Kushi-Ya

Verdict

Kushi-Ya is the strongest argument in Nottingham for skipping a formal restaurant and eating at a charcoal grill counter instead. Two consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmands (2024 and 2025) confirm what regulars already know: the kitchen here delivers a level of technical precision you would not expect at this price point. If you have been once and stuck to the skewers, you are missing half the menu. Come back, arrive early, and work through the specials board.

What Kushi-Ya Actually Is

Most people assume izakaya dining means simple bar food. Kushi-Ya corrects that assumption quickly. The name translates as 'skewer shop', and charcoal-grilled skewers are the centrepiece, but the kitchen runs well beyond that brief. Small plates, a specials board with ingredients like duck hearts and mackerel crudo, a Japanese-Korean prawn cocktail, and desserts precise enough to close a much more expensive meal — this is a full cooking operation dressed in a casual format.

The room changed in 2024 when Kushi-Ya moved to its current address at 14a Low Pavement, accessed through a gated walkway off a side street. The setting — blond wood, dark-blue tiles, big windows, and an outdoor terrace , suits the food. It feels considered without trying to impress. For context on how izakaya spaces typically work, the approach here mirrors what you find at focused grill restaurants in Tokyo, such as Myojaku or Azabu Kadowaki, where the room is secondary to what comes off the grill.

What to Order If You Have Been Before

If your first visit was built around the skewers, that was the right call. Chicken tsukune with egg yolk and beef with black garlic mustard are both worth returning to. But the dishes that separate Kushi-Ya from any other grill in the East Midlands are elsewhere on the menu.

The prawn toasts are not optional. Small barrels of toast are piped with prawn filling and served with furikake and savoury mayo , technically a snack, but one that stays with you. The pickles plate , red radish, daikon, mushrooms, cucumber, all with sharp acidity , is the right way to start. From the specials, mackerel crudo with shiso and high-grade wasabi is the kind of dish that demonstrates how much the kitchen is doing within what looks like a simple format. On the dessert end, the black-sugar parfait with charred sesame-seed crisp is a well-constructed finish, and the matcha cheesecake with lime meringue handles sweet-sour balance better than most dedicated pastry programmes in the city.

The drinks list is short but purposeful: sake in cups and cans, Koshu wine, Japanese whiskies, and a cocktail range that includes a gochujang Old-Fashioned built on whisky, pineapple rum, and gochujang-honey syrup. It fits the food in a way that a standard wine list would not.

When to Go

Timing matters more here than at most comparable restaurants. Lunch is walk-in only for the sub-£20 menu, which makes it one of the better-value offers in Nottingham , but it fills fast. Get there early or accept that you will be waiting. The outdoor terrace is a genuine asset on warmer days; the East Midlands does not offer many restaurant terraces worth planning around, and this one is. Evening visits are more predictable in terms of availability, and the full menu is in play, but the lunch format is what gives Kushi-Ya a different kind of appeal in the city's dining week.

Know Before You Go

How It Compares

See the comparison section below for how Kushi-Ya sits against Nottingham's wider restaurant field.

FAQs

• What should a first-timer know about Kushi-Ya? The format is small plates and charcoal-grilled skewers, leading shared across two to four people. It is priced at ££, making it one of the more accessible Michelin-recognised restaurants in the East Midlands. The charcoal grill is the engine of the kitchen, but do not anchor your order entirely there , the specials board and snacks like the prawn toasts are where the cooking shows its range. For lunch, walk-in only and arrive early.
• Is the tasting menu worth it at Kushi-Ya? Kushi-Ya does not operate a tasting menu format , it is a small-plates and skewers menu that you build yourself. This is an advantage, not a limitation: you control the pace and spend, and at ££ pricing with two Bib Gourmand awards behind it, the kitchen delivers well above its price tier. For a fixed tasting menu experience in Nottingham, Restaurant Sat Bains or alchemilla operate at ££££ with that format. Kushi-Ya is the better answer if value and informality matter more to you than ceremony.
• How far ahead should I book Kushi-Ya? For evenings, booking is easy relative to the restaurant's reputation , a few days to a week ahead is typically sufficient. Lunch is walk-in only for the sub-£20 menu, so planning ahead there means arriving early rather than booking. Post-Bib Gourmand recognition in 2024 and 2025 has raised the profile, so weekends may require more lead time than midweek.
• Can I eat at the bar at Kushi-Ya? The venue keeps a portion of tables free for walk-ins, particularly at lunch. The layout , blond wood, a focused dining room, and a courtyard terrace , is not a traditional bar-counter setup in the way some izakaya restaurants operate, but the shared-plates format means solo or drop-in dining works well at available tables. If counter seating is a priority, confirm current arrangements directly with the venue.
• Is Kushi-Ya good for solo dining? Yes. The small-plates format is well-suited to solo diners , you can order three or four dishes and build a complete meal without the format penalising a single diner. At ££ pricing, the spend per head is reasonable, and the walk-in lunch offer is one of the better solo dining options in central Nottingham. The room and service style support it: this is not a setting where solo dining feels out of place.

Explore More in Nottingham

Kushi-Ya sits within a broader Nottingham dining scene that ranges from Michelin-starred modern British at Restaurant Sat Bains and plant-forward tasting menus at alchemilla to relaxed neighbourhood eating at Harts and fine food retail at Delilah Fine Foods. For Mediterranean small plates at a comparable price point, Ibérico World Tapas is the nearest direct comparison in format, if not in cuisine. Browse the full Nottingham restaurants guide, bars guide, hotels guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide for a complete picture of the city. For reference points further afield, the kind of precision-to-price ratio Kushi-Ya delivers in its category is comparable to what CORE by Clare Smyth, The Fat Duck, L'Enclume, Moor Hall, Gidleigh Park, and Hand and Flowers deliver in their own tiers , the principle of a kitchen punching above its weight is the same, even if the format and price differ significantly.