Another Great Sushi Spot - Zakura, Wexford Street

I am originally from the southside. Grew up there, went out there and ended up working there! Somehow though in my thirties I have managed to find myself living in Meath. Noone saw it coming! Now I find myself on the Northside a lot so it is wonderful to see it reviving in the last few years especially in terms of food. Instead of having to cross the Liffey for a good feed we now have a few fantastic choices. Sandwiches at Oxmantown, middle eastern breakfast plates in Brother Hubbard and Dublin's best Chinese at M&L. Indeed one of my favourite restaurants is Musashi on Capel Street. Read my blog post on it here. Word on the street now though is that they are also the people behind Zakura Noodle & Sushi on Wexford Street. Indeed walking into Zakura is a very similar experience to Musashi. The decor is the same, right on down to the small wooden stools covered with red cushions. The menu though is more Wagamama style, all glossy and black and very easy to read. 

We walked in at 5.30 on a Friday evening and were seated immediately and handed a cup of green tea. I don't think the word has gotten out yet that it is there! I started off with some crab cucumber norimaki while Maya went for salmon sashimi. Both were presented beautifully and were fresh and tasty. I just love how they display their food. I mean how cute is that little boat filled with sashimi!

Norimaki

Salmon Sashimi

If this had just been lunch I would have left it at the sushi but seeing as we tend to eat a LOT we decided to get some bigger dishes. Maya went for the very exotic sounding Suzuki Amiyaki Gohan which is basically grilled seabass on a bed of stir fired vegetables. It was as lovely to look at as it was to eat.

For me it felt like a good night to try out their Chicken Ramen as it had felt wintery all day. I love ramen and it's usually my go to dish in Wagamama as it always hits the spot. I will definitely be adding this one to the list. The broth had a deep chicken flavour while the chicken breast itself was glazed with a sauce that added another dimension of taste to it. It was comforting, filling and fun to slurp up! What more could you want in a ramen.

Another plus besides all the food is the price, it's pretty cheap for what you get. The whole meal cost us €40.90 which included a pot of Japanese green tea. It was great value and we left full and happy. It's also BYOB so what more can you ask for! So if you love Japanese food I would suggest you get down there fast before you are being turned away because they are full.  The word is going to get out fast!

You can find them on Facebook here and their website here. 

Clarification: Zakura is independently owned and is not a sister branch of Musashi's. 

Bunsen - Serving Straight up Burgers

If asked to choose somewhere for dinner in town the boyfriend will always, unsurprisingly, pick somewhere that offers a lot of meat. Bear, Bison BBQ and Zaytoon feature prominently on his list of choices. So when I told him about a new burger restaurant called Bunsen, that just did straight up burgers without any fuss, it didn't take much convincing to get him there!

Bunsen is located on Wexford Street and can be found by the glowing neon B sign that sits above its door. The interior is minimalist with wooden tables along the walls and exposed copper lighting throughout the room. The menu is short to say the least and it all fits on a business card. There are four burger choices: hamburger, cheeseburger, double hamburger and double cheeseburger. Then there are three choices for the chips: shoestring, handcut and sweet potato. It's short and sweet but it does exactly what it says on the card - straight up burgers.

                                           

On our most recent visit we both went for double cheeseburgers served medium rare. Everything about these burgers was just right. The Amish roll that soaked up the juices, the Black Angus Aberdeen beef which was moist and full of flavour, the great quality lettuce, tomatoes and onion, the cheese which had melted into a wonderful goo and the umami pickle together formed the perfect burger. That might sound like a big statement but it's just true. The boyfriend proclaimed it a 'savage burger' and he is well qualified to make this statement having eaten in a lot of Dublin's burger joints!

 

Double Cheeseburger

 

We also tried out the three varieties of chips with the hand cut and sweet potato ones being deemed the favourites. The shoestring ones were just a little too reminiscent of a certain fast food joint for us but I know other people will love them.

Sweet Potato Chips

Handcut Chips

Shoestring Chips

On our first visit we got two hamburgers and some sweet potato chips and were still a little hungry when we left. Next time we got two double cheeseburgers and shoestring and handcut chips. This was too much for us. Next time I think it will be a double cheeseburger for him, a cheeseburger for me and two handcut chips. We will eventually work out the perfect amount of food for us there but it's definitely fun trying! Two double cheeseburgers, and two fries cost us €24.80 which we thought was very reasonable for the amount of food we got.

Bunsen offer simple tasty burgers and if you want yours topped with fried eggs, onion rings or marinated artichokes then this is not the place to go. If though you want to try what is probably Dublin's best burger then you know where to go now.

Have you been to Bunsen yet? Let me know what you think I'd love to know.

Find them on Facebook here and Twitter here.