OKKU is a luxury Japanese restaurant and lounge, offering famous authentic Japanese dishes with a personal twist.
The restaurant is located on the first floor of The H Hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road and was created by the founders Markus Thesleff and Ramzy Abdul-Majeed who are longtime friends.
OKKU seats over 200 diners in three distinctive areas: The lounge by the bar, the main dining room and the mezzanine level that has the private dining Tatami rooms upstairs. The design is a mixture of chic, fusion with a hint of modernity. The main restaurant has a long rectangular shape with dark brown leather sofas and matching chairs. It is lined with dark windows with lighting strips. The lounge has soft beige sofas with square-shaped stonewalls, reflecting a sense of sophisticated Japanese style.
The restaurant offers a family style with small sharing concept which Ross Ledingham, General Manager, describes as the Japanese style of serving. The menu presents a wide selection of modern and authentic Japanese dishes starting with appetizers, such as the “O” Style Hotate, featuring seared scallops, fig, chive and truffle goma. The sweetness of the fig complements perfectly the tenderness and bitterness of the scallops with the truffle goma.
OKKU is known for excellent tartare dishes. The Tuna Tartare is made with bigeye tuna, red onion, yuzu tobiko, and truffle-soy, and is served with wonton chips. Also on offer is a mouth-watering Steak Tartare made with ribeye steak, daikon, cucumber, chives, sweet sesame-soy, and served with lotus root crisps.
Another great appetizer is the Lobster Carpaccio, which I believe is a must-try. It includes poached Atlantic lobster, micro mizuna, masago, and wafu goma dressing made of soy sauce and sesame.
For sushi and maki, the Soft Shell Crab is highly recommended. It is made with crispy soft shell crab, takuan, avocado and sweet soy. The Seared Wagyu is also recommended and is made with wagyu, romaine, enoki mushroom, chives, misona, ponzi oroshi and sweet soy.
The entrées menu caters to the discerning fish and meat lovers, without overlooking vegetarians. The Swordfish Shoyuyaki is made with baked swordfish, chive, scallion, shallot, ginger, seaweed and chilli-soy-butter. The Veal Short Rib is made with ginger-soy braised veal short rib.
I recommend the Dynamite Kani, by far the best crab I’ve ever tasted. It is made with two whole baked king crab legs, masago and spicy mayonnaise, and I suggest eating it with the Truffle Chahan, which is a truffle fried rice with garlic, zen mai, spring onion and black sesame seeds. Another choice is the Brown Barley Rice made with a steamed combination of brown and barley rice.
The best part of the meal arrives at the end with the delectable dessert selection. OKKU has its very own soufflé made with green tea; it is a great mixture, blending the bitter taste of the green tea with the soft, warm texture of the soufflé, and making a special ending to any meal.
Opening hours:
Sun – Thurs: 12:00 p.m. — 3:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. — 3:00 a.m.
Fri – Sat: 6:30 pm — 3:00 am
Expect to pay: 300 AED per person.
