Asian Style Food Comes To Cork's Electric. And Fits Right In On The City's South Bank

Asian Style Food Comes To Cork's Electric

 And Fits Right In On The City's South Bank

Hake Soba

Don’t let strange words get in the way of an excellent meal! That’s more or less our message after our first tasting of Electric’s Asian style food in midweek.

First strange word up was in CL’s starter: Deep Fried Gyoza (9.00), a dipping sauce with a choice of Chicken, Duck, or Vegetable. The Gyoza are Japanese pan-fried dumplings. Her choice was chicken and they went down a treat with the sauce.

Gyoza

Cabáiste

No real verbal obstacles with my opening dish: Grilled Napa Cabbage wedge (10.00)  with Apple, chili and tamarind dressing and a scattering of walnuts. Cabbage its highly regarded in Eastern cuisines and certainly went up in my estimation with this treat. Napa is not from the famous wine valley, though you may well get it there, but originally from China. It has a longish cone type head rather than the familiar globe.

 I had been “prepared” for this thanks to a super Pork collar, miso, grilled winter cabbage and peanut rayu at Cork’s Glass Curtain a couple of years back. And, more recently at the same venue, a BBQ'd pointed Hispi cabbage, Pork belly, Whey caramel, Black garlic combination, also delicious.

Soon our very friendly Electric servers were bringing our main courses. CL had bravely picked the Okonomiyaki (16.00), Japanese pancake, sake, lime, mayo, spiced bbq sauce & deep fried noodles. Aside from the forbidding title word, the Insta friendly dish was very well received. Okonomiyaki, the pancake, is available all over Japan and can be served with a variety of toppings. CL’s came with mixed veg, all lovely and crisp, and was crowned with a pile of deep fried prawn flavoured noodles. Eye-catching and palate pleasing!

Okonomiyaki

Just one 4-letter word, a common enough one, in my mains and that was soba, a thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat. The full description was Hake Soba (24.00) Thai basil, chilli, and lemongrass. The Hake, with its crispy skin, was top of the tidy pile and the noodles with little bits of crunchy veg and the sauce of course were a delight to dispatch. Rather addictive actually.

Something sweet from the East? Of course. We shared the two desserts (each at €7.50). Ginger and lemongrass is a well-used combination and so one pick was their Lemongrass and Ginger Pudding with orange and cashew crumb and pomegranate. You could compare it to a panna cotta but, with the nuts, the orange and pomegranate, this winner was more flavourful.

Blondie

The other was the Rich Chai Blondie with toffee, Kaffir lime Crème Anglaise. In India, chai is tea made with added spices and Chai Blondies are like brownies without the chocolate. Electric’s square, with the toffee and custard, was a superb dessert.

Electric’s move to Asian came about when they had time on their hands during the Covid closures and were thinking about the future. Asian experts from the UK were brought in to train the local kitchen staff. I, for one, was a bit wary when I heard about the transformation. I am now convinced. Very Highly Recommended.

Electric are now well known for their cocktails. Indeed, the former fish bar upstairs is now known as Ohm and had just been launched as their cocktail bar. Downstairs the bar is busy every evening and the food here also has that Asian touch. For updates on menus and opening times, please check their Facebook page and their Instagram at electriccork.