Hesitant to come here at first despite all the good reviews. It's just the concept of paying for a meal where the star attraction is the noodles and the dipping sauce it comes in just isn't that appealing. I'm used to a bowl of noodles where the broth is the highlight of the dish or the ingredients are and the noodles just complement as well as add some filling in the bowl.
Being this was my first time at I-Naba i opted to try the evening's tasting menu which was a 4 course dinner for 18. Portions were small which reflects traditional Japanese style. I didn't remember to take a picture of the tasting menu. With that in mind i'm going to describe what came out without knowing their proper names or the other option available.
1st course - braised mackrel
Served cold which was a surprise to me but still pretty good. The sauce they braised in it was light and refreshing and paired quite nicely with the mackrel
2nd course - deep fried shrimp with a hunk of fish cake attached to it served with fried tofu and eggplant in sauce
The fish cake is very Japanese which is the only way i can describe it. Flavored with herbs and heavy with course cuts of vegetables. not exactly what i was expecting with it comes to fish cake but it was still nice.
3rd course - Bowl of udon soup with slices of rib eye
Even though this place is known for it's soba noodles the udon is excellent. The broth was light and refreshing as well as complemented the udon noodles quite well.
4th course - shaved watermelon ice with sesame ice cream
The sesame ice cream had honey drizzled over it and was a small scoop but packed a very rich and pleasant sesame taste. They did an excellent job shaving the watermelon ice as it wasn't prone to melting quickly and had a rich watermelon taste.
Not exactly what i was expecting at all when i came here but will gladly return.