EN Izakaya Japanese Bar & Restaurant

Expensive and less amount meal. But extremely tasty. Still remember the flavour not the names. Love their soft drink as well.

We went on a Thursday night, food took awhile to come out. After giving us our ordered pickles and dishes we continued to wait for our rice… Food became cold and became less as we were so hungry. So we had to ask them to bring out the rice. Our other dishes took quite some time to come out as well.
Small servings don’t expect filling portions so overpriced for the amount you get. Dishes with sauce quite sweet so you need to order rice to go with it. It was understaffed so the service we received wasn’t up to standard.

So first things first, I’m not a huge fan of Japanese fare, too salty, too oily, too not really my taste, so coming to EN was a bit out of my culinary comfort zone but was my brother’s choice for a pre-​show dinner before heading to the Arkaba for a live podcast recording (why yes, I am one of those people!).
It was a Thursday evening at 6pm and the place was full to the brim (which is nice to see!) so we ended up sitting on the bar. The bar is always my favourite place to be as I love watching the goings on behind the scenes and chatting to the staff about their favourites, the restaurant and the food in general and the bar here is spacious with enough room for all your choices.
The staff were knowledgeable and guided our selections with my brother and I opting for some share plates and Sapporo beer from the tap. The menu is varied with a wide breadth of options that should suit most people and satisfy large groups. With so many options on the menu, small plates is a great way to go in order to get a taste of everything. The drinks menu is also impressive for this style and the Japanese beers on tap is a real bonus.
Our favourites were the takoyaki and gyoza with 4 of our picks coming out promptly and leaving my brother and I to laugh ourselves silly trying to eat the rolled pork belly (cha-​su) with chopsticks and trying to maintain some semblance of dignity. The takoyaki was crisp and sweet whilst the gyoza was a perfect dumpling in any sense.
The main issue we had was the speed of food service. The initial plates came out within a reasonable time but one of our choices came out a good 20 minutes after we finished with the rest which seemed odd. I asked the waiter if maybe we’d picked something that needed longer to cook but that wasn’t the case. As we had somewhere else to be it was a little frustrating, however in a packed food joint, food delays will be expected.
EN has made me reconsider Japanese cuisine and I can’t wait to return and sample more of the menu, however I’ll make sure to clear the schedule.

Had takeaway from EN last night, and despite most it being cold after waiting there for it to be ready, the food was fantastic! (even with reheating). Loved the Gyoza, the Miso chicken wings and the Takiniku Beef especially. Can’t wait to dine there. Menu attached was from the table, but takeaway is same (they’d run out of T/​A menus).

Fantastic food. The staff is really friendly and the interior design is stylish, you can see the Japanese attention for detail. It’s very affordable particularly for the quality and portion sizes. We had the Teriyaki Salmon & Cha Shu. Both dishes highly recommendable. Will come again.

It was a stinking hot day, 2pm, without lunch in my belly and I was getting really hangry.
Using my trusty Unilocal App and monocle function (check it out if you haven’t already), I looked around to see what options I had for lunch.
Ah ha! Japanese, oh yes the only cuisine that shall not only satisfy, but also work well with the heat. There were smashing reviews of EN Izakaya Japanese Bar & Restaurant. So I could not say no. The front of the store is a little misleading, because when you step through it is a really lovely designed restaurant.
What I love about Japanese restaurants and cuisine is the attention to detail and great customer services. EN Japanese have laid out the restaurant in a wonderful way sectioning off an area for groups and an intimate back bar section. Oh, and what a bar! The bar top is one long single cut slice of red gum. So gorgeous! Also, to my surprise it features some acrylic resin in a hole in the wood with opals and rocks set into it. Again, there is your attention to detail.
The menu is expensive, many options inclusive of traditional Japanese dishes and modern twists. But, I knew what I wanted before I even walked through the doors. Sashimi and seaweed salad with ice cold green tea. And like any good Japanese restaurant, it was on the menu and very affordable.
My dishes presentation was beautiful. Wasabi was high quality and placed carefully on top of a leaf. All seafood was brilliantly fresh and cut in well measured slices. The seaweed salad was also fresh and well portioned.
As for the staff, well I was very fortunate enough to have a chat to he chef and was looked after very well by the waiter. They both were super friendly and happy to talk about their restaurant.
Lovely experience just for a quick lunch. I will be back with others!

Came here as a small group for dinner and lots of entrees. Had a great time, tried a couple different sakes with advice from the staff. Definitely recommended

This is authentic izakaya food from one of our hometowns done really well. The combination of really decent food with great customer service made dining at this restaurant a really enjoyable experience and we will definitely be going back.
The only criticism is that the rice serving was too small for us. We are big rice eaters and some of the oily izakaya food (miso katsu) needs the larger serve of rice to balance the meal out. This being said, the rice serving would probably be sufficient for most westerners.
Thanks for the great service and see you again soon.

