Hibino

I finally made it to Hibino last night, a Japanese restaurant on a residential stretch of Cobble Hill. Located at the corner of Henry and Pacific streets, the restaurant serves the usual Japanese fare, as well as daily "Obanzai" specials, or home-style Japanese version of tapas. The food is very good - simple, unfussy and satisfying. The sushi was also the best I've had in a long time. The service was also great, our waitress was attentive but not obstrusive, appearing at all of the right times.

To start, we ordered one of the obanzai specials: the curry croquette, which came with a thick ponzu dipping sauce and the Hirousu, which are tofu cakes served with a mild soy broth. The curry croquette looked like a McDonald's hash brown and tasted sort of like a samosa. That description doesn't sound appetizing, but it was actually my favorite dish.

Our bill for two obanzai (obanzais?), two rolls of sushi, a glass of wine and a glass of beer came out to about $35. That's a pretty good deal.

http://www.hibino-brooklyn.com/