Yokoya

Just popped in for drinks and a light snack this evening.
Big pour on the shochu was nice but for 7 quid it should be, 4 quid for a 4 piece chicken karaage was a bit steep.
Cant fault the size of the drinks or the taste of the food but the price point is a bit dear. Service was more or less friendly but slightly disorganized.
My tablemates’ salmon/​salmon roe combo looked fairly good so perhaps next time I will go with that instead

I had walked past this place a number of times and wasn’t sure what it was at first.
the kitchen is upstairs so it was a bit confusing, then on further inspection I found a food menu
with lots of fresh sashimi options and a truffle pasta (sounded great what is not to like?!) so decided to take my other half here to give it a try. We ate the freshest sweet prawns (served raw) I have ever had and it was amazing ! we shared a salmon sashimi and roe rice bowl (I occasionally dream about this bowl of joy) and we had a taste of what I think was a special for the next day pork belly that was stewed (but still in one piece) that was so tender and sweet it melted in my mouth. It is also a cocktail bar (open until 2), the house red is great, and there is a massive list of sake and wines.
second time we came we took our friends who also live nearby. we mainly went for the specials menu and also had a salmon rice bowl (obviously) and a Katsu curry (tasted like pure comfort) we ate super creamy sea urchin and a lot of different sashimi. Now our friends are hooked too and we will hopefully returning very soon !

A small Japanese bar /​restaurant… Difficult to be sure which one it wants to be.
The kitchen is upstairs with the entrance and looks a little messy. You head down stairs to the restaurant which has limited space and was quite busy with a mixture of drinkers and diners. We opted to seat at the bar and the service was very friendly and welcoming. The clients are mostly Japanese, which is probably a good sign.
We went for a mixture of food which was all pretty good, mostly tapas size portions. The aims were a good size and my Katsu curry was very tasty. The service while very good was extremely slow, the food came out in no order with some of us not getting served until others had finished
A nice little place but best to catch them when they are not so busy.

Fabulous food. My new local izakaye/​tapas bar. The uni was soooo creamy and squid pasta and eel donburi yum. Open 7 days a week. New resto since oct 2013