It’s been open for a little while now, but I only recently enjoyed my first visit to Japanese restaurant Yume Kitchen on Cotham Hill, when looking for somewhere to have a Monday lunch with a friend. I’d only read great things about the place on Twitter – and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Yume Kitchen looks pretty small from the outside, but appearances can be deceptive – in addition to the 18 or so seats on the ground floor (including four high stools at the windows), there is a further seating area downstairs.
A chiller cabinet by the door houses sushi, salads and drinks, making it easy to head in and pick up a speedy lunch on a working day. We ate in, sitting at a table by the small counter which features a hatch through to the kitchen: a counter that proved to be busy for the hour and a half that we were there, with plenty of people coming in to order lunch to eat in or take away.
The lunch menu is sizeable, with mains priced at around £6-£10, sushi from £3-£10 and a range of sides also available. It was good to see the note at the bottom stating that meat and poultry are locally sourced from Ruby and White just round the corner on Whiteladies Road too.
Drinks-wise, diners can choose from a range of teas and soft drinks, as well as beer, wine and a couple of Japanese-inspired cocktails. Desserts of dorayaki and various types of mochi are also available for the end of the meal.
On a cold day, we fancied something hot, so we glossed over the sushi menu and – unable to decide on just one dish each – chose to order three main courses to share.
The first to arrive was our chicken katsu curry (£7.50) – a fillet of chicken coated in Japanese breadcrumbs, deep fried and sliced before being coated with a generous amount of rich curry sauce. Served with a fluffy mound of rice and a small side salad, the chicken was beautifully cooked and the breadcrumbs still crisp, while the curry sauce was flecked with small cubes of carrot, had the warming flavour of ginger and had a lovely amount of chilli heat at the end.
We also ordered the seafood rice (£7.50) – a bowl of fried rice flecked with more miniature carrot cubes and mixed with chunks of squid and salmon and whole prawns. Another dish that was bursting with flavour and cooked perfectly.
The final dish to arrive was a beautifully presented salmon teriyaki (£6.50) – a mound of rice and cooked vegetables, topped with three decent sized pieces of flaky, tender salmon, drizzled with teriyaki sauce and scattered with sesame seeds. Another fantastic dish – the only change we would have made would have been to add a little more sauce, as much of the rice was pretty dry.
Our dishes were served promptly and with friendly and efficient service, making Yume Kitchen a great choice for a speedy midweek lunch. Now I just need to head back to check out the sushi…