Restaurant in Bournemouth, United Kingdom
Counter sushi that earns its Michelin Plate.
Art Sushi in Westbourne holds consecutive Michelin Plates (2024, 2025) and a 4.8 Google rating, making it the most credentialed Japanese restaurant in the Bournemouth area. Chef-owner Kamil Skalczynski is an adviser to the World Sushi Skills Institute. At ££ pricing with a six-piece omakase and counter seating, it delivers verified quality at a price point that few regional UK Japanese restaurants match.
Art Sushi runs a small room in Westbourne, a suburb of Bournemouth, and the counter seats fill before most diners in the area have even considered booking. At ££ pricing with a 4.8 Google rating across 297 reviews and consecutive Michelin Plate awards in 2024 and 2025, this is the most credentialed Japanese restaurant in the Bournemouth area by a considerable distance. If you care about sushi technique and want to eat well on the Dorset coast without a London price tag, book the counter and go for the omakase. Everything else is a footnote.
Art Sushi sits beside a 1920s Grand Cinema in Westbourne, and its stark grey frontage gives little away. Inside, the room is deliberately spare: a sushi counter with oak tops is where the real action happens. The visual experience here is the preparation itself. Chef-owner Kamil Skalczynski works in front of you, and the precision of his knife work and plating is the centrepiece — not the décor. The contrast between the modest suburban setting and the quality on the counter is what makes this place worth seeking out. If you want ambient theatre, go elsewhere. If you want to watch genuinely skilled sushi preparation at close range, sit at the counter.
The omakase at Art Sushi is a six-piece chef's selection. For diners visiting from outside Bournemouth — or anyone who treats a tasting menu as the point of the meal rather than an option , this is the correct order. The format removes decision fatigue and puts the progression entirely in Kamil's hands. The menu architecture moves through California-style seafood variations in tempura (king prawns with mint, salmon with mango in brittle batter) into the more precise territory of nigiri, where scallop with tobiko roe and sansho pepper represents the kind of considered flavour pairing that rarely appears outside specialist Japanese restaurants in major cities.
The chirashi sushi builds on that visual register: glazed kanpyo gourd, soy-marinated ajitama (ramen eggs), edamame, avocado and chilli arranged over sea bass, salmon, yellowfin tuna, or Dorset crab. The use of local Dorset crab is a small but meaningful detail , it grounds the menu in its geography without compromising on the Japanese framework. Sundays are given over to chirashi feasts specifically, which makes a Sunday visit worth planning around if that format appeals.
For food and travel enthusiasts who use places like Myojaku in Tokyo or Azabu Kadowaki as reference points, Art Sushi will not match that level of ritual or ingredient sourcing depth. But for the UK regional restaurant circuit, the technical standard here is genuinely notable, and the price-to-quality ratio is hard to fault.
Kamil Skalczynski is a Polish-born chef who holds an advisory role with the World Sushi Skills Institute, a distinction conferred by the Japanese government. That credential is worth pausing on: it is not a self-declared accolade or a marketing claim. It places Kamil in a specific category of sushi practitioners recognised by the institution that governs the discipline in Japan. The Michelin Plate, awarded in both 2024 and 2025, reflects consistent kitchen standards rather than a one-off inspection result. Combined, these two signals tell you the cooking here has been verified by parties with no interest in flattering a Bournemouth suburb.
The drinks list at Art Sushi includes sake cocktails and a short selection of white wines described as sharply defined. This is not a venue where the wine programme will be a deciding factor, but for a ££ sushi counter, having sake cocktails available is the right call. They work with the food in a way that a conventional wine list often does not.
Art Sushi is rated Easy to book relative to its Michelin Plate peers, which is partly a function of its location outside a major city and partly its size. That said, the counter has limited seats, and a venue with this level of recognition in a mid-sized coastal town will fill on weekends. Do not assume walk-in availability on a Friday or Saturday evening. Booking ahead is the sensible approach. No booking method details are available in our current data, so check the venue's current contact details directly.
| Detail | Art Sushi | Comparable UK Regional Sushi |
|---|---|---|
| Price range | ££ | ££–£££ |
| Awards | Michelin Plate 2024, 2025 | Varies |
| Google rating | 4.8 (297 reviews) | Typically 4.3–4.7 |
| Booking difficulty | Easy | Easy–Moderate |
| Omakase available | Yes (6-piece chef's menu) | Rarely at this price tier |
| Sunday format | Chirashi sushi feasts | Standard à la carte |
| Chef credential | World Sushi Skills Institute adviser | Uncommon at regional level |
For a broader view of where Art Sushi sits in the local dining picture, see our full Bournemouth restaurants guide. If you're planning a longer trip, our Bournemouth hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide are worth consulting alongside.
