Iro Izakaya - Berlin

Translation: Der Service war freundlich und das Essen sehr lecker und sättigend. Die veganen Optionen sind in der Speisekarte deutlich gekennzeichnet. Leider ist hier keine Kartenzahlung möglich.

Nothing spectacular Just for a quick bite I would say

Iro Izakaya is one of a few Izakayas in Berlin a type of informal Japanese bar that serves alcoholic drinks and snacks, kind of like a British pub or Spanish tapas bar. On the Monday evening that my girlfriend at the time and I went the medium sized restaurant was quite empty, meaning we could get a nice seat at the window. I really liked the vibe. There were sumo wrestler paintings on the walls, colorful glass in the ceiling and the lighting was warm and yellow. The speakers were playing Japanese pop including some famous karaoke songs (or so I was told). Vegan and vegetarian options were clearly marked on the menu and there were twelve vegan starters (numbers 1 12) two vegan mains and two vegan ramens. As starters/tapas we ordered the Iro Tofu no Misoshiru (miso soup), Okara Korokke (Japanese fried croquettes with a soy filling) and as my main dish I had the IRO Vegan Ramen. Everything was delicious, but what stole the show for me was the miso soup. Yum! Everything arrived super fast, perhaps because it was so empty. Something that was a bit strange to me was that the ramen arrived a few minutes before the starters. Maybe that's the Izakaya style. For dessert I had the Vegan Panna Cotta but I could've skipped it it just tasted ok. Apart from the dessert the food was great; however, what made this place stand out to me was the drink and sake menu. There were twelve sakes and two shochu. What I really enjoyed was that each sake had a dry/sweet rating, and that there was a map of Japan showing where each one was from. We ordered three sakes; one from the north, one from the center, and one from the south. They were all great especially the Yuzu Shu. I had a really good time at Iro Izakaya and would be happy to go back here. Pst! In just four days they're having a soft opening for the new Iro Izakaya Vegan, just a stone's throw away from Boxenhager Platz. Don't miss it!

Beim betreten des Iro Izakaya wird man sofort durch das authentische Interieur und die japanische Hintergrundmusik in ein Izakaya Feeling versetzt, dass einen u.A. dazu verleiten kann bereits um 17:00 Nachmittags eine Sakeverkostung vorzunehmen. Wir entschieden uns für mehrere kleine Speisen und bestellten Senfspinat, Grillgemüse, marinierte Kräutersaitlinge, Grillavocado, Kürbis und gebackene Taroknolle. Alles davon schmeckte vorzüglich und wir entschieden uns schließlich dazu, eine Auswahl an verschiedenen Sake zu probieren. Auch hier wurden wir nicht enttäuscht und der Yuzu Shu ging als unser klarer Favorit aus der Verkostung hinaus. In verschiedenen Situationen gab es Missverständnisse mit der Bedienung, jedoch war es nie etwas dramatisches und wir konnten es eher mit Humor nehmen. Alles in allem war unser Aufenthalt im Iro Izakaya ein kleines Highlight und wir hatten dort einen sehr schönen Abend, der wir jederzeit wiederholen würden allein schon um uns durch die restlichen Sake durchprobieren zu können. Updated from previous review on 2021 09 16

When entering the iro izakaya, they will be transferred immediately to an Izakaya feeling through the authentic interieur and the Japanese background music, that you can lead to a Sake tasting at 17:00 on the afternoon. we chose several small dips and ordered senfspinate, grilled vegetables, marinated krimson seedlings, grillavocado, pumpkin and baked taroknolle. all of him tasted excellent and we finally decided to try a selection of different sakes. also here we were not disappointed and the Yuzu-Shu went out of the tasting as our clearer gunst. in various situations there were misunderstandings with the operation, but it was never a bit dramatic and we could take it more with humor. all in all, our stay at the iro izakaya was a small highlight and we had a very nice evening there, which we would repeat at any time just to be able to try the rest of the love. updated by previous review on 2021-09-16