It may seem a little strange to you, our readers, that we often wonder where to eat even when we have a free night to ourselves, much less when it’s an occasion like our wedding anniversary!

Thankfully, Leslie took notes at a recent wedding luncheon when he quizzed the young man sitting next to him about his favourite food haunts. So thanks to Shang (the young man, who is actually not that young, just younger), we found ourselves seated at the counter of a very “happening” modern izakaya. I instantly felt hip just by being there.

The first thing that caught my attention was the DJ in the corner, mixing music for the dinner crowd. The space isn’t huge, but the owners clearly decided that dedicating space to a DJ was important. More on that later.

I’ll start by saying that the food did not blow me away. Here’s the but. The chef, who has experience in French cuisine, clearly has a good sense of flavour combinations, and all the dishes were well executed.

The menu is not extensive – just eight appetizers, eight hot dishes and dessert, all listed on a single sheet of paper. As such, we can safely say we tried almost half the menu.

The most interesting dish was the Dashi Egg $12+ (first photo). Essentially hard-boiled eggs, where the yolk is mashed through a wire sieve and sprinkled on top of the whites which have been filled with tartare sauce. It was refreshing to have something so familiar, presented in a completely different way.

Unfortunately, the Yuzu Daikon $8+ (no photo) was a bit of a disappointment. We were expecting a piece of daikon simmered in dashi with a gentle yuzu tang. Instead, we were served a small sauce bowl of pickled vegetables. We honestly thought it was a complimentary appetizer that came with our drinks. We only realised what it was after asking if they had forgotten our order. An embarrassing moment for everyone, I think.

Nonetheless, the Sweet Potato Tempura $15+ was nice...