Tuesday 17 June 2014

You Japanese Dining

Grrreeeetings ladles and jelly-spoons!!

It's Jia here. We're still in exam period for the University of Auckland and I ought to be studying but, y'know, procrastination makes everything but studying seem so much more interesting than it really is. So here I am.

I wanted to do a quick review on You Japanese Dining. I found out about it during my AIC high school years but forgot about it until last year when a university friend re-introduced it to me. It's in the Strand Arcade area, which is next to the Dotti on Queen St. I don't know, normally I wouldn't turn into those random shopping alleys unless I had a lot of time, which might be why its generally very quiet if the majority of people thought like me.

 
 
Atmosphere:

Since the Strand Arcade is a relatively unknown place, it's actually rather quiet there, with the background noise of the city. It's not a fancy place, but it's pleasant and it's out of the elements, which is always nice on a cold day. You Japanese Dining itself is a small place with some outdoor tables and one long bar table indoors, that looks outside.  The bar table is a little cramped for space though, and it can get pretty stuffy inside. The tables aren't sparkly clean or anything but they're not littered with trash and food remains either. The food itself is ready made and set out in a canteen style.



Food:  
It's pretty popular with students at lunch time due to the special on curry, which is what I had too. The most popular one is the creamy chicken curry but I've only managed to have it once because it's almost always sold out by the time my friends and I get there. The next best option is the You beef curry. These two are the mild curries and probably the only two I can have due to my lack of tolerance for spicy food. The beef curry is nice and as promised; only mildly spicy. Enough to keep me warm but not enough to stop me from eating it. The taste is pretty nice, not sure how to describe it. It's pretty much some meat and veggies. Mostly curry sauce though, that has a nice smooth texture. It is a little on the bland side, although I can't be a great judge because I don't consume curry much. The dish is nice and filling though. While it's not anything amazing, it's nice and I think it's worth the amount I paid.
 
 
 

Presentation:
Okay there isn't really much you can do to pretty up a dish that was scooped from the pot into the bowl. As far as curries go, it wasn't exceptionally ugly or exceptionally well put together.

Service:
I find the staff friendly and patient(This coming from a time my card declined a few times and they still smiled patiently while I was very, very confused.), and if you go often enough to the point they recognise you, they'll chuck in some freebie spring rolls! :)

Price:            
Going back to the special at lunchtime, all the curries are $5 (for a normal sized one anyway) from 11am until 7pm. I personally find this great totally within student budget so I like to head over there as a treat during uni lunch breaks.


Rating: /10

Atmosphere:              6
Food:                         5
Presentation:              3
Service:                      7
Price:                          10

Overall: 6.2/10

SO anyway, hope you enjoyed this random procrastination review :) !!! If you're curry-ous(ahaha punny ;D ) then you can check it out for yourself after an exam or in the holidays or whenever.
Thanks for reading this far! Oh yeah, by recommendation of a friend, we've also decided to start doing reviews on Zomato as well, so for our page, click here and you can see this review here (It's new so we wont be popular yet, we're just under "EVERYONE") .

Until next time~

Just The One Lamb(again)