.

Tar-Tar Chips open most meals here. Listed as finger food sold by the piece, they top a single chip with toppings such as fatty tuna and jalapeño mayonnaise for £6.00, salmon with chilli miso for £4.50, or mixed seasonal vegetables for £3.95. Ordering one or two per person lets a group taste raw fish before anything hot arrives, and it keeps appetites intact for the tempura and rolls that follow.

Cold Tapas make a sensible second wave. Seabass Carpaccio with fresh Umbrian truffle and ponzu jelly can be ordered as a half portion, as can Yellowtail Carpaccio with jalapeño dressing and ikura, which helps a couple keep the bill in check. Ask for the fried dishes after these plates rather than alongside them, because batter loses its crunch quickly when it shares the table with ponzu, dressings and chilled fish.

Omakase is the alternative for anyone who would rather not choose. The chef selects the day's ingredients across tiers of £120, £160 or £200 per person, with a minimum of two diners, and the price excludes drinks, desserts and service. Steamed buns offer a cheaper detour into fried food, with Tuna, Scallop or Whitefish Katsu at £7.00 each. Bills carry a 15% optional service charge, according to the menu.

Edwardian bones explain the scale. According to the restaurant, Dinings occupies a converted Edwardian house across the ground and basement floors, designed by I Yu with plain concrete and wood meant to echo a traditional izakaya. Harden's lists 28 covers, so a busy Friday fills fast. Time Out's review notes that the basement tables usually need a booking, while a stool at the street-level sushi counter is sometimes free for walk-ins.

Reservations open a month ahead, and the policy page tells diners who miss a date to return to the website one month before the evening they want. Every booking is secured with a credit card. Cancelling inside 24 hours, including any same-day booking, can trigger a fee of £30 per person, and a no-show without notice can cost £50 per person, so plans that might change belong in a later booking.

Licensing sets a firm end to the night: the Find Us page states that all guests must leave by 23:00 Tuesday to Thursday and by 23:30 on Friday and Saturday. Large parties, allergy requests and specific time slots go through the phone or reservations email rather than the online widget. Bookings also cannot be moved to Dinings SW3 in Chelsea, which the restaurant says runs under different management.

Dorset Square, beside Marylebone station and roughly ten minutes on foot from the restaurant, is where Thomas Lord opened his first cricket ground in 1787, the field that gave Marylebone Cricket Club its start before the club moved on to St John's Wood. Today it is a leafy residential garden square, and a slow lap of its railings makes a good warm-up before an early sitting at the counter.

St Mary's, Bryanston Square, closes the view at the north end of Bryanston Square on Wyndham Place, a short stroll east of Harcourt Street. Robert Smirke designed it as one of the Commissioners' churches of the early 1820s, and Historic England lists it at Grade I. Its rounded stone portico and small domed tower are easiest to admire from the long forecourt, especially in the fading light before a dinner booking.

Alfies Antique Market sits at 13-25 Church Street, NW8 8DT, reached by crossing Marylebone Road at Edgware Road and continuing north. Its dealers spread across several floors, and the market opens Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm. Saturday is the natural pairing: browse Church Street through the afternoon, then walk back south for dinner on Harcourt Street.

Dinings is at 22 Harcourt Street, London W1H 4HH. Edgware Road on the Bakerloo line and Marylebone station are both a short walk away, and Baker Street is reachable on foot for anyone coming off the Jubilee or Metropolitan lines.

Last orders, as listed on the official Find Us page: Tuesday – Thursday: 18:00 – 22:15; Friday – Saturday: 18:00 – 22:30; Saturday lunch: 12:30 – 15:15. Sunday and Monday: Closed. Saturday is therefore the only day with a midday sitting, and it is the easiest time to pair tempura nigiri with a walk around Dorset Square or the Church Street stalls.