Supreme sushi

Having trawled through a sea of sloshy and questionably authentic Japanese meals over the years, Lucinda O’Sullivan was over the moon to discover Eatokyo, Jay Chan’s fab new noodle and sushi bar on Wellington Quay

Having had a lot of awful food dished up in the name of Japan over the years, it was rather nice to discover Eatokyo, a delightful new noodle and sushi bar on Dublin’s Wellington Quay. It’s the venture of Jay Chan, who will be familiar to regulars of Musashi on Capel Street, where he had been working for the past four years. I rolled up for a late lunch — not always easy to find — with my friend Paul, but Eatokyo’s Lunch Special menu runs from 12pm to 5pm, alongside the regular Full Day Menu, so we cherry-picked from both.

Eatokyo is located on a corner, near the Ha’penny Bridge, so we bagged ourselves a table by the window, which was decorated with Japanese geisha figures and pretty cherry blossoms. The Lunch Special menu was great value, with various stir-fried noodle or curry dishes all at €8.50; while a traditional Bento lunchbox was €9.50, and includes a main dish from the Full Day Menu, plus two pieces of sushi and a side of miso and rice.

Wanting to see how they performed when it came to their signature dishes, we ordered three very different types of little dishes to share sushi, gyoza and tempura, to give us a good overview of how they handle their raw fish, hot dumplings and the traditional, ethereal, featherlight tempura batter. The sushi selection was enormous — big rolls, small rolls, combination plates, all very clearly laid out and explained. There was ama ebi — sweet shrimps; unagi — eel; tako — octopus; inari — fried egg, tuna, salmon, avocado, crab; but I was on to a winner when I spotted a quartet of soft-shell crab tempura futomaki (€8.50). These are big sushi rolls containing the notoften-seen delicious crustacean. Artfully presented, sprinkled with red fish eggs, they were more than a mouthful, and were served with pickled ginger and wasabi. Yasai gyoza (€6.40) consisted of six deliciously light, crescent-shaped vegetable dumplings — which are also available filled with prawn, garlic and chives; chicken and vegetable; or with a blend of pork and vegetables. Served with a gyoza dipping sauce, they were very tasty, and a far cry from the heavy ‘battledress’ versions I’ve had on many an occasion. Our third dish, ebi tempura (€6.90) — fabulous, big prawns with their tails on — were served standing up, and again, the tempura batter was so light and crunchy, they were perfection.

So the next question was, what were we going to have as mains? There was huge variety on offer, from noodle dishes (€12.90€15.90) of all shapes and sizes — yaki soba; yaki udon; ramen soup — involving chicken, pork, seafood and so on; to curries and Japanese teppan grill dishes (€13.90-€17.90) with striploin steak, chicken, salmon, tuna or tofu. I fancied yasai yaki saba (€12.90), while Paul put his eye on chicken katsu curry (€14.50), and we were in further luck because both were also on the lunchtime specials, at just €8.50 each. The yasai yaki soba was a fantastic dish of stir-fried egg noodles with crispy pieces of tofu, beansprouts, an abundance of fresh mangetout, broccoli, peppers and courgette, garnished with shallots, pickled ginger, sesame seeds and topped with a fried egg. I loved it all, with its deep, almost sweet, soya-based sauce. Paul, too, enjoyed his curry — the chicken was breadcrumbed and fried, and served with a light curry sauce on top, steamed rice, salads and Japanese pickles.

Wines are from €5.90 by the glass or €22 by the bottle, while Japanese wines, sake, sayuri and plum wine also listed. With two bottles of Asahi Japanese beer (€4.90 each) for Paul, and bottled water (€2.50) for me, our bill with optional service came to €56.10. Eatokyo, 51 Wellington Quay, Dublin 2. Tel: (01) 534-8576 eatokyo.ie lucindaosullivan.com