Uchi KOOOOOOOOOOOO!


No offense to Uchiko, Chef Tyson Cole’s new sibling restaurant of the Austin hot-spot Uchi, but everytime I say the restaurant name I think of this clip from Peter Pan. Yes, I’m five years old and why people invite me anywhere I have no idea.

Cool Lights at Uchiko

Yet, I was invited to a soft-launch opening by the ladies at Cultivate PR to come and experience Uchiko before it opened. Since I do love me some Uchi I jumped at the chance to get to go. Right off North Lamar between 42nd and 43rd, the exterior of the restaurant is reminiscent of a Japanese style farm-house with modern touches. We walked in and the place was PACKED. It has a great bar, smallish, private rooms in the back of the restaurant and a great room where the sushi bar is located. We parked ourselves at the sushi bar and got started on our grazing plan.

Salivating at Uchiko’s Sushi Bar

The menu was very interesting and a little more limited than Uchi’s but they did have one thing on the menu that was a must: Pork Belly. J’adore pork belly like it’s my job and I have to say Tyson Cole’s is one of the best I have ever had at Uchi. So, obviously the Bacon Sen which is berk­shire pork belly, fried green apple puree and brussel sprout kimchee, was a given. David also wanted the “sear it yourself” wagyu beef that you cook on a hot rock with kaffir lime and sel gris.

 

Wagyu Beef

 Now, what to do next? We had the fortunate opportunity to sit by a chef from the restaurant on his day off and asked what was the one thing we could not leave without trying. He said definitely the pork belly – well yes – and the fried chicken. We looked at him with confusion and then he pointed it out on the menu…Yakitori which is brined half cornish game hen with chayote and peanut. We also chose the Cobia Crudo which is Carribean kingfish with jalapeno and cucumber and the Akime Te with big eye tuna, watermelon, mitsuba and coriander to at least get some sushi since we were at Uchiko.

Akime Ten

Cobia Crudo

Yakitori

For dessert there were a lot of enticing options but the one that was screaming at us “pick me! pick me!” was the Fried Milk, can you blame us for choosing this one? The Fried Milk consists of well fried milk and choco­late milk, toasted milk, iced milk sherbet. Lots of milk eh? But totally worth it!

Fried Milk (!)

Everything, and I repeat everything, was absolutely fresh, delicious, inventive and enjoyable. The tuna and wagyu were fantastic but compared to the cobia, pork belly and yakitori they kind of faded into the background of our food experience. I agree with the chef we met, go for the great sushi experience and the pork belly and fried chicken and I would add the fried milk (and then put yourself on a diet for two weeks). Get to Uchiko stat Austinites, you will not be disappointed.

2 thoughts on “Uchi KOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

  1. Totally agree with your assessments above Emily – Uchiko was SUCH a great dining experience. And while the menu was somewhat limited, it covered a wide variety of delicious :)

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