If you’ve been wanting to try an authentic Japanese cuisine then Fujiya is a must visit. Fujiya Downtown would be the second branch of the famous Japanese restaurant at the Millennium Hotel. The Downtown Dubai branch would be more family friendly as opposed to the original one. Food is to be admired and is strongly bonded with the Japanese roots, so expect nothing less than an authentic experience which is not just limited to their menu but also includes their serving style, plates, decorative walls and the ambience. We’ve always eaten bits and pieces of Japanese food in Dubai but this time after our meal we really could appreciate the restaurant for its authenticity and true to it’s taste, the Japanese way!
Finding the restaurant is a little tricky especially when you can’t find a billboard of the restaurant name anywhere from the outside. They also have the restaurant name in Japanese, which again didn’t help us as we couldn’t read it as ‘Fujiya’. Once you find it, you know it’s a cozy little restaurant surrounded by pool on all sides and has a roof terrace which should be perfect when the weather is cooler. Once you are inside you are transported to a little Japanese ambience with wooden flooring, Japanese writing and characters on the walls, seatings were not fancy but what we like most were the private dining rooms in the restaurant, which is where we sat for our lunch today.
For drinks we had the familiar Virgin Mojito, but we did try a Japanese classic soft drink Calpis for the first time, which is also available in different flavours. We went for the ginger ale flavour which was really good and I can tell you out of our 3 drinks, the ginger ale calpis went very well with the dishes we ordered. If I remember it tasted like a cold frothy milky sweet soda. It’s different in taste and is a drink that taste even better when you have spicy flavor running in your mouth. Edamame was available in two flavours, the spicy and the classic. I would recommend the spicy one as it adds more flavor to the edamame. This was the only item we used our hands, otherwise rest of the time we were on it with chopsticks. The crab stick salad was just amazing. One of the best salad you can ask for and the greens never tasted so good.
We started off with some lip smacking items on the table such as the sushis, dumplings and a deep fried wagyu cutlet. There were 2 kind of sushi and surely the fujiya roll stole the show. Somehow the dragon roll went out of smoke and felt bland after we tried the Fujiya roll which had lot more flavour in it. I think it was partially because of those enticing spicy sauces such as the spicy mayo and tuna sauce used in it. The grill beef dumplings were straight forward but it’s the dipper that came along with it which makes it yummier, we were also given an additional spicer to spice up the accompanied dipper if needed. The Wagyu cutlet was a hot attraction on the table which came hot, crispy and you could really enjoy the quality of beef in between. It was just amazing, one of the recommended items to try.
We were also amazed to see them make fresh wasabi for us. They brought the tools to our table and made fresh wasabi paste out of the fresh Japanese plant. I guess we finally got to try a genuine wasabi. It is also to be noted that the fresh aroma and flavor would not last more than 30 mins hence the reason why they made it for us on the spot first hand, instead ahead of time.
This was an interesting dish, the deep fried chicken tartar. The chicken by itself was amazing but you add that tartar and lemon on top of the chicken and it’s mind blowing. There is a big hand of mayo which makes it luscious and incase you feeling guilty just eat the greens on the side and all should be good.
Shabu-Shabu
One experience you don’t want to miss at Fujiya would be eating the famous Japanese dish called Shabu-Shabu. A hotpot dish of thinly sliced meat along with vegetables boiled in water and served with dipping sauce. The cost of the dish will vary depending on the quality of meat you choose. The thinly sliced beef come as a standard weight of 300gm. In the center of most tables they have the particular mini gas set where 2 kinds of broth would be kept hot and you pour the vegetables into it, after a while we start picking the thinly sliced beef and dip them in any of the hot broth for sometime which instantly cooks them and then take it out to mix it with special sauce, that we just prepared separately. Eating the beef was the best part and the broth was also good, especially for the throat and you just enjoy it like any good healthy soup. One is spicy while the other is more sweet. Most of us enjoyed the spicier version.
We ended our meal with a freshly made Macha hot drink. What’s interesting to see was the preparation of the hot drink, as it was prepared right in front of us using the traditional tools and we also got a chance to try the same. To be honest you need to have a tongue for a Macha flavour. It’s bitter by itself but people have it considering the health benefits that come along with it. The dessert platter was just perfect for us which had little bit of everything you want to try in a dessert. Top desserts which included were the macha cake, ice creams and mochis. The ice creams tasted fresh and was unique for it’s flavours such as macha and black sesame. Macha cake was very different from the drink, was irresistible in taste We loved the caramel Mochi too. At the end what you cherish eating at Fujiya is the unique experience and menu that they have to offer.
Click pictures below to see them in full screen view:
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