In a nutshell:

Japanese restaurant in Gurgaon run by Japanese National , usually full with Japanese expat guests, good service, great food – A must visit for those who have started to appreciate Japanese Cuisine.

Address & other details: Daikichi

Meal for 2: Rs. 1500 onwards

Cuisine Type: Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian

Short Description – In case u r in a hurry:

We saw this tiny Japanese Restaurant in JMD Regent Mall on our way to the Korean Restaurant Tomato in the same mall. Daikichi looked totally different from anything around & absolutely stood apart inspite of its small size. As we peeped in thru the glass, we saw all seats occupied by Japanese expats – a view that made me think for a second that I am in Tokyo. So, decided to pay a visit to Daikichi soon & here we were in a month’s time.

The entrance is quite tricky. There is a traditional curtain at the entrance that was made out of natural fiber ropes. One is supposed to brush it aside before entering – unable to imagine that b4 entering, I walked past & reached the KFC door, only to realize my mistake.
The interiors are not as Japan specific as the exteriors. It cud well have been any other restaurant. However, few posters on the wall with stuff written in Japanese gave a feel. The right side had rows of tables with 4 seats each & on the left were few cubicles with 4 seats each. The dividers of the cubicles were so high that u cud not see the guys in the other cubicle.

The restaurant has a partially open kitchen & one can easily peep inside the very neat & clean kitchen.

The 5 page menu card is pictorial with a caveat ‘the photograph is an image & is not necessarily a true representation’. While reading thru the items, in quite a few instances I was zapped & felt as helpless as I wud feel in Hongkong in a traditional restaurant. Though everything is written in English, somewhere some things are not very clear. However, the staff is very quick to help & explain & answer patiently to all questions.

The service is great & what makes a difference is that the elderly Japanese Gentleman who owns the place personally comes to meet the guests , does a Namaste, a traditional Japanese bow & does a little conversation in English. His warmth makes one feel like revisiting.

Few things that we usually try in a Japanese place is sushi, sashimi, ramen (Japanese Noodle soup) & of course teppanyaki (where available). This time around we missed out the ramen at Daikichi coz its just too big & almost a meal in itself. Will revisit & keep u all updated.

The We super loved our sashimi , baked rice & our grill ,liked the prawn in chilli sauce.

This place also serves Japanese style cutlets, skewers, salads, udon noodles etc.

Detailed Description – In case u have the time to njoy readin:

We have been trying sushi & sashimi at various places in Delhi NCR & in general we like the sashimi more. For the uninitiated, Sashimi is raw fish cut in a particular fashion & served raw as it is. Before eating, one has to customarily dip it into a Japanese soya sauce & had with super pungent green colored paste called wasabi. For those of u still in a fix, the Japanese soya lends a salty taste & flavour & wasabi lends its pungency – all these add to the taste of raw fish.

We chose Tuna sashimi from a choice of cuttlefish, prawns & tuna. We were surprised to see the dish served within almost a minute of placing order – & then we realized how much more time does one take to slice raw fish? When we were served we were pleasantly surprised to see salmon sashimi on our plate as well. We enquired & were told that ‘it is complimentary from our chef’.

The salmon sashimi was awesome. ………….. in terms of everything from taste, flavour, texture etc. The wasabi was as pungent as it cud get & the soy was perfect.

The tuna sashimi was very good as well. However we have had better in one or two places in the past.

This was accompanied by loads of shredded radish & a dollop of wasabi. Overall it was a good dish (4/5) that I wud revisit to have.

The next dish that we ordered was Shrimps in chilli sauce. As it was served, it looked as if someone has immersed shrimps into a cheap tomato sauce. We took a bite & the feeling was quite different & unexpected. The huge shrimps were unexpectedly soft & juicy. The red paste was sweet to taste & had nothing to do with ketchup. Maybe this is a traditional Japanese dish but it was a bit too sweet for us. So sprinkling of salt & red pepper powder ensured that the taste became more familiar & enjoyable. We liked it but are unlikely to reorder it next time. I wud say this is 3.5/5.

The third dish that we ordered was stir fried ginger pork. This one was very interesting. As we started eating, we liked it but as we kept eating it, the taste strted getting on us & by the time we finished, we were wanting more – but alas no more space in stomach. The taste lingered in our mouths for the next 20 minutes till we drove to a dessert place few kilometers away.

The strips of pork were stir fried in Japanese sauces along with green bell pepper & onions. The result was awesome.

This was served again with loads of shredded radish , onions, a dollop of mayonnaise & a quarter of a raw tomato. I wud give this (4/5) just by the taste not having a clue about the authenticity.

We also had a grilled rice ball – very interesting concept & great to taste. It turned out to be – coating of miso is applied on two sides of sticky rice ball & grilled!!!! The looks were not appealing but the taste, flavour & concept were wow. Super liked this as well. I am not sure all might like this – requires a bit of acquired taste.

We were served complimentary Japanese tea as well that was quite refreshing.

We ordered Ramen (Japanese noodles) on another day. Very close to authentic but we faced a different challenge – Quantity was a lot, so we cud not really taste too many other items:)

Overall, a very enjoyable experience that we look forward to relive.