The scent of a ramen. At Nooresha Kably’s Izumi, Bandra.

Izumi Bandra on a Thursday night

We found the restaurant to be packed when we entered at 8.45 pm and loved the vibe. The joy around us was infectious. Probably the way London would have been after the end of the second world war!

You can look at this two ways. If you feel that being at home at home has dampened your spirits, then stepping out could be just the spark that you need. You might then discover like us, that you are among the last to have done so! For whatever it’s worth, we are double vaccinated.

Most of the restaurants we have been to, or have passed by in recent times, seemed to be bursting at their seams. Which also means that if you are cautious and are wary of the covid 19 corona virus, then you might want to think twice about going out for a meal. You will find everyone around you, barring the staff, in a restaurant to be without their masks and with very little social distancing. We try to maintain precautions at our end though I must confess that we take off our mask once the food is served and try not to worry too much. The question of going out, as I keep saying, is really a personal call.

The touch of bird chilli on the hamichi was inspired as was the wasabi in the jelly

If you have read till here, then I think it is my duty to tell you about the food at Izumi now.

This is not the first time that I have eaten at Izumi though it was K’s first. I have been to its prelaunch tastings having known the husband and wife duo Nooresha and Anil Kably who, along with their business partners Neal Murray and Owen Roncon, run the place. I have dined at their initial rather tiny outlet at Carter Road and then at the newer bigger one close to Patwardhan Park and recently called in from there too. I have seen the food evolve with time and I think what we experienced yesterday was a Nadia Comaneci-like perfect ten.

There were a few starters which Nooresha most kindly sent to a table and she made it a point to say those were not regular portions. The two sashimi, hamichi and yellow tail tuna, spoke of great knife skills, fresh produce and lovely understanding of flavours.  This was not the traditional sashimi which showcases just the fish. The fish had been smeared with sauces here. Think Japanese in Mumbai and any accompanying sauce that comes with it would be sweet, but here each was a poetic interplay of salt, acid and sweet. Muted and complex. Allowing for the chef’s creativity to flower. I think that Nooresha did the various senseis (Sensei is Japanese for guru) that she had gone to in Japan proud with these.

The yellow fin tuna at Izumi was brilliant

‘Gone to Japan?’

Oh, you did not know about that? Well Nooresha had initially started a sushi delivery place from her home in Bandra called Sushi Koi, where her chef was the former sushi chef from Zenzi which had just shut down. A few years later, well into her mid 40s by then, Nooresha decided to step out of her comfort zone to improve her sushi making skills. She went to Tokyo and stayed there for a while to learn how to make sushi. In case you wondered if she had felt overwhelmed by the experience, she went back not once, but twice. To Tokyo and to Oklahama to learn how to make sushi, yakitori, ramen and more Japanese hot kitchen and cold kitchen staples. The result of which was Izumi, the restaurant which has charmed diners in Mumbai and beyond since its opening.

With chef Nooresha Kably after what had been a long day’s work for her

It was a treat to see Nooresha at work last night. From the initial two people outfit that she ran from home once, today she is in charge of a long L shaped kitchen with multiple stations…sushi, yakitori, ramen, gyozo, fried rice, noodles and a rocking bar. The kitchen was buzzing with earnest young chefs, many of whom had been trained here, with Nooresha moving nimbly between stations. Darting in between to meet customers and take orders at times. If you want to know what it takes to build a successful restaurant brand out of nowhere, then you will find the answer in Nooresha’s blood, sweat and tears, the earnestness of of her team and the vision of her backers. From what I understand, they might be opening at Goa’s Assagao soon.

There was more food. Nooresha and Anil both recommended and brought us a tasting sample of the tenderloin yakitori. Buffalo meat is no comparison to the wagyu we had in Japan but the charcoal flavours added at the grill at Izumi was pure magic. Nooresha had once told me about getting a tandoori cook to man the yakitori counter and making him unlearn the need to marinate meats with masalas before grilling. Her sous chef, the chef from Zenzi who had stayed on with her, believes in teaching new skills to the staff to keep them motivated and Nooresha supports this.

Tenderloin yakitori at Izumi. Bewitching flavours.

The only vegetarian dish that we tried last evening, again sent by Nooresha, was the sesame curd. K was sceptical about it, as was I, and yet we were both won over by the cloud-like lightness of the curd and the faint but bewitching sesame favours contained in it.

Sesame curd at Izumi

What did we order at our end (apart from tea and a cola)?

Operatic chuttoro nigiri at Izumi

I am a slave to a good nigiri and went for the most expensive one on offer. The chuttoro. Fatty tuna belly.

I put one into my mouth and then just shut my eyes to take in its operatic brilliance. The fish melted in my mouth and the temperature and bite of the rice was just right. I remember the rice being a bit cold the last time I had a nigiri at Izumi, but this time everything was at body temperature. This was sushi perfection. Nooresha told me that it is getting rather difficult to get good sushi grade fish and a number of other core ingredients ever since the pandemic hit us.

Saluting the tonkotsu ramen at Izumi. I do not think that my mobile had a camera when I first started blogging

Nooresha tries to use local produce wherever she can. The pork for example, which is bought from a supplier in Bandra who is happy to give the bones too and this formed the core of the excellent pork tonkotsu ramen that we ordered last night. Nooresha makes the noodles fresh and you can ask them to serve them firm the way the Japanese prefer it. The default options for Indian is cooked a bit more.  The pork was slow cooked to tender submission. The flavours in the broth were beautifully balanced and very hearty. We chose shoroo, soy versus salt and spicy options. Best of all, it was served piping hot unlike in my previous experiences at Izumi when it was a tad under. We had ordered it home recently and that had worked well as well. Last night everything was perfect. K and I shared a bowl as were quite stuffed by then.

It was lovely to see this labour of love from our friends grow so wonderfully. The dinner brought back happy memories of our holiday in Japan from a few years back where we had some glorious food.

We had a wonderful time last evening and even looked at each other in between and said, ‘we should do this more often. Step out for impromptu meals.’ With our fingers crossed!

With Nooreshe Kably and K

I had a couple of thoughts at the end of the dinner.

The first, the fact that so many restaurants seem be running full seems to indicate that people have had enough of being at home and are now eating out with a vengeance. A trend that restaurants can capitalise on if they get product, location and service right.

The second is the fact that after a year and half of eating home cooked food (including at friends and through home chefs), I think our diners happy to indulge in international flavours. Perhaps it will not be all about just Indian food from now on as some of us thought it would be.

All is well as long as the food is good.

With Anil Kably at Izumi

Note: This was not an anonymous review. Some of the dishes were served on the house.

You can watch my #foodocracyforher interview with Nooresha here: