Category: Japanese

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Japanese

Edomae Sushi – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

I had lunch here with a friend a few days ago and it was actually very good. I didn’t expect a huge amount going in, but it really blew my expectations. There were so many varieties of sea animals that you don’t normally find, with an extensive ‘market price’ menu with vaguely variable pricing, as well as fixed-priced nigiri and gunkan.

Interesting things that I had included fugu, spanner crab, and akanishigai (whelk). My dining friend ate these weird things with me like a champ, but did not enjoy them.

I want to go back.

UPDATE
I finally got a chance to eat here with my girlfriend.

Like before, the variety was excellent, and everything was good.

Except this negitoro and daikon pickle, which was not exciting.

Everything here was very exciting. Salmon Roe (ikura) ($9 for 2). Sea Urchin (uni) ($12.80 for 2) were both delicous, especially with the ikura being not too salty. The Chu-toro ($4.50 for a single piece) was fatty and melty. It would be amazing to have all 3 in a hand roll, but not something this place currently offers. The salmon 3 kinds ($6.60) was just 3 kinds of salmon. Not particularly exciting.

All other fishes were also good, including a number of white fish that I neglected to remember the names of. We had engawa, but the ones we took off the conveyer did not get named on the receipt.

This may have honestly been our first takoyaki ($8.80) since Japan in 2017. I think we ate so much of it back then that we couldn’t face eating it for another 7 years. Not bad.

The concept of soft shell crab ($5.90) becomes spookier to me the more I think about it. So I don’t think about it. I just eat it, and it’s delicious. The oyster katsu hand roll ($5.50) was safe from hungry deer.

Edomae Sushi Burwood
Shop 1/39 Belmore St, Burwood NSW 2134

Categories
Bakery Japanese

Kurimu – Port Melbourne VIC Restaurant Review

Ignore the location heading – Kurimu is a chain bakery, so it doesn’t really matter where I got this particular original choux ($4.20) from (Westfield Hurstville NSW, by the way) – it would be like going to a Breadtop and writing about a particular outlet, as if there were significant store-to-store variation in the high uniformity products that they produce.

This original choux was a really great snack, with a crunchy buttery almond-coated exterior and a super smooth creamy filling. The most important factor for any dessert, its sweetness level, notched a perfect “not too sweet” from both me and my partner.

Really worth a try the next time you walk past a stall

Kurimu
Multiple Locations – see website.

Categories
Japanese Korean

Hiroba – Strathfield NSW Restaurant Review

My partner was keen for some Japanese and I some Korean – from the outside, Hiroba’s little shop hugging the wall of Strathfield train station seemed like the perfect compromise.

Following in the tradition of Korean people serving Japanese food, Hiroba offers an extensive Japanese menu with the addition of some Korean restaurant staples. The Japanese izakaya style decor and Japanese translations on the menu provided an illusion that did not last long, shattered as soon as we unexpectedly received banchan upon ordering.

We initially pondered ordering a sushi or sashimi set, but decided on a la carte nigiri instead, making sure that our food was all thriller and no filler. The salmon, salmon belly, tuna, and snapper nigiri was all good and fresh, with thick and generous pieces of each. The tuna I thought was a bit expensive, coming in at $8 for two pieces, whilst the rest was reasonably priced ($5 for two pieces).

The mixed tempura (medium size) came with three tempura prawns and a mixture of what was mostly tempura tubers. Though freshly cooked, i thought the quality of the tempura was only middling, and felt that it was not as light and airy as good tempuras can be. We were saddened by the lack of variety in the tempura vegetables, with mostly root vegetables on offer. The only thing that really stood out was a single piece of tempura enoki – otherwise all of the tempura vegetables were quite samey.

I didn’t really like the flavour of the Ox Beef Soup, though if I’m being honest that could very well be more of a personal preference. The entire soup had a smoked taste, owing to what looked like sliced silverside beef on the inside. The overall theme of this soup could be described as wholesome feeling but not great tasting, though I did catch the chef having his own sit down meal of this soup. I assume the chef wouldn’t eat something not good, so it’s probably just our own preference that led us to not like this.

