I paid £200 for dinner and karaoke with friends in a Bristol restaurant - but it was totally worth it

On busy Baldwin Street, next to the steps leading to St Nicholas Market, stands Obento, a serene Japanese restaurant. But Obento is not just a restaurant. They have two private tatami-style karaoke rooms on the top floor.

I have eaten with friends at Obento multiple times, but after hearing the laughter and enjoyment coming from upstairs during our last visit, my friends and I knew we had to try the karaoke room at least once.

The karaoke rooms get booked very fast, and having learned our lesson during our last visit, we phoned to book a room a few days before and paid the £50 deposit which would later be discounted from our bill.

The price? By spending at least £128 on food and drinks as a group of six or less and £20 per person if you are a group of seven, you can use the karaoke room for up to three hours.

We booked a room from 8pm to 10pm, but my friend Gina and I arrived 20 minutes early and were able to go to the karaoke room straight away.

Nicole and Mel would join us later in the evening and there was flexibility with time. The rest of the group could join us as long as it was during our booked time.

We were led to one of the karaoke rooms which had a Japanese-style paper sliding door. In the middle of the room, the floor under the table was set at a lower level so that you could sit comfortably on the floor to enjoy your meal at a comfortable height to the table.

The TV and the karaoke system were adjacent to the door. The table was already nicely set with microphones, menus, cutlery (chopsticks) and a jar of water and cups.

Gina and I went straight to check the karaoke system as we waited for our friends and soon became overwhelmed by the number of categories and songs we could pick from.

We decided to start our karaoke night with a duet and chose Rewrite The Stars, a song from The Greatest Showman.

Throughout the night, we were able to pick songs from multiple languages including English, Cantonese, Japanese and Korean.

We struggled to find how to set the lyrics from an Asian alphabet into the Latin alphabet, for example, from Japanese Kanji to Romaji. However, there was a way around this issue.

Midway through a duet of the Japanese song Unravel, and after struggling to read the Kanji and just about managing with the Kana, Gina and I realised we could have searched the Romaji lyrics on our phone.

We also unanimously agreed that whilst we were spoiled with music choice, there was also a large selection of songs which had the option to be downloaded but, due to difficulties with the wifi connection, we were not able to select them which was a bit annoying.

As for the service, it was friendly, quick and attentive. The waiter would check on us regularly and ask if we wanted any more food or drink and would update us on our progress to reaching the minimum £128.

I decided to order a Kara Katsu Bento, a good value for money meal which comes with miso soup, rice, pickles, edamame salad and breaded chicken. I also ordered some curry sauce and some gyoza and yakitori as a side.

I decided to add the curry sauce, which was sweet with a slightly spicy kick, to the rice. The chicken was tender with a crunchy exterior, whilst the edamame was tender and the miso soup was light. The gyoza was soft and the yakitori was tender and not too chewy.

Overall we had a very enjoyable experience at Obento. The food was delicious and we even had enough leftovers for two people the next day.

With the 10% service charge, we ended up spending about £36 each for the experience but it was really worth it.

The karaoke rooms at Bento are available Wednesday to Monday from 6pm to 10pm and can be booked by calling 0117 929 7392.