This restaurant definitely has something going for it, although they might need to iron out a few kinks (as do most new restaurants). We arrived at 8:15PM on a Saturday night and managed to snag the last table.
We ordered the Blanchailles Frites & Arachides Sriracha, which were great to snack on. Would go perfect with a beer, but we opted for a cocktail (Old Royal Jelly - A Old Fashioned style cocktail, and a Golden Slumber - very refreshing, almost mojito like).
We then had the BBQ Pork, which was perfectly cooked. Moist and a fatty belly, the oyster emulsion was also great. Also had the aubergines. This dish was good, but nothing to write home about. Also the aubergines really need a knife to cut through, something that should have been provided to accompany the chopsticks. We switched to the Barbaresco from Langhe for this course, which was a good balance for the BBQ Pork & also didn't overpower the fish.
Next up was the Omble Chevalier. This was served in three ways. 1) Sashimi; 2) Poached; 3) Grilled. The sashimi and the grilled filet were excellent. Simple & clean flavours. I'm not normally a big fan of poached fish, and this one didn't wow me either. However, given my aversion to poached, I'll still give this dish a thumbs up.
Desert was the Xiao Long Bao. A nice take on the original. Points for creativity, but I think it was a bit confused. The table next to us had the orange ice cream, and were raving about it, so I will try that next time.
Overall: As I mentioned earlier, they have a few kinks to work out service wise. The waiter needed to be reminded about our wine, and had a bit of trouble opening it in the cramped tables. Also had some trouble pronouncing Okinomiyaki (which I know is a mouthful, but should be known by the staff). I'm also kinda comparing it to Cafe Sardine, which had impeccable service.
I will return here soon & hope that all the opening jitters have been settled. I definitely enjoyed the style of food, decor and atmosphere. I look forward to good things from here.