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| - We went out last night to celebrate the successful completion of a big project. I was honestly exhausted from staying up working the night before, and didn't have the energy to go very far for a nice meal. We debated between Italian and Japanese, and opted to go to Bistro Isakaya.
Funny enough, I ended up sitting at the same table as last time, back in September. I was worried the small portions wouldn't be enough (we were quite hungry), so we ordered Chawanmushi (seafood egg custard), Age-dashi tofu (fried tofu in bonito broth), Age-nasu (fried eggplant in bonito broth), Tempura udon and Sushimori (plate of 16 sushi pieces).
We started with complimentary miso soup and salad. The fried tofu, fried eggplant and egg custard came next. The dishes were small, but full of authentic and comforting flavors. The "main" dishes came last, although at this point we were decently satiated. The udon broth was very flavorful, but a tad too salty. Again, it wasn't a very big portion, but since we ate all those appetizers, it didn't matter. The sushi plate was nicely prepared and the seafood was fresh and well cut. The octopus had a particularly great texture. The total came to ~65$, which is not bad for 5 dishes (we shared everything). The pace of the dinner was well controlled, with dishes served once the previous ones were finished. A nice cup of green tea at the end would have been perfect.
I came to realise that Bistro Isakaya probably made a lot of compromises to satisfy a boad range of customers. It is expected that a Japanese restaurant serves sushi and ramen - but an "izakaya" is actually a place to drink, unwind and eat/share small tapas-like dishes. As it currently is, Bistro Isakaya's menu is a hybrid with traditionnal izakaya dishes and westernized "main courses". I guess it works out in the end, but the pricing suffered in consequence.
P.S. Love the Joe Hisaishi/Hayao Miyazaki soundtracks playing in the background.
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