eat beautiful

Here’s a true story about how, over two decades, itsu customers created a new and pioneering food place. Thank you to them for their thousands of emails, letters, texts and phone calls along the way.

I first visited Tokyo in the winter of ‘94 and fell in love with the harmony and precision of the food; every bento box was a work of art.

If beautiful food, fast, was humanly possible, then Japan was leading the way, and it’s probably why nearly 100,000 people there, are over one hundred years old.

I returned home determined to create a new kind of food place. I had no idea how hard it would be, but itsu Chelsea, London opened in 1997, itsu Soho a few years later, followed by 80 more over the next 20 years.

beautiful food, beautifully done

Most of our Asian-inspired ‘health & happiness’ dishes are under 500 [good] calories and are packed with vitamins, fibre & protein, over a third are plant-based.

Every itsu has its own kitchen team making nutritious dishes which are steamed [not fried] and made on the spot with responsibly sourced ingredients.

We have a half-price sale every evening to tackle food waste and because there is no ‘planet B’ we will continue to pioneer sustainable solutions within itsu at every opportunity. We pay our hard-working, proud, professional employees as much as we can possibly afford, rather than as little as we can get away with; their careers, passion and sense of purpose are vital to us all; they are our heart & hope for a bright future.

I promise we’ll keep listening, learning and staying restless for another 20 years.