Small plates & Sushi at Yume Kitchen – Cotham, Bristol

Reflecting on my new year's resolutions for 2015, I saw that I'd written 'try new things' (duh) and underneath that: 'ie sushi', I guess I always forget about these things, but sushi has been on my mind for a while now. I can't really call myself a foodie until I've tried it, right? Well, now I have, and I did the absolutely unheard of thing and ticked off one of my resolutions. Which means I can now officially declare myself a foodie. I hate that word.

I have a friend at work who loves Japanese food about as much as I do. She recommended Yume Kitchen for dinner so I went along with Beth for an evening of small plates and rose lemonade (the most delicious soft drink ever to be invented).

Yume means dream, according to the website, and a dream it was. We were greeted by a very friendly waitress who seated at a beautifully laid table, complete with gorgeous mahogany chopsticks and navy detailed crockery.

As total sushi novices, it took us a while to choose what we wanted, but once we had, our dishes came out in steady succession. First up was the tuna nigiri. It arrived pink, chilling on a little dome of rice. It was quite difficult to eat, but, overall, bloomin' delicious. Dipped in soy sauce the sweetness of the tuna and rice was offset perfectly. It was the best start to one of my favourite Japanese meals, ever.

 

Next came the chicken karaage – japanese style deep fried chicken marinated in garlic, ginger and soy sauce. This reminded me a lot of Bone Daddies' fried chicken and it was just as delicious, but the portion so tiny!

The penultimate dish was the homemade gyoza – pork with a garlic and ginger kick. These soft and squidgy dumplings were worth the waitress' recommendation. The crisp skin on the outside made them easy to dunk in the soy sauce (a must for gyozas) and the flavour, well, you could just tell it was homemade, and homemade well.

The main event and overall winner, however, was this: Tonpeiyaki. Thinly sliced pork and vegetables with omelette on top with katsu sauce and japanese mayo. Served sizzling on the plate, this dish was packed with an incredible barbecue flavour. The sauce was rich but so moreish. I think about it quite a lot. The tonpeiyaki was bigger than our other dishes, and Yume Kitchen did well to bring out our dishes in an appropriate order. 

I really wanted the macha ice cream to finish but we were stuffed. So, next time. And there most definitely will be a next time. Find out more about Yume Kitchen here.