The popular Los Angeles based Susi bar offers a one of a kind exotic menu combining the flair and style of its celebrity clientele with authentic Japanese culture and culinary traditions.
Katana is not your typical hipster L.A. based sushi bar that city hoppers can stop by, eat and go. It offers a well planned menu fit for a hefty business meeting offering two and three course set menus for a more leisurely business lunch and large social gatherings. The menu is planned for those with a taste for fine dining while pursuing an organized corporate meeting. When we at KM were asked to try the newly stylized business menu for luxury diners, we took the chance right away.
On Arrival, Katana Robata and Sushi Bar looks like a small building block – a heavy duty geometrical cement structure overlooking the Address Downtown and the Burj Khalifa. Opposite to the bar stands the Dubai Mall with a view of the turquoise waters of the Souq Al Bahar Lake. Upon entering, the furniture is corporate and has clean cut aesthetics reminiscent of the Cubism style art period with grey and neutral colors.
Most dining tables have seats for up to maximum 4 people besides the dual dining tables on the hemisphere of the wall near the cocktail lounge. Speaking of the cocktail lounge, it is the only colorful spot in the midst of the predominantly grey interior evoking a stimulus of freshness and zest just like the taste and varieties of the cocktail drinks served there. The cocktail waitress customizes drinks based on your personality quotient and food choices. The results as we have to mention are spectacular. The one drink that still mesmerizes our taste buds is the passion fruit and coconut mojito with mango ice cubes. It was a super hit!
Back at the diner, we were offered our business lunch with a Miso soup as a complimentary food enhancer. Made of your typical seaweed, fish and dashi grains, it tasted like a regular Japanese soup.
The lunch kick started with the delicious Prawn Tempura served with a small dash of wasabi paste and lemon soy dip. The Tempura alone tasted tangy and zesty and was further complimented by the lemon soy condiment. It was delicious and semi-filling – the perfect appetizer.
Following the Tempura were the sweet and sour chicken dumplings served with an exotic mayo that looked petite but filled us wholeheartedly. Like the tempuras, it kept its perky zesty taste.
The Noodles with mushrooms and fried chicken was the star of the business lunch. When first presented to us, it smelled like a tangerine condiment, but it tasted like a tomato spiced noodle plate fusioned with South Eastern spices with a pinch of paprika and pepper. The brilliant array of spices in the small noodle plate came alive upon tasting but the tomato condiment was dominant evoking the sweet essence of the noodles. When eaten with the fried chicken, it felt like a wholesome meal and extra flavors came rushing in.
My three course menu felt overwhelming but was oddly satisfying. As a verdict, we love it and cannot recommend it to you enough. It is great value for money too.
For those looking for further details regarding the two set and three set menus, they are also known as small plates and large plates:
Small plates will entice the most discerning foodie with a superb range that covers all delicious combinations such as Kale Salad (kale, crispy shiitake with ginger plum vinaigrette); Ingen Itame (sautéed green beans with garlic sauce); Salmon Tataki (seared salmon, chive, radish, papaya with lemon soy); Panko Prawn & Yasai Tempura (tiger prawn, sweet potato, kabocha pumpkin) and Tori No Gyoza (chicken chive dumpling).
Large plates are enough to take one’s breath away and will appeal to any lover of Japanese food. Favorites including Spicy Miso Chicken (corn fed chicken, broccolini, red onion, capsicum); Robatayaki Moriwase (negima, gyu, tanuki, asparagus); Nigiri & Maki Sushi (chef’s selection of nigari & maki sushi) and Shojin Yakisoba (pan fried noodles with Japanese mushrooms & vegetables) are all included in the new menu making a perfectly efficient but satisfying business lunch.
The Business lunch is offered on the following days:
Date: Sunday to Thursday
Time: 12pm to 4pm
Price: 2-course menu – AED 75; 3-course menu – AED 95; Inclusive of a complimentary Miso soup.
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