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Ippuku. Late Night Snack

So went to visit my better half and my flight got in a bit late. Looked up what would be open during the time and this place seemed to fit the bill. Try out the Yakitori for a late night snack. Pretty good, they open from 5PM- 11PM, Monday through Saturday. Basically, we didn't come here expecting a great big feast, just something small to get us through since both of us weren't able to grab dinner. By not being able to grab dinner I mean it was my fault since my better half wanted to get dinner after I arrived ... and since my flight got delayed we had to change to this place. We'll try the other Japanese restaurant, which isn't Yakitori, next time.
This little restaurant is cute, comfortable, romantic, very nice. Wood everywhere. Table, dishes, napkins, lights, all wood. Nah, just kidding, just the tables, walls, panels, doors, all that stuff is wood. Very nice looking. Actually very traditional with some modern inspirations in there. We both enjoyed the environment. When we got there only a few of the tables were occupied. The picture above is one of the traditional looking booths. The one we sat it was "normal" with wooden benches, no need to take off your shoes (which we wouldn't have minded either).
Crab Croquette. This dish was freshly fried, buttery flakey taste. I added a lot of lemon to mine because I enjoy the citrus kick to seafood nowadays. The inside of the croquette is filled with crab and who knows what else but it was good. I like it. Crab flavor was there even if it wasn't overstuffed with crab.
This is what the croquette looks after taking a bite. Nice and flakey. Yum.
Shiitake mushrooms. My better half and I LOVE mushrooms, dirt and all. Haha just kidding we hate dirt and the oral blisters they might cause. Although the mushrooms aren't anything to praise, the citrus pickled minced radish (?) in the middle goes great with all the dishes. I wish they gave us a nice big side bowl full of it. So the mushroom ... yeah we concluded we could grill this at home.
Oyster mushrooms. Same story as the Shiitake.
Udon with Chicken based soup.
Ramen with Chicken based soup. The above two dishes are pretty much the same except different noodles. I'll have to say the soup base has a very homemade taste and feel to it. Very very refreshing since we were both cold that night. These bowls are pretty small but with the Yakitori it can satisfy your stomach. The broth was not very greasy, had a great light chicken taste and the green onion added a good contrast to the soup-base. The udon noodles weren't that great, high quality pre-packaged frozen udon noodles at best. The ramen, I'd have to say most likely the same.
Bacon wrapped cherry tomatoes. The best dish we had all night. Loved it. I love tomatoes now and bacon goes awesome with just about everything. I just put the whole tomato in my mouth, bit down and let the burning hot cherry insides and bacon oils burn my mouth. Good? Yes, indeed it was. The interesting thing about this dish was the bacon was not overly salty, it was a bit sweet too. Have you ever had Taiwanese sausage? The bacon Ippuku uses reminded me of Taiwanese sausage.

Like I mentioned earlier we came here for a snack. Would I come here again? Sure why not. Would I come here if I was really hungry? Hell no. The dishes and portions are small for the price point. All of the dishes you see we got was $49.xx without tip. Very expensive for what it is. Environment is great. Service was mediocre but I'll assume it was because we were basically the last customers. My suggestion is go and try it, but don't go overboard because your bill is going to slap you across the face when 30 minutes after you leave you realize you're satisfied but might still be hungry.

Ippuku
2130 Center St.
Berkeley, CA 94704
510-665-1969

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