Kikko Bā

Review

For a glass of sake

Photo: Katharina Gossow Does anyone still remember the restaurant Haizaki-san no omise? A former kebab grill in Schleifmühlgasse, where 20 years ago the honorable chef Mr. Haizaki suddenly prepared izakaya cuisine, fried gyoza filled with pork, grilled octopus and cucumbers pickled with chili and ginger. It was completely new back then and people loved it. They lined up all the way down Margaretenstraße. Right next to the restaurant, which is now called Nagoya, there was a small cleaning shop. In 2006, it became a designer bistro in the south of France called Côte Sud, which changed hands several times and finally ended up with Edi and Nicole Dimant, Tobi Müller and Sandra Jedliczka, the makers of Mochi on Praterstraße, rather by chance. Initially, it was only a pop-up until the end of the year, a sake bar with French-Japanese-inspired snacks. It has been open since Tuesday last week and people are already queuing down to Margaretenstraße again. No, it's not because of a mystical torch that is being carried on. It's simply because the combination of Japanese-South American-Spanish-French-fusion snacks with a few very casual wines, three sakes and the very relaxed atmosphere of a cool-styled snack bar in Schleifmühlgasse is the best concept you can imagine. Sounds too euphoric? Maybe, but the Mochi people manage to be friendly, cook well and serve quickly even when the place is full. That has always been part of their success. And they attract an enthusiastic crowd, who may eat standing up or wait for a free seat with a glass of wine in their hand, which gives the place a subtle party atmosphere. And they cook so insanely well, in this particular case the two young chefs Simon Kotvojs and Nico Talasz, both of whom have previously worked in various great restaurants, but most notably together in the interim use project Rien.
Freshly baked Chinese Bing vermicelli with sesame and chili oil hummus, for example, bistudeppert (€ 5.50), or ceviche of gilthead bream cooked very briefly in lime with coriander, onion and colorful tomatoes, a dream (€ 8.50), or gyoza stuffed with lamb mince in yuzu dashi with black sesame and marinated cucumber - Oida (€ 8.-). The craziest course, as good as it is hard to eat, is a giant prawn in crispy kataifi/angel hair batter with honey and marinated chilies, sweet, salty, very good (€ 6.50), almost conservative is the butter-soft pulpo arm with mojo rojo, but also good for digging in (€ 9.80). A few things were already out, never mind, I'll eat them tomorrow, I'll get in line now. Summary: The right food at the right time with the right drinks from the right people in the right place. Kikko Bā 4th, Schleifmühlg. 8, Tue-Sat 5pm-2.30pm,

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