For context on where Art Sushi sits within the broader UK tasting menu circuit, consider how it compares to Michelin-starred destinations further afield: Moor Hall in Aughton, hide and fox in Saltwood, and Gidleigh Park in Chagford all operate at a higher price point with more formal tasting menu structures. Art Sushi's value at ££ for Michelin-recognised Japanese food is the differentiator for budget-conscious food travellers who want verified quality without the starred-restaurant price commitment.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Art Sushi | Japanese | You can sit at individual oak-topped tables, but it’s at the counter where you can best appreciate the humble and determined approach of chef-owner Kamil. His dream of opening a bright, busy sushi restaurant became a reality here in the suburbs of Bournemouth. The seafood and vegetarian preparations are undertaken with care, understanding and respect; remove the stress of decision making by going for the omakase menu.; To one side of the old 1920s Grand Cinema in the Bournemouth suburb of Westbourne, Art Sushi's stark grey frontage marks a Japanese eatery of rare distinction. Its proprietor, Kamil Skalczynski, is an adviser with the World Sushi Skills Institute, a honour bestowed by the Japanese government – all the more remarkable for the fact that he happens to be Polish. In this small room with its counter seating, the flashing blades and exquisite presentation that make sushi preparation such consummate restaurant theatre are the object of beady-eyed attention. California-style seafood variations in tempura offer king prawns with mint or salmon with mango encased in brittle batter, while the platters of chirashi sushi mobilise visually ravishing garnishes of glazed kanpyo gourd, soy-marinated ajitama (aka ramen eggs), edamame, avocado and chilli for sea bass, salmon and yellowfin, or perhaps the white meat of Dorset crab. Nigiri are on point too – scallop with tobiko roe and smouldering sansho pepper, for example. The omakase selection is the chef's own six-piece menu surprise , while Sundays are reserved for chirashi sushi feasts. Sake cocktails and a short slate of sharply defined white wines help things along no end.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | Easy | — |
| CORE by Clare Smyth | Modern British | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Restaurant Gordon Ramsay | Contemporary European, French | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library | Modern French | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| The Ledbury | Modern European, Modern Cuisine | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Dinner by Heston Blumenthal | Modern British, Traditional British | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Yes, book the omakase. It's a six-piece chef's selection designed to remove the stress of ordering and showcase what Kamil Skalczynski does best. At ££ pricing with a Michelin Plate behind it, the omakase is the highest-value way to eat here. If you want more control over your meal, the chirashi sushi on Sundays is a strong alternative.
Art Sushi is the only Michelin Plate-recognised sushi venue in the Bournemouth area, so direct comparisons at this level don't exist locally. If you're weighing a trip from further afield, the trade-off is simple: you get serious Japanese technique at ££ pricing in a suburban setting rather than paying London prices for comparable precision.
Yes, particularly for two. The counter seating is where the experience pays off — watching Skalczynski work is the occasion in itself, and the Michelin Plate recognition gives you a credential to back the choice. It's a considered pick for a birthday or anniversary dinner for a couple rather than a group celebration.
The menu includes both seafood and vegetarian preparations, so vegetarians are accommodated. Beyond that, the venue database doesn't document specific allergy or dietary policies. Given the small kitchen and counter format, contacting the restaurant directly before booking is the practical step.
The stark grey frontage and spare interior point to a low-key, no-fuss room rather than a formal dining space. Clean, presentable casual is the logical call — this is a suburb of Bournemouth, not a Mayfair tasting room, and the ££ price range reflects that register.
Book at least one to two weeks ahead. The counter is small and the venue holds a Michelin Plate, which means demand exceeds what the room size can absorb. Sunday chirashi sushi sessions are a specific format, so if that's your target date, book early. Pearl rates it easy to book relative to Michelin peers, but that doesn't mean last-minute.
At ££, yes — this is a Michelin Plate venue where Kamil Skalczynski holds an advisory role with the World Sushi Skills Institute, a distinction granted by the Japanese government. You are getting technically credentialled counter sushi at a price point well below what comparable precision costs in London. The value case is clear.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
