Drgnfly Pan Asian Restaurant — Restaurant in England

What stunning restaurant, so beautifully decorated and styled, it really causes you to stop and stare as you enter the doors!

My husband and I had booked the Valentine’s set meal and had arrived a little early, we were the first to enter but were greeted warmly and shown to our table.

We enjoyed sipping some Valentines Cocktails whilst we waited on our food…

Nibbles - EBI Senbei (prawn crackers) - huge crackers with a spicy mayonnaise type dip to go with them.

To Start - Aigamo Gyozas (crispy duck dumplings with hoisin) & Heart-Shaped California Roll (Dorset crab meat, avocado and cucumber topped with tobiko, spicy may and tempura crumb). - Both were very tasty, the gyozas really crisp on the outside and the hoisin had a deep, strong flavour which was great. The California roll was really good, however they did fall apart really easily so you ended up with a good chunk of it in your soy dipping dish.

To Follow - Tori Katsu Curry (chicken katsu with Japanese curry sauce) & Yakisoba (chicken, king prawns and vegetables stir-fried with ramen noodles). Now these 2 dishes were absolutely fantastic! The chicken katsu was SO crisp, we’ve not experienced such a crisp coating ever in chicken, whilst the chicken stayed succulent and the sauce was really flavoursome. The yakisoba had plenty of chicken and prawns and the vegetables were very fresh.

To Finish - Matcha Platter For 2 (Two mini matcha brûlée, matcha mochi and matcha chocolate truffles). The brûlée was really creamy, although cold, the truffles smooth and intense and the mochi were incredibly cold (the centre was still a little frozen) and was so-so. Some improvement was needed here.

After the Valentine’s cocktails we had a couple of pints of Drgnfly pilsner which was a very decent pilsner, with great taste and a smooth finish.

Throughout the meal all servers were friendly, attention and smiling throughout the meal. Our main server was Karly and she was truly wonderful, so full of joy, nothing was too much trouble and she was enthusiastic about making sure you had everything to enjoy a great evening.

Thank you Karly!

Some feedback - for such an amazingly styled restaurant full out authentic charm, the music was a rather odd choice, it was standard music you would hear in the car, rather than some traditional Asian instrumental work that we...

DRGNFLY was highly recommended by everyone at my workplace as my colleagues know my wife is a Japanese cuisine aficionado while I am the whisky buff. So here we go… We were pleasantly impressed with this establishment, my wife and I rate the ambience a 10 on 10, the service was exceptional (a 11 on 10) and the value for money is a 10 on 10 too. Now, for the food,

1. The prawns tempura was good, the batter could have been a touch less(personal preference) , what would have made it an authentic experience for us is the sauce, I feel they should have used the Dashi or Mentsuyu which usually pairs perfectly. So a 8/10 for us.
2. The Sushi platter was a 10 on 10, the presentation was on point and quite artsy. (I personally like a strong wasabi blend but I do understand they would have a mild version to suit the palate of the patrons)
3. The Char Siu Ramen was a 7 on 10, what was impressive about it was the well cooked Pork, the seaweed was perfect and the flavours were on point. If we had to rate the presentation, it was definitely a 10 on 10. What would have made it perfect for us was the noodles as it felt like instant noodles instead of the ramen noodles we are used to.
4. The whisky, well, they do have a good selection, what I would have loved personally is if they had more Japanese whiskys, they should consider to stock up on Yamazaki and Hibiki which are excellent. ( I have to add, I was impressed with our host who actually listened to the feedback and encouraged us to share what could be improved on)

Overall, our experience was an 8 out of 10, we would visit them again for sure and we definitely recommend this establishment for someone who has yet to experience a Japanese fine dining experience. To the staff working here, you guys are simply superb, keep up your exceptional work and thank you for...

The food is great. Aspects of the organisation and management are lacking. Pricey.

The good: The food is five star. Excellent and very well diversified pan-asian menu really well explained by our excellent waiter Daniel. The food is a very high standard, especially the sushi and sashimi which is made fresh to order. My wife's mixed tuna and sashimi platter looked and tasted amazing. Our party of five were all very happy with our choices.

However......

There was no one to greet us when we walked in and I had to go and find someone. Then our table wasn't ready and we had to wait for 15 minutes in the bar area. At one stage we were told to move as apparantly we were standing in the 'wrong area' of the bar. Our waiter was great but obviously behind the scenes there were issues. My duck was only just warm and arrived 10 minutes before anyone else's main. When the other mains arrived one was missing by which time my duck was cold. Daniel told us the chef had quote "overcooked" the missing order and was having to start again, whatever that means. So my son's main arrived pretty much when everone else had finished.

Most worringly, my "imported" and very expensive Japanese beer was two months past its sell-by date. Not an issue for beer but a big worry for somewhere selling raw fish. If they can't keep track of the dates on the beer, what other out-of-date stuff are they trying to get rid of?

Our bill for 5 was £250 including service. Don't get me wrong, the food was excellent and the waiter was making the best of a bad job but it was quite obvious that behind the scenes, the kitchen and stock control is a...