A grey afternoon drove us into one of those unending roads in Bandra to an eatery that’s been calling out to us to revisit ever since it opened.
Nerves a-tingling, the first time we visited Izumi, we stepped in to meet the owner, Nooresha Kably (owner of Sushi Koi and of Yokohoma International Ramen School famez) who ushered us in and offered us the best seat in the house. The space has built up on Japanese sensibilities of bright, warm, small yet inviting. You’ll find curios all around, right from the lamps to potted plants, Japanese dolls to sushi books around the cooking station.
Their menu is another work of art – with a selection of sushi, sashimi, ramen, kozara or small plates, salad, beverages and dessert, all being the point of focus.
We started off admiring the neat seating arrangements and drinks, of course. The chia pink berry lemon soda and the melon soda, a type of float, were the best start to a meal that we could think of.
While you can also opt for the traditional jasmine teapot or the matcha yuzu ice tea, we loved the crunch and the freshness in our sodas.
From the small plates, we started with hamachi or yellowtail that’s a type of tuna, that came with wasabi jelly, and also the tuna zuke with leek fries that was lush in flavour and texture.
Now, the ramen bowls are clearly their speciality, and we tried to do full justice here. We started off with the shoyu chintan ramen, that’s a vegan bowl full of a rainbow of colours and seriously delicious and moved on to the chicken paitan with jigoku. It’s basically a slow-cooked bone broth served with chicken charsu, spinach, kikurage (black fungus), menma (bamboo shoot), leek, nori and tamago (egg). Moving on, we were delighted to try their pork tonkotsu, that’s a traditional bone broth with a jellied boiled egg, velvety pork slices and noodles. We’re happy to say that the flavours did knock us off our feet.
From there, we moved on to the sushi. Now, we take our sushi really seriously, so when we tried their sugoi maki, which is eel, tempura prawn and avocado rolled with a topping of seared salmon, spicy mayo, fish flakes and tobiko, we had to curb our enthusiasm. Added to that, we also sampled their Spicy Salmon, with salmon and spicy mayo topping with chives, cucumber and lettuce all snuggled up in beds of sticky rice and fabulously crafted, all fresh and delicious. Our only regret was that we were almost full by the end of it!
We also sampled their katsu chicken with curry and rice (omg!) and then moved on to desserts. Nooresha decided that we should try ‘em all so, suffice to say they were delicious!
At the end of it, we were content; happy to know that a place like this does exist and grateful for the fact that it surpassed all expectations. Thank you, Izumi.
Izumi is open for dine in all weekedays 12:30 PM to 3:30PM. They accept deliveries Mon-Sun from 11AM to 10:30PM
Nerves a-tingling, the first time we visited Izumi, we stepped in to meet the owner, Nooresha Kably (owner of Sushi Koi and of Yokohoma International Ramen School famez) who ushered us in and offered us the best seat in the house. The space has built up on Japanese sensibilities of bright, warm, small yet inviting. You’ll find curios all around, right from the lamps to potted plants, Japanese dolls to sushi books around the cooking station.
Their menu is another work of art – with a selection of sushi, sashimi, ramen, kozara or small plates, salad, beverages and dessert, all being the point of focus.
We started off admiring the neat seating arrangements and drinks, of course. The chia pink berry lemon soda and the melon soda, a type of float, were the best start to a meal that we could think of.
While you can also opt for the traditional jasmine teapot or the matcha yuzu ice tea, we loved the crunch and the freshness in our sodas.
From the small plates, we started with hamachi or yellowtail that’s a type of tuna, that came with wasabi jelly, and also the tuna zuke with leek fries that was lush in flavour and texture.
Now, the ramen bowls are clearly their speciality, and we tried to do full justice here. We started off with the shoyu chintan ramen, that’s a vegan bowl full of a rainbow of colours and seriously delicious and moved on to the chicken paitan with jigoku. It’s basically a slow-cooked bone broth served with chicken charsu, spinach, kikurage (black fungus), menma (bamboo shoot), leek, nori and tamago (egg). Moving on, we were delighted to try their pork tonkotsu, that’s a traditional bone broth with a jellied boiled egg, velvety pork slices and noodles. We’re happy to say that the flavours did knock us off our feet.
From there, we moved on to the sushi. Now, we take our sushi really seriously, so when we tried their sugoi maki, which is eel, tempura prawn and avocado rolled with a topping of seared salmon, spicy mayo, fish flakes and tobiko, we had to curb our enthusiasm. Added to that, we also sampled their Spicy Salmon, with salmon and spicy mayo topping with chives, cucumber and lettuce all snuggled up in beds of sticky rice and fabulously crafted, all fresh and delicious. Our only regret was that we were almost full by the end of it!
We also sampled their katsu chicken with curry and rice (omg!) and then moved on to desserts. Nooresha decided that we should try ‘em all so, suffice to say they were delicious!
At the end of it, we were content; happy to know that a place like this does exist and grateful for the fact that it surpassed all expectations. Thank you, Izumi.
Izumi is open for dine in all weekedays 12:30 PM to 3:30PM. They accept deliveries Mon-Sun from 11AM to 10:30PM