What a find! We stumbled upon this place and were overwhelmed with glee that we had! The ambiance was warm, innovative and welcoming, at the same time as being intimate yet not set apart from the general mêlée.
The food was as fresh as it gets and the flavours were so well balanced that every mouthfull was a gastronomic journey. (we had many tapas dishes and dessert)
The service was friendly and warm and educational by request. (we asked about dishes we didn’t know anything about).
The seating was perfect. You can sit at the bar and watch the owner making sushi and sushi mi, or a quiet table for two or in the front half of the restaurant there are regular tables for larger groups or shared benches for random rendezvous.
This restaurant ticks all the boxes BUT ALSO left us feeling really uplifted and excited for the rest of the night that we had discovered something so unique and of such high quality.
The price… way too inexpensive.

Wednesday night. The weekend just went by, yet you are already craving the next one… EN felt the same way it is dynamic yet gives you a slow paced feeling. Dishes are simple yet tasty and well prepared.
It is a fun place and there seem to be plenty of regulars. Nothing is mind-​blowing but all is good. We had the shrimp nigiri, a salad, the large tempura dish, a few other nibbles and… lots of refreshing sake. All is well priced — aim for a main and maybe 2 small dishes per person? (we were hungry).
Staff are nice, but maybe a bit understaffed. Well worth a visit.

This place is so quirky it blends in beautifully with the eclectic Goodwood vibe.
You’ll know exactly what I mean by quirky upon entering the izakaya. The main dining area has been floored with astro turf to give it a pseudo courtyard feel. The walls are still bare due to the newness of the place but a quick chat with Takeo (one of the owner) tells us that there are big plans for cherry trees, chalk murals and paintings. This area can seat a party of 4, 6, 8 or 10 comfortably or tables can be moved around for smaller groups. If you’re looking for a bit more privacy and bar-​ish atmosphere, head towards the back where the bar and couple tables are. The lights are dim, shadows surround you and it really makes you feel like you are in an authentic izakaya, slamming down shots of sake!
My dinner party comprised of 3 hungry ladies and to maximise our experience, we ordered 5 entrée-​sized dishes and 1 main to share among us. The 5 entrees were: agedashi tofu, edamame beans, octopus balls, fried lotus roots, japanese seaweed salad. And the main was the assorted tempura. The entrees were a great size and where the serving was in an odd number (octopus balls are served 5 per order), the staff were great in accommodating our request for an extra so we could each have 2 serves!
All the dishes while nothing special or spectacular (how else does one make agedashi tofu exciting?!), were beautifully cooked and served. The seafood for the tempura was fresh and the batter light and crisp as it should be. The prices are extremely affordable and the entire dining experience was lovely.
I’ll definitely return!

Goodwood Road is slowly coming alive with tasty food outlets and this place is no exception — Hallelujah for this quirky, authentic and cosy Japanese bar and restaurant!
2 friends and I ate here on a Thursday night and it was a lovely experience. The décor was really original and cute — the front room is furnished like a little outdoor beer garden with astroturf and a few restaurant height tables and a few beer garden height tables and a little pergola structure and doorway separates this cute front room from the back room which is a bar.
The service is really efficient, attentive, genuinely considerate and the food is fantastic.
We had edamame, agedeshi tofu, gyoza, octopus balls, lotus root chips, and main sized mixed tempura to share — all dishes were generous portions and really very tasty. We were all full by the end and having a great time chatting and lost track of time.
When it was time to pay the bill after 5 entrees and a main, 2 wines, 2 Asahi beers and 2 teas and it came to a very affordable price.
If the front room is full, don’t be discouraged — head out the back to the bar area, have a few drinks, have a chat to the friendly staff, and wait for a table to open up or have a bar snack or two!
I’d really love to come back and look forward to taking my friends and family here.

This place used to be Larderwood, which was Gingers produce store, but closed down a few months ago. Now En, a cool little Japanese bar and restaurant, has taken its place. The sitting area is at the front and the bar out the back. I assume the bar is more for drinking shots of sake. You wouldn’t realise how big this place is as the original store was quite small out front.
The food is different to what I’ve normally eaten at Japanese restaurants. It feels a little more western, like the sweet potato chips with honey and mayonaise dipping sauce. They were nice though. The shabu shabu salad was also interesting with a hint of wasabi and salad greens. The miso katsu with a miso sauce made a nice change. I should also mention this is tapas style food so if your hoping for a hearty meal you will have to go elsewhere. I also wondered why they only had chopsticks. Not with western food.
The opening times are 11.30am — 11.30pm Mon to Sat but if you want to come for dinner go about 6pm. Sometimes their roller door is down if you come too early. The other thing is they don’t have a phone number on their front window and they don’t have any online presence yet, except for this. Even the owner admitted they haven’t done any advertising. They seem to be pulling customers though. I’m guessing mainly locals.
Above all do come and try it. It’s nice, it’s unusual, it’s different :-)