VERDICT
While the sushi at Hiroba was indeed good, would I go back again? Probably not. Strathfield holds a huge untapped potential of East Asian cuisine, and Hiroba just didn’t stand out enough for me to go back. I’d rather try something new.

Hiroba
1 Albert Rd, Strathfield NSW 2135
(02) 9763 1222

Categories
Japanese

Chaco Ramen – Darlinghurst NSW Restaurant Review

I’ve been craving a good noodle, and our proximity to Darlinghurst post-floatation pool in Bondi made for a good opportunity to try out the ramen at Chaco Ramen, a place that had mainly been on my radar because of the yakitori at their sister sibling Chaco Bar. Little did I know (stupid) that there is literally a Chaco Ramen in Bondi Beach. We needn’t have detoured, but at least we didn’t have to pay for parking.

This photo of Morgan McGlone’s Hot Chicken ($9) is not the most attractive, but I think people actually come here to look at what’s inside their food, and I will have you know that I am classically trained and have a university education in dissection. Boasting about my mad pencil grip knife skills aside, I actually didn’t love this chicken. It is probably my own fault for reading “roast chicken” and being surprised when it came – as advertised – roasted. The skin just didn’t have the texture that I imagined when I read the word “hot chicken”. While my partner liked the mildness of the chilli sauce, I found this to be another weakness. As a chicken fan, I prefer ATL Ayam Tulang Lunak Crispy‘s equally priced marylands over this.

This chilli coriander special ramen ($27) was a beast of a bowl in terms of size and taste, featuring a mixture of both soft poached chicken and chashu pork. The broth, chilli and coriander in flavour, was quite reminiscent of Chinese mala hotpot, which kind of made it less special to me because that’s something we eat all the time, though my partner absolutely enjoyed it. The egg was soft, the bamboo shoots were tasty, and overall there were enough different elements to this bowl to retain our interest throughout its consumption. Pretty good! Pricey.

I didn’t feel the need to upgrade our fish salt ramen ($20) to the special, as unlike the chilli coriander ramen this one came with chashu pork at the base level. In addition to the pork are a couple of john dory and prawn wontons, which were quite tasty and enjoyed by both my partner and myself, even though she did NOT enjoy the soup and the overall taste of this ramen, which she found to be too fishy for her. It should go without saying that yes, a ramen called the fish salt ramen might be a bit fishy for the anti-fishers out there, but I’m happy to report that as a pro-fish advocate I did enjoy this fishy and milky broth.

COMMENT
I enjoyed both ramens that we tried at Chaco Ramen, though if you’re someone who eats a lot of Sichuan Chinese food I think the chilli coriander ramen won’t quite feel as special. If skipping the fish salt ramen, would recommend getting the john dory and prawn dumplings on the side. Yum.

Chaco Ramen
238 Crown St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010
(02) 9007 8352

Categories
Japanese

Sashimi Shinsengumi 刺身新鮮組 – Crows Nest NSW Restaurant Review

My partner took us to this paint and sip thing in Crows Nest, which was great because it meant that I finally got to try the Sashimi Shinsengumi takeaway platter from around the corner. Though I’ve never gotten my act together or friends in a row to book out their restaurant for omakase, this $140 of nigiri (2x$50+1x$40 sets) made for a reasonable substitute. While I think that a little bit of variety would have been nice in the form of temaki or other things, the price to performance ratio here was pretty good, with generous servings of all fish provided. My partner, who I think has a bias against sushi that’s not eaten within a restaurant, would tell you that the sushi lost points the moment it left the door, but I think it retained its freshness and quality by the time we ate it.

This was way better than the other paint and sip ladies’ cheeseboards.

Sashimi Shinsengumi 刺身新鮮組
5/7-11 Clarke St, Crows Nest NSW 2065
0402 359 697