Image:
* Bamboo Noodle Bar
* Shiki Japanese Restaurant
* Ah So Tepin Yaki Restaurant
* Wagamama
Image:
6, Tombland, Norwich, Norfolk NR3 1HE
Tel: 01603 619262
Smoking: Yes (at time of visit)
Parking: No. Nearest parking Tombland or Magdalen Street.
Expect to pay: £25 (approx) a head for two courses with drinks and £30 (approx) a head for three courses with drinks
This was a bit of a strange one. We originally left the house to go and get fish and chips and come back again. Then I decided that I wanted steak so we went into town. By the time we got to town, I'd decided that I wanted sushi. I was in one of those moods.
I hadn't been here since my ill-fated experience 3 years ago but so many people have told me how good it is and someone even had a go at me on my guestbook so I thought I'd better try it. I was ready to forgive and forget for some good sushi. Shiki, all is forgiven. We had a fantastic night and I'll definitely be coming back in the near future.
We were met by a very friendly chap who had a table instantly cleared for us. He sat us and brought us menus and told us about the specials, which I really liked. The atmosphere was pretty lively. The room was filled with conversation, laughter and the music at just the right level. The service, this time, was also very good. I did have a feeling of 'oh no, not again' when the waitress struggled to open our bottle of wine and then pour it whilst holding the neck of the bottle - one of my absolute bugbears! However, that was only a minor indiscretion as for the rest of the night, the staff were efficient, polite, knowledgable and inobtrusive.
There is an amazing amount of choice - from a Bento Box (a kind of 'lunchbox' divided into 4 sections served with miso soup and rice) or teriyaki dishes, Japanese curries or salads and of course sushi. There are so many types of sushi, samshimi and rolls to choose from. If you are a sushi novice you may need the help of your waiter!
The food was fantastic and I definitely won't be leaving it so long before I come back again.
I had: The Shiki Bento Box Set Meal: An appetiser of seaweed, cherry tomato, cucumber, tofu and sesame seeds. Fantastically fresh and tasty ingrediants, really got the appetite going and my mouth watering.
This was followed by a very hot and delicious bowl of miso soup. Really good flavours and surprisingly filling.
Next, came the tempura. Beautifully light and crisp batter with succent prawns and perfectly cooked veg served with a wonderful sweet and sour dip.
Then came the main event - the bento box. One section was filled with sushi, one was filled with pork gyoza (dumplings) and the other had griddled prawns. Along with this, I also got a bowl of sticky rice to eat with it. It was all incredible. There was SO much sushi - sashimi salmon, eel and tuna, california and sushi rolls and squid, salmon, tuna and seabass negri. All served with wasabi, pickled ginger and a little 'teapot' of soy sauce. I was in heaven. The gyoza were hot, soft, and moorish. The pork inside was juicy and sweet. I could have eaten a bucket of them. The prawns were also delicious. I was so full, but also disappointed when I'd finished. I wanted to carry on eating!!
Shiki does do desserts, but we were too full to even comtemplate them.
For the sushi fan and the sushi novice, this place is perfect to come and have a really sociable, fun, exciting and tasty meal. I can see this place becoming a bit of a favourite and I take back all I said in my last review.
Rating:
Food: ***** Service **** Atmosphere ***** Menu ***** Wine/Drinks *****
OVERALL = ****1/2
Image:
16, Prince Of Wales Rd, Norwich, Norfolk NR1 1LB
Tel: 01603 618901
Smoking: No
Parking: No. Meter parking on Prince of Wales Road
Expect to pay: £20-25 (approx) a head for two courses with drinks and £25-30 (approx) a head for three courses with drinks
It's my birthday!!! I decided I wanted to treat myself and also introduce a couple of my friends to this fantastic place. I hadn't been here for a while so I was really excited. I'd been thinking about - and the sushi I was going to have - all day. It didn't let me down. This was possibly one of the best meals I've ever had, anywhere in the world.
I was really impressed with the new menus - which now incoporate sushi/sashimi into the 'meal deals'. You can also add bits to your meal - extra sushi (which I indulged in) and tempura for an extra cost. Not so great if you don't like raw fish I suppose...
The only slight 'complaint' if I really have to have one is that you no longer get a bowl of miso soup at the start of your meal and oysters have been taken off the menu. It didn't spoil my enjoyment one bit and it's just an observation.
The service and the show put on by our chef was fantastic, the food was out of this world, the rosé we drank with it was superb and overall it was a fantastic evening. Can't wait to come back here again.
I had: I had the sushi and sashimi to start with and ordered extra. I also ate some of Catherine's! I was so looking forward to this, I was almost drooling. It was absolutely perfect. There can be no better combination that raw tuna, soy sauce, ginger and wasabi - magic.
