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| - Casual and trendy place playing mainstream J-pop hits from m-flo to AKB48 and offering well-priced bento lunch and 'tapas' styled dinner.
Lunch: (4.5/5 stars)
I ordered the Take Box with salmon. It comes with salad, miso soup, kansai-styled sushi, petit tempura shrimp and chicken croquette for $13. Both the sushi and tempura were excellent, but the croquette had only potato and no chicken! The grilled salmon portion was small but the terriyaki sauce and sweet-savory taste made up for it. Lunch time isn't very busy and the staff are friendly. Plus, you get the taiko drumming and greeting shouts.
Dinner (3.5/stars)
I ordered the miso marinated mackerel, avocado croquette and the seafood udon, which added up to around $20. The mackerel was disappointing; way overcooked and chewy (and looked different from the menu picture!). The avocado croquette was a nice surprise - creamy avocado mashed with potato and deep fried in a whole avocado skin. Definetly recommend it! The seafood udon is a generous portion filled with clam, mussel, squid and scallop. I also tried the kimchi pork udon - both are excellent and good a way to fill up.
I noticed that DonDon has been been having a hard time as its constantly being compared with Guu. This is somewhat unfair - if you visit any izakaya in Tokyo you will find that the layout (communal tables + bar etc.) and the environment (warm welcome shouts and farewells) are the same. The layout and restaurant culture is not unique to Guu. Dondon has captured the friendly and casual environment of the late night izakaya, perhaps in a slightly more trendy environment The menu still needs some improvement, but I'm certainly enthusiastic to come back again.
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