Nigiri - Kirkintilloch — Restaurant in Scotland

Given it's midweek and they were quiet, this is probably not an anonymous review. :-D

Randomly decided to go here and booked in advance. I don't know how busy it gets, but it's pretty small so I would think that booking would be a good idea.

It has a odd, but not bad vibe. It's very small and is also a takeaway and is in the back-end of Kirkintilloch Cowgate so isn't in the prettiest part of town. There's some big neon and some anime-esque wall art which is cool. There's every possibility that this is more authentic Japanese than the big chains. It reminds me a little of an South Asian sweetie shop in Yorkshire that I used to go to for lunch that did awesome curry with no fuss.

There were two guys working. One entirely doing cooking and the other who I assume was the owner, who helped the other guy and did the waiter stuff. Nice guy and was very friendly and helpful. (I'm sure the other guy was lovely too, but we didn't talk to him)

We ordered chicken gyoza and prawn tempura which came quickly and were really good. For mains we had chicken teryaki and salmon nigiri. Both were decent portions (if you're having the nigiri then the smaller portion option is quite small, so if you're not on a diet then go for the bigger one). Mine was the teryaki and it was tasty, had very tender chicken and really nice pickled and non-pickled veg which is a massive compliment from me as I'm not a big veg fan at all. In fact the only veg I left was cucumber (I don't see the point of cucumber) which for me is very unusual. My wife really enjoyed the nigiri, particularly the pickled ginger that came with.

I'm not sure what I expected, but I wasn't disappointed. I gave it less than 5 stars for atmosphere only because it does have a bit of a back of a takeaway vibe and where it is, but I'd give less stars to an anonymous chain restaurant. This has some personality.

I don't generally eat in Japanese restaurants (there aren't a lot around these parts) so I can't comment on how good the food is in comparison to other places, but we both thoroughly enjoyed our visit and will...

I never like leaving a substandard review but I can’t say the meal was amazing.

We ordered two ramen, one beef tonkotsu the other chicken spicy, a seafood sushi platter, salmon nigiris, avocado maki and salmon maki.

The chicken was so dry I couldn’t eat it. I pushed it to the side after one bite was too much. I thought the broth would at least be good (I make my own in the house and it’s not difficult) but it was bland with no taste just heat and usually I like spice but this was just catching the back of my throat and it was really greasy! Ramen is meant to be healthy ish but by frying pak choi etc before putting it in the broth I suspect is why it was swimming in grease. When the waitress collected the bowl she should have noticed the chicken wasn’t touched. Not great.

The Tonkotsu broth was again similarly bland which in my experience is really unheard of. It’s meant to be bone broth cooked for 18 hours, this was not it. The beef was also like tiny strips which again were cooked through. It should usually be served rare.

The salmon and avocado sushi as well as nigiri was actually nice. But the maki that came with the platter was weird. Like spice tuna from a tin or something? Also the California roll was a seafood stick rather than crab, it’s not sushi imo.

I really hope this place learns from this and makes...

This has been rather disappointing visit coming with high expectations after reading the reviews.. 😞 We must have been unlucky to come when the kitchen was unable to work well because food took so long to arrive. The lady said there are two guys who however don't speak to each other and offered some crackers (which she scooped with her hand without washing it a single times!!) 😭😵 we ordered some edamame when we arrived because we were starving and it arrived as the LAST dish. Sushi rolls were full of rice and hardly any salmon. Please tell your chef that double layer of rice really is NOT cool! California roll came with a seafood stick inside!! That doesn't even includes crab. 🙏🏻 Buns were another disappointment - they were half dried/stale and half soggy from the bucket of sauce they sat in. Also salmon and pork buns had exactly same garnish that totally overpowered the protein. Although with the pork it was probably a intention as the meat wasn't cooked properly and was hard to chew. Miso soup was ok but you'd probably get very similar from a package from supermarket.. Seaweed salad was probably the worst one I've ever had - poor texture and sweet was the main flavour.. Decor was interesting and together with the music looked like what I imagine Japanese underground be like. 😃 love Japanese food but won't be...