Step into Kisaku, the Japanese restaurant at the Al Khaleej Palace Hotel, and you won't see cases of bobbing neon blue jellyfish, one of the city's hippest bars or an expensive, cavernous bamboo awning.
You'll just see a place packed to the rafters with people enjoying what must be the city's most authentic Japanese dishes, from melt-in-the-mouth sushi and a delicate savoury egg custard to pile 'em up yakitori skewers.
Kisaku lives on a level somewhere between the bustling canteen-style look of Bento-Ya and the city's better-known neo-Japanese restaurants like Zuma, Okku and the newly-opened Nozomi.
It's smart enough to take a date, with the food impressive but not outrageous. But it's also a great spot for a quick solo bite at the sushi bar, and it's lively enough for a fun group outing.
Kisaku gives sushi the respect it deserves, without the terrifying price tag. When you take your seat at the bar, one of the chefs will hand you a couple of pieces to get you started. Ask for a chef's selection, and you'll get half a dozen handcrafted nigiri sushi, lovingly brushed with the chef's special sauce.
Don't dip it in soy right away — he's gone to the trouble to make sure it's already perfectly flavoured. The tuna is marbled, textured — not that solid rubbery slab you often see. They come topped with other dashes of flavour — some sliced green onion on a piece of mackerel, some dried, shredded bonito flakes or a pile of freshly grated ginger on the tuna.
Kisaku's also a good spot to try some home-style Japanese specialities, which is probably why you'll see a large proportion of Japanese eating there. A good start is chawan-mushi, a very delicate steamed egg dish which hides a treasure trove of seafood.
The yakitori — grilled skewers of chicken, mushroom or seafood — are juicy and come with a salty, tangy miso sauce. You can buy them by the stick, too.
If you're not Japanese, there may be some dishes that strike you as unusual — fish tube, anyone? Natto, a stretchy, smelly fermented soy bean, is not for the fainthearted, but rewards those who give it a chance (especially on top of chilled udon noodles with some green onion and shards of tempura batter).
And while Kisaku's not a new find or an exclusive haunt on the other side of town, if you want to eat there, you'd better book ahead most nights.
Where: Al Khaleej Palace Hotel, Al Maktoum Road, Deira Phone: 04-2231000
Must-have: Chef's sushi selection, tempura prawns, yakitori chicken.
Décor: Refreshingly design-free.
Ambiance: A relaxed buzz.
