Restaurant Review: Dublin's Okky surpasses all expectations in its glorious, messy perfection
Some of the team at Dublin's Okky restaurant
- Okky
- 8 Aungier Street, Dublin 2, D02 NX83
- Open daily, noon until late
- Instagram: @okkydublin
- The Tab: Dumplings, Omelette, Okonomiyaki Pancakes, Sides and Beers for three hungry lads cost €103 and we had leftovers to take home.
When I think of Japan two other words often come to mind: perfection and simplicity.
From Muji linen shirts to Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging), to the dials on Grand Seiko watches, to properly made Tempura Batter to the best sashimi and sushi - these things are perfect in their simplicity.
Okonomiyaki is almost the opposite.
A glorious messy food that is a speciality of both Osaka and Hiroshima, it is a sort of fried stuffed pancake cooked on a teppan iron plate (hence Teppanyaki).
The word okonomiyaki translates as ‘what you like’ to indicate that you can choose your own fillings on top of the basic flour, water, eggs, and cabbage pancake.
I confess this was my first time trying okonomiyaki so I brought along a Japanese friend, Mutsuki, to get his viewpoint.
Okky is the creation of John Ennis of Lucky Tortoise Dim Sum restaurant which occupied Okky’s space until they moved to larger premises in Temple Bar.
Ennis lived in Japan and Korea so he knows what he is doing when it comes to Asian food and has also brought on board some Japanese chefs including Leslie Haru Kohatsu who has loaned Okky her family's Gyoza recipe.
I hesitate to call Okky ‘fast food’ so let’s call it quality casual dining.
Ordering is done at the counter and food is cooked to order. The menu is short with a choice of two Gyoza, two types of Okonomiyaki, Tamagoyaki (Japanese Omelette), and four sides - rice, kimchi, spinach, and cucumber salad.
Gyoza (€9 for 6) are of course made fresh in-house, a practice I wish was more common. We tried both varieties which had been lightly crisped on the teppan grill, but crucially not enough to remove all the exterior’s silky texture.
Both were excellent, balanced, and flavourful, but the pork version won out for all of us - I apologise to the vegetarians but tomato, onion, and mushroom just can’t compete with properly seasoned sweet-savoury minced pork.
Tamagoyaki (€9) is a simple rolled omelette but when done properly is a thing of joy and Okky gets it right. Lightly sweetened, the omelette is created in several layers and gradually rolled on the pan, and presented in bite-sized slices. Okky’s version is tender, creamy, and almost luscious, and won the approval of Mutsuki who exclaimed and beamed on first taste as this was clearly a taste of home.
For our standard Okonomiyaki (€12.50) we added bacon, prawns, cheese, and grilled veg which increased the price by €7.50. The pancake when it arrived was at least an inch thick and crisscrossed with kewpie mayonnaise and tonkatsu sauce (Japanese Worcestershire sauce), and cut into squares to allow us practise our chopstick skills.
The flavour and textures were revelatory - who knew that bacon, prawns, cabbage and cheese could work together so well? The crisp exterior gave way to the soft pancake, followed immediately by the crunchy cabbage with the umami-bomb of the tonkatsu and mayo sauce holding all the flavours together.
The Okonomiyaki Hiroshima (€17) was tackled next and it was even better. This was thicker and larger and contained layers of al-dente Udon noodles and cabbage and was topped with a soft fried egg before being drizzled with a similar umami-rich sauce. Mutsuki prefers ramen noodles to udon but this too got a thumbs-up.
Cucumber salad (€4) and a bowl of Kimchi (€4) proved useful side dishes, particularly the kimchi which was richly textured with a proper tang of fermented cabbage and pitch-perfect spicing - Okky is worth a visit for the kimchi alone.
Okky wasn’t long open when we visited so there was only Tsingtao beers on offer but they worked brilliantly with the food. Wine on Tap from WineLab has since been installed and will be working by the time this appears in print.
I had seen a number of youtube videos on okonomiyaki during lockdown (when I went on a bit of a Japanese culture binge), and so I had an idea of what to expect but Okky surpassed all expectations. Go soon to experience the glorious messy perfection that is Okonomiyaki.
- Food: 8/10
- Drink: 7/10
- Service: 8/10
- Ambiance: 7/10
- Value: 9/10
- In a Sentence: Japanese fast food at its finest, an umami-rich feast awaits you.
