1010212 Yamamori Izakaya

I'd never eaten here before, because for some reason I always gravitate towards the Yamamori on the other side of the street - which is 'only' a restaurant - or their Norths Quays location which also holds a pub licence (1010576). The main floor is a restaurant, and the basement was a nightclub, pre-March, which is similar to the setup on the quays.

The offering here is small plates, so my regular dish (chicken katsu - unimaginative, I know) from the other two branches was not available; but the menu has a decent offering for those who dislike sushi; and a huge offering for those who do like it. The drinks menu is cocktails and sake heavy, with a small amount of beer, Japanese and American whiskey and quite a bit of gin available otherwise.

There's a good atmosphere here, although I don't know if it was more crowded in times past. The interior resembles a Victorian shopfloor, which it probably was - it occupies part of the ground floor of the 1880s Central Hotel; and is basically the only bit not being affected in their controversial wide-ranging renovation plans that will remove The Globe and RiRa from the face of Dublin's nightlife permanently.

I'll probably keep going across the road for my katsu, but if there's a case of there being a booking available in one and not the other I'd be totally willing to come back.