Eat like a Japanese in the Heart of Delhi @ Guppy

When a Restaurant specializes in a particular cuisines the authenticity is always in question, and that is something that definitely hits you as you enter this space designed to unwind. A big board guides the way inside to the restaurant among the greens.

Whenever it is about Japanese food the first thing that hits us is Sushi – undoubtedly the most famous Japanese dish outside of Japan as well as in Japan. Since traditional  Japanese cuisine is served on low rise  tables and cushions placed on floor over mats, so don’t expect the floor sitting ,here  they have a proper western yet comfortable & colorful  sitting.

What is always most challenging for me is to find the Veg options in a cuisine other than Indian. But this place is completely sorted to offer the best vegetarian options along with a good non veg spread with lots of seafood.

So the easiest to pick is the Meal options whether it is sunday brunch or weekday  Guppy set lunch or dinner option, these pre designed meals comes really handy. Japanese style traditionally abhors different flavored dishes touching each other on a single plate, so different dishes are given their own individual plates as mentioned, or are partitioned using leaves, etc. So going by that they offer each and every dish directly in eating bowls and cutlery .And this place follows the course to the core, the next dish on the menu would only arrive on the table when you are done with the previous dish.

I opted for Teppanyaki Stir fried vegetables priced at Rs. 900/- for a 5 course meal with 6 items.

1.Salad – Seasonal greens with wafu dressing 

This is literally “Japanese-style dressing” is a vinaigrette-type salad dressing based on tosazu, popular in Japan. The best part of the Japanese salad is unlike western salad these salads dont have oil as base, this one was  tossed in vinegar, soy sauce and sesame seeds.

2. Meso Soup : fermented soya bean paste soup in a dish base with tofu , wakame and spring onions.

Miso soups are authentic japanese soup,but if being a vegetarian you are sensitive to smells, don’t go for this soup as the fermented soya bean paste is not that pleasant.If thats the case you can opt for clear mushroom soup. The other ingredient in this soup is the seaweed – Wakame which is a well cooked green leaf and plain tofu does add to the taste.

3. Sushi Roll –  Sushi of the day 

So whats Sushi ?

In Japan there are over 4-5 varities of Sushi and outside of Japan most common is  Norimaki  Sushi rice and seafood, etc. rolled in dried seaweed sheets. There are countless varieties of sushi rolls differing in ingredients and thickness. Sushi rolls prepared “inside out” are very popular outside of Japan, but rarely found in Japan.

Here I opted for a Black rice california roll  that had avacardo, creame, asparagus, cucumber and takvan as the filling , and this was so good that I had ordered for complete portion and got it packed. (full portion had 9 pieces ) served with pickled ginger and avacardo chutney.

4. Rice Or Noodles – Udon Noodles with exotic Mushrooms 

Udon is a type of thick wheat flour noodle of Japanese cuisine. The bowl had loads of veggies , sesame seeds and the soup.

5.Teppanyaki Stir fried vegetables

Perfectly stir fried vegetables sprinkled with finely diced onion stems and sesame seeds. And the sauce was great on taste with the perfect blend of vinegar.

6. Dessert – Petit Four 

A combination of 4 deserts in mini portions had Fruits, chocolate, red velvet cake and Tart. Portions that were just perfect for giving taste of the desserts and leaving the craving on.

The best part of the entire experience was the timing of each and every dish being served just to ensure that you are completely in the dish that is on the table and the next one comes while the existing is cleared.

Along with the lunch , I also tried my hands on 2 of the mocktails

1. Just like that  – Fresh Gauva blend with peach and creame, One should only try this if fond of creme based mocktails.
2. Crimson Tide  – Beet root , strawberry with orange juice , sugar and lime. Well balanced taste of all the ingredients but too sweet.

Overall had a great experience and interesting part is the live sushi corner where you can watch the preparation of your choice of sushi while its being made – Check out the video here 

This place has something about the way they have used the space , a combination of well lit , open and closed space. the outside space is done so well that it becomes a preferred point to chill out with kids, and i am surely going to try this out.

Small little but lots of such elements that gives this place a seem less theme of being a japanese restaurant.

Try out this place if you like japanese cuisine and if you never had it before then also its a must try to get a hang of this cuisine in the most affordable way.Pre booking / reservation is recommended especially over the weekends.