For main, I shared king prawns, yellow fin tuna (cooked rare at my request) and seabass with griddled vegetables and egg fried rice. The prawns were monstrous! They were absolutely gorgeous, better than lobster in my opinion and had us all making rather obscene noises in appreciation. The seabass was fresh and perfectly cooked, and also really well seasoned. The tuna was amazing. Charred on the outside and red in the middle, it melted in the mouth.
My friend Jason and I decided to go for dessert. Fresh fruit cooked on the griddle with flash fried ice-cream. This was unbelieveable. Our waiter put on a real show, turning off the lights and making an inferno just inches from our faces. Beautiful fruit, fantastic ice-cream and a wonderful sauce all prepared in front of us in seconds. A truly sensational meal and one I'll hopefully be repeating in the near future.
Rating:
Food ***** Service ***** Atmosphere ***** Menu ***** Wine/Drinks *****
Image:
Chapelfield Mall, Norwich (proper address and tel no to follow when I get it!)
Smoking: No
Parking: No. Closest parking Forum carpark
Expect to pay: £15-20 (approx) a head for two courses with drinks and £20-25 (approx) a head for three courses with drinks
I was unsure whether I should do a review for this. Like quite a lot of people in the city, I was invited here for a FREE meal as part of Wagamama's staff training before they open properly next week. It seemed a bit unfair to review a restaurant that isn't properly open and was given me free food. It also seems unfair to review staff who are a bit inexperienced.
However, as I started this website to write about all my eating experiences in the city, I felt that I would write a small review.
Understandably the service wasn't great, the drinks arrived after the food, the mains arrived about 8 minutes apart (yeah, I know it's the 'Wagamama way' but it's a bit annoying) and our side orders arrived after we'd finished our meal. However, it was a training night and it didn't spoil our experience. We'll definitely be back in the future.
I had: I'd been looking forward to a chilli beef reman all day - I'd had it quite a few times in London. I was also really in the mood for noodles. So why did I go for the king prawns in a lime and coconut curry sauce with chillies, peppers, coriander and rice? No idea! It was, however, absolutely superb. Just the right hotness and the prawns wre plump and juicy. The rice was perfectly sticky and easily pickupable even for the least dexterious people like me. Really good. It must also be a new thing on the menu as I can't find it on the website.
I also shared a bit of Catherine's chicken remen, which was wonderful. A gorgeous soup with so many flavours - chilli, sesame, coriander - going on with loads of noodles and lovely slices of juicy chicken on top. Very filling.
We shared sides of deep fried prawns in breadcrumbs with sweet chilli sauce and lime, which were fantastic, and also some duck gyoza with hoy sin sauce, which were slightly overdone but still really good.
All washed down with Tiger beer. We left very full and very happy.
Rating
Food **** Service *** Atmosphere *** Menu ***** Wine/Drinks ***
OVERALL ***
Image:
16, Prince Of Wales Rd, Norwich, Norfolk NR1 1LB
Tel: 01603 618901
Smoking: No
Parking: No. Meter parking on Prince of Wales Road
Expect to pay: £20-25 (approx) a head for two courses with drinks and £25-30 (approx) a head for three courses with drinks
Back again. We hadn't been out with a couple of friends for ages and they really fancied coming here - after we'd raved about it so much from our first visit.
It was just as good as last time, maybe even better. The service was excellent, the show our (very shy and sweet) Japanese chef put on was brilliant, the atmosphere was great - everyone just has to watch the chef, you can't help yourself, and the food was out of this world again. The wine, like last time, was absolutely perfect. When I'm rich and famous I think I might come here to eat every day.
I had: For a 'starter' I had some sashimi (raw fish). Everything just comes when it's ready in this place and fortunately this arrived before they started cooking. It was out of this world. Just wonderfully fresh salmon and gloriously pink tuna with soy sauce and wasabi to dip it in. The best appetiser in the world.
For main course I shared the two-person meal with Catherine. You have to chose 3 items from a mouth watering array of fresh fish and meats - steak, duck, pork, chicken, lamb, salmon teriyaki, sea bass, king tiger prawns, yellow fin tuna. We opted for the salmon, prawns and tuna. So glad we did. Before this arrived we were treated to some griddled vegetables and egg-fried rice (with lots of garlic!). The veg was excellent. Red onions, mini corn cobs, asparagus and courgettes. We were told which of the three sauces to dip it them into before eating - soy, apple or garlic and tomato.
The prawns were just unbelievable again - cooked perfectly and then quickly flash fried in butter then served. There isn't an adjective good enough to describe how great they were.
The salmon was also very good. Although I didn't really agree with ordering this because I wanted the seabass, I have to say the salmon and the teriyaki sauce is a perfect marriage. Wafer-crisp skin with perfectly cooked fish quickly dosed in the thick, slightly sweet sauce.
