Ukiyo

7-9 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2
www.ukiyobar.com

Sam had her sister Cara, her sister’s boyfriend Nick, and her friend Heath come over from Manchester for a weekend. She really should know better than to outsource her social planning to me – karaoke will inevitably feature somewhere. I suggested Ukiyo. Suzanne, Aoife and I had stumbled in there late one night before Christmas, commandeered the mike at some sort of hen party, and ran away quickly afterwards. But I was hooked, and in anticipation at being invited to join the party this time, or indeed inviting myself along like last time, I threw the option out there and it became a runner.

I have no idea what used to be there before Ukiyo. It was never a conspicuous building, and even now, you would never guess that the “Lost in Translation”-style booths on the lower floor even existed, if you just passed quickly by the door. We met in Dakota (the obligatory place for rendezvous nowadays, it seems), and moved quickly over to Ukiyo, where our dinner table was reserved for 22:00.

Walking into the restaurant, we headed for the bar, where we were told there was a two-minute wait to turn our table around, so we ordered a round of drinks. By the time they were poured, the table was ready, so we took charge of it straight away.

It would be a shame to focus on the entertainment at Ukiyo to the detriment of the food – because it’s good. Almost as good as the singing, actually... The menu is relatively long, and focuses on Japanese and Korean fare, in the main. I ordered a tuna carpaccio, described on the menu as “thinly sliced, seasoned, raw, blue fin tuna loin, with rocket, chilli and wasabi mayonnaise dip”. These dozen or so slices covered a large square white place, and the tang of the wasabi proved unbeatable. As a main course, I took the bul gogi – a Korean dish I developed a taste for back in Canada. The menu is a little long-winded here, but expresses the composition perfectly: “sliced, marinated striploin of beef, pan-fried, with mixed vegetables, served on a sizzling plate with rice and accompanied by traditional condiments- kimchi, chilli sauce, sliced chilli, garlic and lettuce leaves for hand rolling the meat”. How could I ever add to that dictionary-style definition? The only strange part was the half-a-lettuce that came with the condiments on a separate place – overkill, let us say. The beef was great – the marinade had penetrated deep, and the spice level was flawless.

The others chose dishes including ebi gyoza (prawn dumplings), beef tataki, salmon teriyaki and grilled seabass. All were pronounced excellent (or fabulous), but the karaoke stars were probably just as pleased, and certainly better lubricated, by the several bottles of wine and sake they put away. Sake makes some people … prickly, perhaps … I know it worked wonders on Heath/ Keith anyway: his performance started even before he left the table. But let’s not probe that too much, and we’ll focus instead on his later renditions, which spiced up our lives even more than the kimchi could at two o’clock in the morning. I’m just sorry that my phone battery was running low: YouTube needs some new idols – that’d be five salarimen on the verge, and a restaurant where the ambience is hard to beat, and the food is outstanding at every course.

Keep an eye out for another Ukiyo review soon: either because some people are jealous that I was such an outstanding performer last time, or they just want to try to prise the microphone from my hand at least once, there’s a challenge (re-)match on the way. I’m guessing it’ll be an evening not to be missed, and the same goes for the review. And if this trend continues, we’ll be renaming the blog “Karaoke Karōshi”.

Note: the bill was kindly covered by Sam, so the prices below are indicative of my own food choices only. I'll try to be more attentive next time, but the multiple flasks of sake really aren't conducive to remembering details...

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The Damage (EUR)

• 12.00 Tuna Carpaccio
• 17.50 Bul Gogi

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The Score
5.0 Food and Drink
5.0 Service
4.5 Décor
5.0 Ambience
4.0 Value
5.0 Overall Rating