I'm beginning to find framed documents on walls inceasingly frequently that are titled 'Mission Statement'. You find them in unlikely places like dry cleaners or builders suppliers. They tend to start with something like 'Our mission is to provide our customers with the finest quality, best service, lowest prices,' etc., etc. Nothing quite like aspirational ideals to assure you. So it occurred to me it was time I gave you a Mission Statement of my own.

My Mission is to seek out new restaurants and new eating places, to boldly eat what no man has eaten before - Food Trek. Foodie's log, eatdate 23.79. It's food, Paolo, but not as we know it. It's the di-lithium crystals, they're about to implode, ah canny gie you warp factor 9, the photon shields are damaged, the transporter room is in melt-down, all life-support systems are barely functional, the Romulans have a pan-galactic battle star-cruiser training a tractor beam on us and Mr Sulu thinks only of sushimi. No, no, forgive me, that's not what I meant at all. Too many Star Trek episodes have warped my time-space continuum. No, my mission is now very clear to me. I want to find restaurants that offer value for money and I want to avoid restaurants that serve bad food or are overpriced. It's really that simple. In the past couple of weeks I've had amazing value and I've had poor value. On balance, I prefer the great value, so that's what I'll be seeking out.

This week I got a glimpse of a whole new idea of eating out. Food and Karaoke. Not two words I would have thought putting together, but they have and they do in Uki Yo in Exchequer Street. It's next to the Central Hotel and inside it looks suitably Asian. Paper screens line the windows and it has really heavy wooden tables and chairs, with the tables nicely distressed to give the room a Japanese look. Asian faces are in evidence at the tables, and that always gives me a little reassurance.

Last time I had dinner with Catriona Ward was in a dinky little restaurant in Villefranche this summer, where we sat overlooking the blue Mediterranean. Uki Yo made something of a change in eating venue, not least for the change in the climate and the fact that in France you can smoke after your meal. The menu is simple - one page of dainty foods, mostly around €10, although there's a few dishes like the salmon teriyake and the grilled sea-bass which cost €17 and €16.50 respectively, so pricey it's not.

The wine list runs to two pages and the majority of the wines are priced around the €25 mark, with a few costing less and a few wines costing between €30 and €60. But here I was in a place that describes itself as a Sake Bar, so really there was no contest, it had to be sake. There are a few available, which is confusing, if like me you know nothing of sake. Thankfully the manager here does, and with his help we a glass each of different sakes, an iced one for me which had a faintly spicy taste, and a warm one for Catriona, both of which we enjoyed. A couple of big bottles of mineral water completed our drinks order.

I was having trouble choosing from the menu, there were a few things listed I would happily have chosen. Eventually Catriona chose the steamed pancakes, which were small, dainty and tasty, while I chose the tuna carpaccio. The pancakes were good, but I really enjoyed the tuna carpaccio. Sliced really thinly, it covered the plate and it came with a small ramekin of real mayonnaise, something you don't find often enough.

The options for main courses were the salmon or the sea-bass, Peking Duck, pork ribs, chicken or beef barbecue or a winter lamb curry, all of which would have suited me well enough. But there on the menu was Shabu Shabu, which is not a musical, but a hands-on dish that is for two people or more. Since Catriona was happy enough to try it, we ordered it. A small gas ring, like the one that campers use, was brought to the table with a pot of vegetable stock. What you do then is bring the stock to the boil and add in the various vegetables that come pre-sliced on a plate for you. White radish, chinese leaf, rice noodles, Japanese mushrooms and tofu chunks. You also get a plate of finely sliced sirloin, which you also cook in the stock.

Apparently Japanese people can perform this at-the-table cookery with delicacy and neatness, which was not the case with us. Chasing slippery rice noodles with chop sticks in boiling stock is more skilfull than it sounds and we managed to make a bit of mess. Still, that's half the fun with hands-on food. After this was all cleared away we shared a crème brulee between us, and enjoyed a glass of dessert wine each with it - a Jurancon for Catriona at €5.75 and a glass of Mas Amiel Maury Grenache for me at €6.95.

Throughout our meal people were walking in and going straight downstairs. I had to investigate, because downstairs is where the Karaoke boxes are. You can hire a box - which accomodates up to six people - for €25 an hour, which per person works out at a bit more per hour than I paid to park. 30,000 songs in seven languages await you here, and downstairs I found all the boxes filled with young women singing Destiny's Child numbers, and all enjoying themselves immensely. You can order drinks and food from the boxes, so you could really sing for your supper.

I liked the feel of Uki Yo; it's fun, inexpensive and the food's good. As a night's entertainment, given forgiving or deaf friends, it's a winner.