Mie F.
Yelp
If you're looking for a place to bring your hip friends visiting from London, Berlin or other cool European capitals, bring them to Izakaya - they'll feel right at home ;)
Izakaya is tucked away down in the basement of a nondescript building in St Olavs gate, and there is nothing but the sign on the door to signify that a japanese restaurant is hiddem inside. Inside, there are a few communal seating tables, a bar and plenty of kitchy japanese posters. All of this of course amplifies the hipster vibe.
I started with one of the many exciting cocktails on the menu, with ginger and sweet basil - it did not disappoint. The menu has a rather small selection of dishes which are meant to be shared (i.e. the format we usually know as tapas). It must be noted that the service at Izakaya needs to improve - the two japanese girls that waited on the tables spoke neither good English, nor Norwegian, and the food took a very long time to arrive. One of the waiters seemed not to understand what we were saying at all, and could not answer any questions about the menu. If the staff had been nice, I could have said that the communication issues only made the experience more authentically Japanese, but sadly, they were not.
However - the food was excellent. We were first served Bang Bang Ji - cold shredded chicken in a creamy sesame sauce - which I thought was the best dish of the night. Next, we were served Korean spinach pancakes with dipping sauce. I had expected these to be outstanding, and was a little disappointed, but they were salty and tasty all the same. The soba noodle salad with walnuts was excactly as acidic and fresh tasting as I like it to be, and the shiitake mushrooms fried in butter with ponzu sauce were just delicious. The chicken meatballs with sweet teriyaki sauce and mustard were perhaps the least exciting dish, and could have done with more seasoning. Next time, I will definitely try the pork goyza (dumplings), which seemed to be very popular with the other diners.
We finished the meal with two more cocktails (the amaretto and cardamom one stole the show) and a black sesame ice cream served with a drizzle of dark syrup. I would definitely urge anyone to try the ice cream, even though it might seem a bit weird to our western tastes (but then I love all things sesame).
The bill came at 821NOK for 3 cocktails (98NOK each), one ginger beer, 5 dishes and 2 ice creams, which is definitely ok, allthough it would probably not have been enough food for big eaters, as some of the plates are very small. However, I would say that the best way to approach eating at Izakaya would be to relax with drinks and good company, and order dishes as you feel like it, as opposed to having everything at once. It is a perfect place to hang out with with friends, have some exciting nibbles and feel like the hippest kids in town ;)