Ooi Japanese Dining

We've been dining at Ooi for 6 months now, making the trip to Cuppage Plaza about twice a month.

Having come back from a food trip to Tokyo, we were desperately looking for something that would help keep the memories from all the small eateries that we visited alive...  and stumbled upon Ooi.

Ooi is a small little place with about 10 seats at tables, 2 private rooms (4-6 pax each), and about 6 seats at the counter.

Hiromi-san is the wonderful hostess at Ooi, and she is bubbling with enthusiasm.  Her husband runs the kitchen and together, they know exactly how to bring out the best of their dishes, both permanent items, as well as the specials.  Specials are dictated by the season, and whether they can get the ingredients flown in from Japan.  Our last visit, we ate some clams that were amazing - fresh and crunchy (yes, crunchy), and not too fishy all at the same time.  A little bit of ponzu on the side, and you're good to go.

They specialise in grilled fish, and typically have 4 or 5 different fishes that you can order.  There is also a yam "soba" starter that is very different, and very tasty!

The menu is a bit hard to decipher, especially if you don't read Japanese, but Hiromi-san has a picture book on stand-by, in case you need a photo of the fish you're going to eat.  We usually just let's Hiromi-san pick our meal for us!