Whenever a new Japanese restaurant opens its doors in Dubai, we cheer! Boasting of indoor seating and an outdoor terrace with lovely views of the Dubai Festival City fountains, Motomachi positions itself as an authentic Japanese restaurant with predominantly Japanese staff and a vast menu filled with Japanese treats. The décor struck a chord with us and reminded us of the restaurants we visited during our trip to Japan and needless to say, we were quite excited about our tasting at Motomachi.
Moving to the food, here’s everything we had at the restaurant:
Takoyaki: Fried Seafood Dumpling
Gindara Saikyou Yaki: Grilled Black Cod Greased With Miso
Chicken Katsu Curry Rice: Deep Fried Breaded Chicken With Japanese Curry Rice
Tai Gohan: Seasoned Rice With Grilled Seabream
Kaisen Yakisoba: Seafood Stir Fried Noodle
Crispy California Maki: Crabstick, Avocado, Cucumber, Lettuce, Flying Fish Roe And Mayonnaise
Ebi Tempura: Shrimp Tempura, Tempura Crumbs And Mayonnaise
One half of Stamps and Stubs is a huge Katsu Curry fan and a majority of their Japanese restaurant ratings depend on how good the Katsu curry is at the restaurant. And with a benchmark like Tokyo itself, you can bet it’s a pretty strict assessment. With regard to the Katsu curry at Motomachi, it was quite tasty and a good fit for when you’re on the hunt for some pretty authentic Katsu. The appetizers and the Maki were delicious as well but we’ve had better where the black cod is concerned. Rounding off the mains were the Tai Gohan and Yakisoba, which we enjoyed as well. We paired the food with some Calpis Soda, an interesting Japanese soft drink that is mixed with milk and is quite reminiscent of a root beer float.
Desserts
Taiyaki filled with Nutella
Motomachi Cheesecake
Absolutely loved the creamy, fluffy, simple Japanese cheesecake! A must have if you’re eating at Motomachi. The Taiyaki, while adorable in presentation; it is essentially a fish shaped cake that at Motomachi comes with other fillings too (like custard cream and Anko), was just alright, nothing to write home about really. The desserts were perfectly complemented by some Lemongrass and ginger tea.
On the authenticity meter, Motomachi rates pretty high and we intend to return to the restaurant for some decent Japanese food when the cravings come calling.