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Like a Japanese friend's home
2013-12-10 1864 views
Had dinner at Ichiban on a Monday night. There was another table of Japanese sitting on the other side enjoying their happy hour drinks. (There were a Japanese customers both times I visited). The Japanese owner is nice. They are not people who are overly super friendly. But it is a great family run neighbourhood restaurant.This is a real 居酒屋 izakaya. Their menu is not packed with grilled skewer items only. They have many small dishes for eating with sake (or as appertizers), many stew (燉), rice
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Had dinner at Ichiban on a Monday night. There was another table of Japanese sitting on the other side enjoying their happy hour drinks. (There were a Japanese customers both times I visited). The Japanese owner is nice. They are not people who are overly super friendly. But it is a great family run neighbourhood restaurant.This is a real 居酒屋 izakaya. Their menu is not packed with grilled skewer items only. They have many small dishes for eating with sake (or as appertizers), many stew (燉), rice, noodles options as well.We ordered a egg tofu pot 雞蛋豆腐煲, an octopus wasabi 芥末章魚 appertizer (yummy!), a cold udon 稻庭烏冬. Simple food but it feels very warm and homey eating here. Last time I was here, I also had some skewers and they are very good.These days in HK, either restaurants have super long queue, or they are chains runned by big groups. But in small family run restaurants, you can feel the 人情味. The menu is not mainstream or innovative. There might be small flaws in the service or food. But you come to eat something the restaurants prepares with heart - like eating at a friend's home - a Japanese friend's home. This will definitely be on my regular dinner list.

A side note, when we tried to call and make a reservation, the lady sounded "don't care" on the phone. But when we arrived and saw her, she was very nice. The second time I ate there, we even had some fun chit chat.
Other Info. : They are open for dinner only 6pm-2am as of Dec'13 when I visited. Great place for late night snack or if you want to hang out with friends to have a drink + snack til late.
(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
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    DETAILED RATING
    Taste
    Decor
    Service
    Hygiene
    Value
    Date of Visit
    2013-12-09
    Dining Method
    Dine In
    Spending Per Head
    $120 (Dinner)
    Recommended Dishes
    • appertizers
    • 鍋
    • Japanese 前菜
    • 芥末章魚
    • 稻庭烏冬