Yuki Izakaya : Korean-Japanese Fusion

There are quite a few Japanese restaurants opening up around the heart of Duluth and I’ve never really noticed Yuki Izakaya until a friend of mine brought them up in a conversation we were having and wanted to try them out. I was a bit confused about this place since it has the name “Izakaya” which means its a Japanese style pub – but there is a great food menu. I was glad for the overall experience and will most likely return to check out what comes next in this establishment. That said, here is my take:

A HIGH DINING ATMOSPHERE WITH AFFORDABLE PRICING

When you first walk into Yuki Izakaya, you are met with a modern and extremely spacious atmosphere. One would think at first glance, that this would be a restaurant with extremely high prices due to the dim lights, blacked-out ceiling and fancy look. The cool thing about this is that upon checking the menu – the food here seems to be very affordable. The tables have quite a bit of room around them making it more of an intimate atmosphere. With the large space, you would expect that they would pack it with more tables but the fewer tables work better to me. This is because it gives a cleaner and more formal view.

JAPANESE AND KOREAN FUSION MENU

The menu at Yuki Izakaya has a bit of everything Japanese if you’re talking about your typical sushi spot. This includes teppanyaki, sushi, ramen and sashimi.  They also have some Korean dishes and tappas if you want to share a lot of small plates. Being with super foodie Phuong and Chef James, we wanted to try a little bit of everything.

SUSHI WORTH TRYING @ Yuki Izakaya

One thing that we loved about our visit to Yuki Izakaya was the sushi. I am pretty picky about sushi and we rank sushi pretty strictly here. That said, I was fairly happy with the sushi served here. Even with a critical view, the sushi rice was done very well and the overall flavor was great. Of all of the dishes we tried this evening, the sushi was definitely our favorite. My personal favorite was the 7 Dwarves Roll.

TAPAS WORTH TRYING

I didn’t get to try many of the Tappas on the menu but we did try the Spicy tuna tataki . This was by far, one of my favorite dishes. The shells had a great crunch and flavor and the crunchy texture combined with the chewy fresh taste of the tuna just worked out very well. If you are with many friends and trying the tapas menu at Yuki Izakaya, you need to give this one a try.

TEPPANYAKI WORTH FORGETTING

One thing I loved about living in Japan was the Tappenyaki you could get fresh on the side of the street. the fresh grilled meat had a memorable scent and flavor. That was not really my experience here. We ordered almost one of every choice and were not too impressed. I wanted the experience of seeing someone at the teppanyaki bar grill these up and prep them for the table. We looked over at the bar and never saw anyone do this the traditional way. Instead, they were just brought to the table from the kitchen and had a flavor that they were not fresh and were probably reheated. When I say “worth forgetting,” I am really hoping I can come back and try this again when the actual bar is running and get something fresh.

FRIED CHICKEN FONDUE

The fried chicken fondue looked too enticing on the menu for me to pass up. As full as we were we wanted to try this out and it was extremely filling. One that that was cool about this dish is that it’s really affordable – I believe $10 and it’s really filling. We could not finish this dish between the 3 of us after everything else but I loved the flavor. Combining the buffalo sauced fried chicken with a mixed melted cheese somehow worked well for me. That said, if you’re looking for a filling lunch or dinner dish for an affordable price, check it out.

FRIENDLY SERVICE AND OVERALL GOOD EXPERIENCE.

Our server was new to the job and didnt have all the answers we wanted but he was constantly engaged with us and made sure that we were taken care of. I loved the look and feel with the modern high dining atmosphere. In the end it seemed like a high – dining experience without the high-dining cost which is something I always love.

Yuki Izakaya