Restaurant Review: Jay’s Japanese

In our cities, every street has its craze and every craze has its street, and in Barcelona this is perhaps never more true than on Carrer de Tuset. 

Over fifty years ago, for different reasons, Tuset and its surroundings concentrated on business focused on advertising, graphic design, fashion and modeling agencies, which made it a focal point in the city. New drugstores, lounge bars, cabarets and other similar venues started to open, attracting a public that was, or aspired to be, chic and sophisticated. Tuset became a place to escape from the grayness of Francoist Spain and to welcome a modernity and openness already present in other cities. In its heyday at the end of the 1960s, it displayed the trendiest pop and psychedelic fashions up to the point of being dubbed the Carnaby Street of Barcelona and even inspiring a movie.

Years and trends have passed and although the street has lost most of that allure, nowadays Tuset’s craze consists of being a go-to place for nightlife addressed to a high-end clientele. A public consisting mostly of executives and white collar employees during the day, and upper middle class patrons and tourists during the night, will encounter an over average number of places to eat and drink, and more in the area.

One of these venues is Gatsby, a reputed restaurant and show venue, whose owners decided to augment it by opening a new space within its premises: Jay’s Japanese.

A hazard of these hybrid approaches in combined venues like this is that codes can get mixed and lead a bumpy experience. For instance, at the moment of my arrival the doorman was in bouncer mode, keeping a queue of people waiting to enter Gatsby. When I sidestepped the queue in order to enter the restaurant I was blocked by the doorman, and instead of being greeted, I had to start my visit by giving the man an explanation of my intentions. No pleasantries or mere courtesy exchanged. As they say, there’s only one opportunity for a good first impression.

Inside things improved as I was greeted by a staff of young people that addressed me in English, and that despite still showing a few rough edges, was attentive, polite and friendly at all times.

The dining hall is at once elegant and comfortable and coherently themed with Gatsby. In a way, it reminded me of an urban American steakhouse. The main features of the restaurant are its cocktail bar and a menu inspired by Japanese cuisine.

Some will consider Jay’s Japanese to be an example of fusion cuisine. But when I think of Japanese fusion I cannot avoid thinking of Nikkei cuisine, where Peruvian and Japanese contributions keep their presence and yet create a new entity on its own. 

This is not the case at JJ’s. Even though its menu covers a wide range of styles in Japanese cuisine, almost like a sampler, the Japanese food inspiration it declares is closer to the Californian expression of it, with a menu centered on nigiri and maki with a profusion of ingredients if compared with washoku, but not intended to reach the sumptuosity of a kaiseki dinner either.

I started my meal with a mimosa cocktail followed by ebi tempura sarada, black tiger shrimp in tempura with kimuchi, unconventionally presented in a compact dome atop a flower-like arrangement of lettuce leaves. So compact it was, that the handling of chopsticks distracted my experience from the flavor, succinctly good, although not remarkable as I found the kimuchi a bit mild.

Contradicting slightly the ideas outlined before, in my experience at JJ's perhaps the dish that evoked Japan the most for me was a taco. The reason being that the crispy salmon nori taco was in fact a temaki in which the cone shape morphed into a taco shape with a nori sheet supplying the function of the tortilla. The rightfully combined flavors of the salmon, ponzu, kizami wasabi and avocado left a rich and lasting taste.

Next, I had rainbow uramaki, a sampler of maki California style. Nuanced flavors that matched harmoniously with freshly grated wasabi. My only caveat here could be the ordering of my dishes. In contrast with the taco, the nuanced flavors of the maki felt somehow tamed.

The meal continued as tasty as can be expected from correctly cooked wagyu meat in the ushi ribu, rib cooked at low temperature with Japanese demi-glace. Good as it was, perhaps this was the dish that broke the narrative for me as the Japanese aspect of demi-glace was too subtle and I could not tell it from a Western one. Unfortunately, the yuzu cheesecake I had for dessert reinforced this idea, as it remained in my memory simply as another good cheesecake.

Most of the dishes in the menu presented a Japanese ingredient or technique but the result is closer to the fuzzy moniker of international cuisine. I cannot tell if this outcome occurs by design, in an attempt to please the palate of the mixed public of our city, or if it derives from the chance involved in every creative process. The outcome was tasty and well executed, yet I left without the sensation of a memorable experience.

By its messages, dress code and staging, it is obvious that the venue strives for a sophisticated atmosphere. Perhaps all that led me to expect more. Despite the wide approach to different styles of Japanese food and high quality ingredients, I wouldn’t suggest a visit as an intro to Japanese cuisine because of its price and intentional heterodoxy. On the other hand, if you are not new to this style of cuisine, want a fancy dinner, and decide to give Jay’s Japanese a try, you’ll probably find there a Japanese dish you’ll recognize—with a twist.

In that case I’d recommend you do the opposite of what I did, and explore the dishes in depth, sticking with one or two sections of the menu to see how JJ's proposal relates to your notions of Japanese food.

Jay's Japanese, Carrer de Tuset 19, 08006 Barcelona. Starters €6-€98, nigiri €4-€20, sashimi €17-€77, maki €14-€41, mains €18-€58, deserts €6-€20.