Under the setting sun
Inaba
ul. Nowogrodzka 84/86
Tel: 6225955
Open daily: 12:00 a.m. - 11.00 p.m.
Lunch menu: Mon.-Fri. 12:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m
Credit cards accepted
We were a little overwhelmed by the menu. Although it was bilingual it was hard to tell what categories of dishes we were looking at, and the four-figure numbers by the side of each dish made it a daunting task.
Inaba was proving to be an interesting discovery, considering it is in the cellar of an office building on ulica Nowogrodzka.
Feeling slightly humbled, we reached for the picture menu, although this wasn't much help either since we didn't know what we wanted. Our waitress showed great patience, no doubt attained through hours of meditation before work, but our road through Japanese cuisine was clearly one we would have to choose ourselves.
In the end, we chose the quickest path to enlightenment by ordering plenty of Jummaishu Ozeki (warm sake) and the Inaba Tokujo 13-piece sushi set. Our waitress recommended that we begin with Miso shiro bean-curd soup. My Iwashi tsumire miso shiru (bean curd soup with dumplings) contained little sardine doughballs, which were light and spongy but full of flavor.
Since our board contained only one example of most varieties, a mild rivalry developed in our quest to win the best pieces and the more warm sake we consumed, the more underhanded the tactics became. A quick glance to see if a waitress was available meant that the succulent prawn Ebi vanished from the board. I managed to create a distraction by asking for the whereabouts of the karaoke room, which gave me enough time to appropriate the terrific Ikura, topped with salmon roe.
In our desperate battle to be chairman of the board (so to speak) we came out about even and were eventually only left with the makizushi California moist rice with a crunchy, spicy filling of cucumber, avocado and crab sticks.
The little pile of putty-like wasabi at the edge of the sushi board was deceptive. The green root paste is often compared to horseradish, but is actually a lot stronger. Blissfully unaware of the fact, I dipped a fair-sized blob of it into my shoyu sauce, which meant that my first three pieces of sushi were fairly excruciating. I could still taste the fish while my mouth smoldered away. After this, the succulent portion of spicy Gari, or thinly sliced pickled ginger, was cool and soothing in comparison.
Over at the sushi bar, the chef was practicing the intricacies of his complex art. A salmon filet would be plucked from the transparent bar-top refrigerator and the chef would gracefully cut off a striped slice. He plucked out a handful of rice and mixed it with a tiny amount of the spicy wasabe. Then in one smooth movement the sake (this time, salmon-flavored sushi) would be lying on the outspread palm of his hand, his face giving away no trace of emotion after the little display.
Inaba, which opened three years ago, was intended by its creators including its principal shareholder Tomotomi Saeki to serve as a little corner of Japan in Warsaw, without compromising to the general public's tastes. And this is clearly visible in the balanced, subdued decor, which no feng-shui self-help book could have achieved, and the heavy-duty soundproofed karaoke lounge. Here you can drink sake and perform a selection of your favorite crooning tunes in front of friends, rather than the entire restaurant. As we heard the faintly cheesy opening chords of a Japanese ballad, a filmic visual backing appeared for the lyrics, showing postcard images of sunset beaches and young couples strolling in slow motion. Luckily, I wasn't far from the door.
As the menu offers little besides fruit salad and ice cream for dessert we decided to finish our evening elsewhere. We stepped out of Inaba, where a handful of moderately animated guests were still finishing up their meals, and drove to Adler, where I was promised the finest apple strudel in town. This promise was not fulfilled as the strudel was off, but we nevertheless stayed just to soak up the atmosphere.
The difference was overwhelming, both in the appearance of the place and the behavior of its customers. While Inaba's quiet, minimal interior seemed to encourage hushed tones and small gestures, Adler was so cluttered with souvenirs, nicknacks and liberally scattered tables that we could hardly hear ourselves over the crowd. When a man at a neighboring table nodded off, sending a pitcher of beer smashing over the floor, laughter erupted all around him. The Inaba spell had finally been shattered. The relaxed tranquility of the restaurant only became noticeable after we'd arrived at such a contrast.
Overall, Inaba is definitely for the more relaxed evenings and the occasional lunchtime hideaway if you want some peace during a hectic day. Our meal, with sake, cost zl. 257 ($64).
On the menu:
Miso shiro soup zl.10
Iwashi tsumire miso shiru soup zl.17
Inaba Tokujo set zl.120
Jummaishu Ozeki zl.16
Grapefruit juice zl.12
Green tea free with meal
