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Hako Sushi: For the love of Japanese food

A comprehensive menu and friendly service although somewhat lacking in flavour.

It was a recommendation from a friend - still probably the number one reason people visit restaurants. But as sushi lovers, it doesn't take much more than a whisper from a stranger to have us piling through the door of an undiscovered Japanese eatery.
The restaurant in question, Hako, wasn't difficult to find although was not as auspicious as we had been led to believe. Situated opposite the Le Royal Meridien hotel next to JBR, the outside terrace looked pleasant although it was a bit chilly to enjoy it. Inside was rather sparse and pokey to be honest. Still, never judge a book and all that.
We sat down and were instantly seen to by our server, who was delightful. Always willing to offer advice, the ordering process made navigating the gargantuan menu a breeze.
To begin with - the usual: edamame and miso soup. The soup was standard as were the beans, so nothing to report here. It's pretty difficult to mess those items up, so we shall move on.
Next came the true test of a sushi restaurant.its sushi. We ordered three different rolls (restrained for us), which included the California Urumaki, the enigmatically named The Role and a plate of even more puzzlingly labelled Nuclear rolls.
The California roll was your standard fare. Everyone's tried the crab/mayo/avocado combo and, like the starters, it was very run-of-the-mill. Such is the popularity of the dish it wouldn't have been surprising if it had been pre-made and refrigerated. It tasted that way anyway.
The Role comprised a crunchy exterior with crabstick and mayo salad topping. This probably won out overall, but only because the mayo was so plentiful it pepped up the bland crabsticks.
The Nuclear concoction was a bit of a mess, which only piqued interest given the recipe's addition of barbeque sauce - unusual for sushi, but novel.
All in all Hako's dishes were just very ordinary. They weren't bad, nor did they excel, it was just a very standard experience. Including a bottle of sparkling water the meal came to about Dhs170, so it wasn't exactly cheap and cheerful either. For the same price you can eat at most mainstream sushi joints including Sumo and Sushi Art, which offer better value for money. (Pictures are for illustrative purposes)
Call: 04 430 1961