Venetian Village and I are having quite the relationship these days…<\/p>\n
Up next on my tour of this unique culinary area of Abu Dhabi is\u00a0Inakaya<\/a>, <\/strong>a Japanese restaurant with only in three other locations: New York, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. \u00a0Situated on the waterfront in Venetian Village, the interior of Inakaya is broken into different sections including a robata\/sushi bar, a semi-private dining room, and a ‘glass house’ area which, when the weather is nice, can be opened up.<\/p>\n Without meaning to, I’ve been to a heap of similarly themed restaurants in the past few months: Toko<\/a>, Katana<\/a>, Ramusake<\/a>, Zuma<\/a> (and even Asia Asia<\/a>, if I’m completely honest) and I was curious where this Abu Dhabi entry would fall in.<\/p>\n To start, I absolutely LOVED the presentation of food and drinks. \u00a0We chose to sit at the brightly lit bar (a feature that sets itself apart from the other similarly genred\u00a0restaurants I’ve mentioned). \u00a0Initially, I was worried it would be awkward to sit and not face my lovely friend, but we were able to converse quite easily. \u00a0From our seats, most of our dishes were served up on a long wooden tray, directly from the grill — dinner and a show!<\/p>\n Another great feature? \u00a0There was an authentic ‘team’ atmosphere present at Inakaya that the other restaurants are\u00a0definitely lacking. \u00a0As an example, to each person who entered the venue, a greeting was shouted (in Japanese) by everyone working (the kitchen, the hostess, and the service staff). \u00a0This little gesture immediately put a smile on my face. \u00a0This same sort of service was repeated with the delivery of food and drinks throughout the entirety of our meal (and to other tables). \u00a0I guess there might be some diners who wouldn’t like the attention, but I thought it was quite fun.<\/p>\n For the meal, at the recommendation of our server, we decided to go with a bit of this and that (both from the traditional menu and the special Chef’s menu). \u00a0Overall, nearly everything was a hit. \u00a0Don’t believe me? \u00a0Take a look at a selection of dishes from our meal:<\/p>\n