The yellow-fin tuna was just unbelievable. I managed to persuade Catherine to let the chef cook it rare and it was just perfect. Completely and utterly the best piece of fish or seafood I have ever had in my life.
Rating:
Food ***** Service ***** Atmosphere ***** Menu ***** Wine/Drinks *****
OVERALL = *****
For older reviews of Ah So, click here
Image:
81, Prince Of Wales Rd, Norwich, Norfolk NR1 1DG
Tel: 01603 614714
Smoking: No
Parking: No. Nearest parking is meters on Prince of Wales Road
Expect to pay: £15-20 (approx) a head for two courses with drinks and £20-25 (approx) a head for three courses with drinks
We were catching up with a couple of friends we hadn't seen for a while and they really fancied going here as they'd never been before.
We had a very nice evening. Even though we were eating about 8-0-clock, it was very quiet. I also have to say that the quality of the food has gone down again. Perhaps when we first came here our expectations weren't as high and now, as we're 'regulars' we expect something special every time. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't as god as we've come to expect.
The service was friendly and efficient and the atmosphere was just right. As it was our friends' first experience of Bamboo Noodle Bar, they thought it was superb.
I had: For starter I had the tom yum soup with prawns. Hot and sour soup with mushrooms, ginger, garlic, spring onions, lime juice and lovely juicy prawns. Very nice but maybe a little too sour. It didn't quite have the right balance.
For main course I had the spicy ho fun beef with noodles. I enjoyed this. Big fat noodles with loads of chunks of spicy beef. I stuffed this down and it brought a satisfying sweat to my brow and a tear to my eye. It was good, but I have to say that some of the beef was a bit tough and chewy.
Rating:
Food *** Service **** Atmosphere *** Wine/Drinks ** Menu ****
OVERALL ***
For older reviews of Bamboo Noodle Bar, click here
Image:
6, Tombland, Norwich, Norfolk NR3 1HE
Tel: 01603 619262
Smoking: Yes (at time of visit)
Parking: No. Nearest parking Tombland or Magdalen Street.
Expect to pay: £20 (approx) a head for two courses with drinks and £25 (approx) a head for three courses with drinks
Oh deah! This was awful. Totally and utterly rubbish and probably the worst restaurant experience (yes, even worse than Zak’s!) this year.
We discovered this new Japanese/sushi restaurant whilst walking down to Shine on Sunday and it looked really interesting. Really wish we hadn’t found it now…
We were out with friends who couldn’t make my birthday last weekend and thought this would be a perfect opportunity to try this place out. I hadn’t tried sushi before and I was really looking forward to it.
We were greeted by a very pleasant lady with bright red hair and shown to our table. It was all downhill after that…
Firstly, they lost our order, which slightly annoyed us, so we didn’t get our starter for over an hour. The main courses came much quicker but were awful. They don’t speak hardly any English (which obviously adds to the authenticity of the place but is extremely annoying when you’re trying to find out where your food is or ask a simple question), there wasn’t any atmosphere whatsoever and the place felt very ‘cold’. It made you feel like you were in the dinner hall at school. To top it all off, they tried to charge us for two things we didn’t have!
On a brighter note, the sushi we had (eventually!) was very good. I would definitely recommend coming here for a sushi lunch and may come here myself for that. Avoid at all costs if you are coming out for an evening meal…
We shared: For starter we shared some tempura vegetables and prawns, chicken teriyaki and some prawns in breadcrumbs. The tempura was awful. Instead of separate prawns and vegetables, it came as a large ‘ball’ of batter with everything inside. It was almost impossible to share and tasted pretty ordinary. The sauce was pretty rubbish too; nobody could make out what it was supposed to be. The chicken teriyaki was very nice but incredibly tiny. Nice tender chicken with a good sauce. Pity it was gone in one bite each. The prawns in breadcrumbs were passable. Tiny prawns with what could have been a chilli sauce. Hard to tell…
We also shared a sushi platter. Prawn, yellow fin tuna, sushi rolls, salmon, tofu and other tasty (but identifiable) fish with rice. Excellent. Very impressed with my first taste of sushi.
For main course, I had a chicken curry. It was disgusting. Bread-crumbed slices of chicken in what was supposed to be a mild curry sauce. It looked like baby food and probably tasted like it too. A thick ‘gloopy’ brown sauce, which made me feel ill. I didn’t bother eating it all.
Declined on desert. Won’t be coming here for dinner again. Ever…
Rating
Food * Service * Atmosphere * Menu *** Wine/Drinks **
OVERALL = *1/2
Other pages:
This is the text-only version of this page. Click here to see this page with graphics.
Edit this page |
Manage website
Make Your Own Website: 2-Minute-Website.com