Pompoko — Restaurant in Great Britain

I was ready and really excited to try Pompoko. I'd be keen to know if the name related to the Studio Ghibli film and the sound effect of drumming on your belly as raccoons might make. But my knowledge of Japanese sadly is limited to 何 or maybe ありがとう and so while I won't be able answer too soon, in any case I very much love japanese food and so was very keen to try Pompoko on my second attempt (you'll see why shortly).

The venue does Nipon proud, with its shades and door covers as well as helpful friendly staff, giving the venue a real Japanese alley restaurant vibe, while the menu with half visual just about does the punters proud, but our meals, sadly, were of variable success.

This is, of course if you don't notice first time this is a cash only place. That of course bucks the global, societal and temporal change to contactless only (or even just being able to pay in house with a physical card rather than cash only), and caught me out on my first visit, returning two weeks later with actual, hard cash salivating at the prospect of proper Japanese style and attention to detail. Sadly if you are this far in you'll be disappointed, as we were.

Starters of a bag of prawn crackers could have come from any Chinese take away and the order purchase at the till of starters then main course were basically ignored. That's fine, for our order of dry udon or don buri with tempura ebi and takoyaki but might have been a bigger problem with more ordered. But there was also an ebi udon which should have had less sauce for the youngsters we were with, we'll come to that in a bit

Sadly, dishes came cold and the beef sesame don buri was chewy and tasteless in the extreme, with no amount of chilli or soy sauce able to brighten it up. Fried goods such as the tempura ebi or takoyaki saved the day but helping the girls to eat the dry Yaki Udon was a chore for me, let alone them, even considering no consideration had gone into less sauce.

In all this is a place that will fill a hole and for two and two halves eating with soft drinks for around £40, well it did the job, but would I go back? No. There was no attention to detail here, no love for the food, no "omotenashi", for all the effort on the decor.

If you want good Japanese food, you should go elsewhere, if you want acceptable Japanese food Yo! (for all its western faults is round the corner), sadly Pompoko does not deliver where it needs most, in effort and taste, and that's a real...

Date: 14th April 2025 Cost: £40 for two

Thanks to the crowds of people standing in the street perusing menus or hustling for space on others’ tables I see every time I walk past, I’d always associated Pompoko with those lovely local hidden gems, always full with repeat custom from those in the know. But the allure of rice bowls and noodle dishes just hasn’t been enough to warrant a deliberate diversion, particularly as I cook lots of them at home. However, the need to squeeze a meal in between the end of a working Monday and an early gig at the Corn Exchange - a mere javelinned chopstick away - presented the perfect opportunity.

A member of staff was handing out tokens for free stuff at their newly opened Kemptown branch, and so the usual crowds dispersed quickly - Mich was seated by the time I’d nipped back from Tesco for cash (no card payments) and beers (£2.50/pp corkage fee). In a bind you can factor the efficiency of the service into your wait time anyway - I was barely back up the tiny staircase (order at the kiosk downstairs) before everything we’d ordered arrived at once.

My chicken shougayaki don - plainish (and precooked) chicken and green peppers - felt like a very safe and boring option almost as soon as I’d ordered it. Which was kind of exactly how it turned out to be. Nice. Mich had a nanban don, which I always find surprising to not hate given the sweet stickiness of the chicken and the squeezy tartare mayo stuff; it made me wish I’d gone for something more interesting. The prawn tempura, gyoza and edamame (warm and unsalted) only served really to fill holes in tummies - slightly unnecessarily as it turned out, as the donburi were deceptively filling.

Having been there, I’ll now associate Pompoko with its simple, cheap and efficient Japanese fare - a tasty enough option and pretty enjoyable experience, but not particularly stand-out. I’d go back out of convenience, and not be annoyed about it, but there’s still not enough there to warrant a...

Visited this place 15 years ago, used to be reasonably good with the Japanese owners.

Visited 1st time again in 15 years later, clearly it is now owned and runned by Chinese/Malaysian owner.

The restaurant still look exactly the same, and it is getting dated with the same old decorations and furnitures.

Price was OK, 1 starter and 2 mains came to £27. Portions are small, Yakitori Skewers are just a fraction bigger than the chopsticks, the smallest amount of meat I have ever seen and been served with, and there were some chicken skin and fat on the Skewers too.

The WORST was the Katsu Don, the pork was obviously a few days old, and it was microwaved and served, the pork was tough, dry and stale, see photos. There is a very strange taste to it, and the rest was left untouched obviously. The Soy Sauce on the rice was too salty too.

I have noticed alot of Luckyboat number 1 thick noodles left by the stairs area, usually these noodles are used for Chinese chow mein.

The 2 chefs on duty on 27th June 2024 12:00pm were speaking in Malaysian Chinese, talking loudly in the kitchen and there was no evidence of any cooking from the kitchen, there was no aroma from fresh cooking or frying.

This is not an authentic Japanese fast food restaurant, I strongly do not recommend this place simply because they are not fresh and they have not got a clue...