Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori, Dubai: Is This Anything New?

Chef Akumal Anuar, associated with Dubai’s ever-popular 3 fils (also Asian, also 10 minutes away by car), unveils a smart, contemporary space. It feels modern yet very familiar. Goldfish executes a reimagined urban chic garden with high ceilings, punctured metallic industrial panels and cool grey concrete. The dining space is warmed up with woods, sage-stained leather and green foliage that all feels a bit Al Quoz funky smartened up for the well-heeled Jumeirah environs. The now ever-popular transparent seating dividers allow full views across the restaurant while offering a sense of privacy. COVID19 is like an Adele scorned love ballad that stays around long after it’s released into the world.

Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori’s generous outside space with Boulevard-esque dining is ideal for watching Jumeirah residents slowly roll through in their Ferraris and Bentaygas.

Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori is all very pleasant. I could perch here on the weekend reading newspapers online, people watching and fastidiously curating a to-do list, while sipping San Pellegríno sparkling water. That’s right, no local or filter water available – for shame. Maybe features in 50 Best lists means more than consumer value.


Inside seating with clear dividers and modern semi-industrial vibe

Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori’s service

Goldfish Sushi’s staff mill around efficiently and trained in cordiality. Everyone is on their best behaviour until I pull out a camera and start to take photos of the nicely plated scallops (more on this later). Secret service-like whispers are thinly disguised between staff. Servers assemble like Avengers. A benevolent, almost coquettish questioning unfolds for the rest of my lunch enquiring intentionally about every. single. course. This culminates in the restaurant manager asks me what I do for a living when I come to pay the bill. I confirm I am a lawyer but also running a small blog. Small but perfectly formed, naturally.

I genuinely admire a restaurant’s want for feedback but, let’s just say: there are certain moments in life where constantly seeking feedback during the act kind of takes away from the joy for both involved. Find the right cadence, preferably after its all over. Maybe check-in somewhere in the middle.

Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori’s menu

Goldfish Sushi’s menu does what it says on the door. Both sushi and yakitori grill options are available plus appetisers and “gluts and carbs”.

This is a good time to raise an important point: Goldfish Sushi is curiously pricey in places. A tidy 35 food items plus specials including a spicy tuna avocado roll (AED90) and two uni plates well north of AED200 including an uni ikura bowl and “salmon uni caviar new style” whatever that is (AED210 and AED225, respectively). Six of the nine appetisers are well above 60AED averaging AED85 overall including a foie gras brûlée with uni and chives at an eye-gouging AED155. Fun fact: I ordered this dish, but never received it.

I start lunch playing in the shallow price end unclear whether to chase down that brûlée. I take the view that if enough of the lower price items impress then I will vault higher up the value chain. The end result is that I barely get off the ground.

I did not order a dish above AED80 as I firmly believe cheaper food can still be great food (which Goldfish did provide, see below). Dubai is far too tolerant of exorbitant prices as a proxy for quality. Take note that 30% of the menu (including specials) are north of AED80. Like me, you can easily order dishes south of AED80. You should keep the following in mind. Firstly, Goldfish Sushi’s small portions require tables of two or more to order round after round. The cost will add up. Secondly, my view is pricier dishes should be earned and the hard work sits with impressing me with the cheaper dishes.





Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori’s menu options as of early Feb 2021

Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori’s food

Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori’s food is mostly minimalist and unfussy. The highlights are truly pleasurable but most of the dishes tried do not thrill.

The scallop sashimi with pickled cucumber is light, almost dainty, with chilled, plump, supple scallops (AED80). The crunch of pickled cucumber is much needed to bring texture to the dish; a texture subtly amplified with sea salt and flaked nori. A squish of lime also adds much-loved acidity.


Raw Scallop Sashimi with Pickled cucumber, crumbled nori and sea salt

“Gluts and carbs” feels like the sort of place where I could starfish for hours. I am drawn to the spicy prawn noodles very reasonably priced at AED40. The spicy prawn noodles are a loving bowl of comfort food crimson with spice, tressed with bouncy cooked egg. I love coriander so the herbaceous brightness with the lime wedge takes the dish from good to great. There is a street food-like simplicity to this bolshy dish that grabs you by the throat but does not over complicate. There is no wizardry here. Call me a philistine but eat the spicy prawn noodles at Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori this if nothing else.


Delectable Spicy Prawn Noodles with egg and coriander

The wagyu tsukune is salty (in a good way) and makes for delicious eating with an impossibly rich poached egg quarantined in a separate bowl (AED35). It does feel like a tale of two dishes and I am not sure one part needs (or benefits) from the other.

Like 3 fils, some dishes at Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori are nearly there.

The wings yakitori serves a duo of skewered, deliciously blistered wings as a purr of spice and smoke fortifies them. My two observations fall between a fact and a preference. The wings are dry, remarkable for a fatty cut. Secondly, while this is a yakitori, the two skewers running through the wings make for awkward eating.


Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori’s Chicken Wings Yakitori with Lime Wedge (first); Wagyu Tsukune with poached egg sauce

The lobster tempura maki roll is a gentrified PF Changs dynamite shrimp, but it is still dynamite shrimp (AED75). A pleasantly lightly spiced dish with sweet sushi rice. The gentle hum of oniony chive is lovely. The judicious balance is all going so well until a luxurious ingredient like lobster is battered, fried and entombed in mayo. All the best bits were enjoyed where the mayo was absent (or scrapped away). I seriously doubt anyone would know this is lobster were they not informed. Thought went into this dish but it is not clear what came out.


Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori’s Lobster Tempura maki roll

The shitake mushroom and nasu (aubergine / eggplant) yakitori are unforgivably bland with no dips, sauces nor anything to amplify what tastes like unseasoned plain vegetables.


Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori’s shiitake mushroom and nasu (aubergine) yakitori (first); Service Bar at Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori

Would I Return to Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori?

Whenever I cook something new for Mrs EatGoSee, I always ask her two questions. She already knows these are coming and, generously, she saves me the mild burden of lodging a verbal enquiry. I ask: did you enjoy it and would you eat it again? I pose these questions about Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori.

I am ambivalent about Goldfish. I am not rushing back nor would I shun the option to go again if tabled by a friend. I enjoyed the scallops with pickled cucumber, the spicy prawn noodle and a chunky wagyu tsukune. But would I return?

Here I struggle. In a city drenched in Asian restaurants, Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori does not sit high on my priority list. The dining is pleasant, but so are a lot of places. The food is inconsistent and, at times, unexciting. I am left asking myself: why would I come back to which there is no clear answer.

It is early days for Goldfish and, like 3 fils, it will do just fine.

Who Should Come to Goldfish Sushi and Yakitori?

Diners who bounce around Dubai ravenous for the new next thing. Gluttons for Asian dining and Japanese food. Jumeirah Janes armed with credit cards. Uni enthusiasts.