Okku, The H Hotel Dubai

 

Okku was on my Bucket List since I love Japanese food and Okku is listed among the best Japanese restaurants in Dubai. The interior was very calm with brown and beige spread across furniture and walls and some very interesting lighting inside the place made the ambiance very romantic. I was invited by Dermalogica for Lunch with some powerful ladies on Women’s Day.

Their Daichi Package for business lunch was for AED 99 and it consisted of Miso Soup, a bowl of Salted Edamame, one small plate, one large plate and chocolate fondant as dessert.

 

I loved the taste of everything that was served to me but not the service. The miso soup was pretty authentic with tofu and floating seaweed.

 

 

For small plate I ordered the pan fried tiger prawn dumplings. They tasted great but the dumpling sheet was way too soft. Whenever I held it with the chopsticks or the fork, it kept falling apart. So I had to use my hands to eat it and then too the sheets were falling off, making it very tedious to eat.

 

 

For the large plate, I ordered Black Cod and it tasted divine. The square box like platter was very interesting. The fish fillets were served on top of a sweet creamy sauce which was very flavorful and I loved it. The menu card said that the black cod will be served over steamed rice but strangely it was served only with leafy vegetables.

 

 

I was highly disappointed by their service. There were around 20 to 25 ladies on our table but that shouldn’t be an excuse for bad service at such a legendary restaurant. The soup was randomly being served to some while others had to call the waiters to know the reason for the delay. Similarly the food was being served very late. So late that nobody stayed back to have the desserts, which I’m sure would have tasted delicious.

 

 

For drinks I ordered a non alcoholic cocktail which was very similar to pina colada but it had Passion Fruit in it as well. It tasted very refreshing with the combination of pineapple, coconut milk and passion fruit. The glass was half filled with crushed ice. Since I had sore throat so I just took one sip and asked the waiter to take out the crushed ice. I think he forgot that he had to bring my cocktail and I had to remind another waiter about my drink without ice. By the time my drink came, I had finished eating. Also it tasted very strange, nothing like the original flavor that I had tasted earlier. It seemed they had added pineapple juice so naturally it over powered rest of the flavors.

 

 

In my opinion, the staff is incapable of handling large group of people so I would never make the mistake of going there in a group. In conclusion I would reiterate that I loved the taste of everything that was served to me but unfortunately the below par service ruined the experience for me. The desserts were delayed for such a long time that no one stayed back for it. I don’t know if it’s miscommunication or just shortage of staff but I hope they fix it soon.