Ichiban, Glasgow

Japan. The blazing Orient. Land of the Rising Sun. An exotic place.

I have to say,  it's a country which retains its mystery for me although I have now visited. And entering a Japanese restaurant I still feel a slight aura, the feeling that you are in somewhere just a bit different.

Well, there are exceptions to everything, I suppose. I should have suspected. When you walk past the statue of the Duke of Wellington bereft of his usual traffic cone hat you can tell that things are just not quite right. Ichiban is just a little further down the road. The ground floor is takeaway only. To reach the restaurant, climb the stairs to the functional dining room. There are no frills. Long bench tables from which you can see some very hard working chaps in the open plan kitchen.

There is a big menu for them to cover, though I note various sections advertising the same sweet and savoury sauce. That's not a criticism. It's the same in any Indian restaurant, which will have a relatively small number of base sauces. It's what you transform them into that's the trick. I guess the same is true here. Daughter K has been coming here for years. She describes the Gyu-don from the Donburi section as her comfort food. Coincidentally, that's what it says on the menu. Absolutely nothing wrong with a bowl of rice with beef, onions and ginger. At these prices the beef isn't going to be prime, but I didn't appreciate the piece of gristle with no meat attached.

They do their tempura well. You can tell it wasn't my choice, as it included sweet potato (bleugh!), as well as mushroom, courgette and aubergine. The dipping sauce was a bit meh. The very young in my family never cease to amaze with the sophistication of their palates. F, the two year old, demolished any veg which came her way, and made a careful dissection of the avocado maki sushi. From that section of the menu we also tried the tuna nigiri. Fine if you've never sampled the really good stuff. Ebbi chilli featured king prawn in a tomato based sauce. Fortunately there was some chopped raw chilli on top to justify the name.

Far and away the star of the show was the Yasai Yaki Udon. Bizarrely, despite my love of spaghetti, a dish with noodles is something I rarely order. This could change my mind. Perfect udon noodles, the aforesaid sweet and savoury sauce just right in both flavour and consistency, broccoli, mushroom and deep fried tofu. Yes - a tofu dish which I thoroughly enjoyed.

It's a pleasant place; the people are nice; the food is indeed comforting, if a little homogeneous. Nothing in particular to criticise, but nothing to sing about either.