Category: Japanese

Categories
Japanese Korean

Sushi LAB – Belmore NSW Restaurant Review

Sushi LAB is a local inter-Sea of Japan collaboration serving a mixture of Korean and Japanese dishes in a family-oriented vibe, complete with children playing on iPads sipping from juice boxes and very nice service.

The deluxe sashimi ($37.50) was a well priced assortment of 15 pieces of seafood. I enjoyed the surprising inclusion of marinated octopus, though was not so fond of the giant oysters. The surf clam I felt was a bit icy at service, so I left my second piece (my partner does not eat such unfamiliar sea creatures without a fight) until the end of the meal to allow it to thaw a bit. Overall I felt this was well priced with good quality of salmon in particular.

I enjoyed this dragon roll ($20.80), though some may scoff at the choice. Sometimes you just need a dirty, non-traditional snack of tempura prawn, crab salad, eel, and teriyaki-mayonnaise to ruin your macros.

This wagyu beef ramyun (spicy, $17.80) was actually great. The flavours of the soup, though not very spicy, were very enjoyable, as was the bean sprout which inspired me to cook some more bean sprout related dishes at home the next few days. The beef was tasty and not too fatty, and the noodles, though probably not super special in and of themselves, were cooked to a degree of perfection unknown to this blogger’s girlfriend who do anything with instant noodles except immerse them in hot water.

OVERALL
I think we had quite a nice meal at this small family restaurant, and wouldn’t hesitate to go back.

Sushi LAB
328 Burwood Rd, Belmore NSW 2192
(02) 9758 9720

Categories
Asian Fusion Italian Japanese

ANTE – Newtown NSW Restaurant Review

This lunch at Ante was in temporal proximity to Valentine’s Day but hunger was the only emotion in my mind when I suggested we go. It is a shame because the mere realisation of the date at the time could’ve turned this into a Valentine’s Day celebration rather than another year in which we did nothing for Valentine’s Day.

This travella katsu sandwich with katsu mayo ($17) was pretty good. The katsu fish, apparently minced in the same way as tsukune (the chicken meatball yakitori) had a good crunch but a very light and subtle flavour, and so most of the experience was formed by the sweet and savoury flavour of the light curry mayonnaise. I appreciated the use of a very thin, light, an soft serving of bread, which allowed all the other textures and flavours to be appreciated more clearly.

My partner and I have found ourselves struggling to resist a bit of raw seasoned beef, and Ante’s beef tartare with smoky almond and green olive ($28) was no exception. Similar to situations in which the call is coming from inside the house, the cracker of this tartare dish was coming from inside the meat, with small grains of puffed rice providing the familiar crackery texture in the mouth, whilst not at all aiding one in actually eating it as a cracker normally would. A previous menu found online had specified that their tartare was made of retired dairy cows, which I think is sadder than it is nice. The poor cow’s worked hard all her life making milk and babies, and instead of getting to live out the rest of her postmenopausal days in a nice lush green pasture somewhere, she gets diced up into tiny cubes and eaten raw. I only want to eat palliated end-of-life cow tartare from now on.

The chawanmushi with brown butter crab and herbs ($27) was described to us as large format chawanmushi, though while it turned out to be very large in terms of surface area and circumference, the plate was also much shallower than your standard. The dish was quite oily, owing to the massive amount of brown butter sauce, silky and smooth in texture, and quite sweet, giving it an almost dessert-like quality. Our waiter did say that they used the sweetest possible crab, and we were impressed not only by the sweetness but also the extreme tenderness of the crab. It was pretty good.

Last but not least was the casarecce with prawns, kanzuri, and clementine ($36). I think the one sentence description of this pasta dish would be a ‘very good, wet garlic bread’. Certainly garlic bread was the first taste that came to me, followed by a sweetness, punctuated in some mouthfuls by a hint of fresh citrus and a base of mild spiciness. Texturally the pasta was quite al dente, with harder, chewier prawns that contrasted with that of the pasta, but not to their detriment. This was a real plate licker of a dish. It was an act of cruelty to only give us one spoon.

Overall: Pretty good! Japanese-Italian fusion.

ANTE
146 King St, Newtown NSW 2042

Categories
Asian Fusion Bakery Japanese

Azuki Bakery – Newtown NSW Restaurant Review

Despite their small size and tiny amount of available seating, Azuki Bakery in Sydney’s inner west has some of my favourite pastries of recent times, incorporating mostly-Japanese but broadly East Asian flavours into a universally loved medium (bread).

We’ll start by talking about this Kimchi Pork Sausage Roll ($5.80). This Korean inspired sausage roll was the savoury highlight of our meal, with a good flaky pastry and a warm and flavourful meaty filling.

While I had great expectations for Azuki’s Beef Curry Pan ($5), this was unfortunately not quite the picture of perfection that I had hoped. I enjoyed the light and sweet bread and the crispy oily external layer, but sadly found that the internal filling was just a bit too cool for my liking. While it is true that we waited maybe five minutes for one of the three outdoor tables to free up (our prediction for which of the three Asian couples presently seated would leave first and be replaced by us, also an Asian couple, was completely wrong – the ones who had finished eating first actually ended up staying the longest to sit and chat), this bun was otherwise straight from their counter. It is a shame as I could tell that the filling would otherwise be pretty good, but was just lacking a bit of warmth to open up the flavours and aromas.

Azuki is not the first bakery to advertise its Hot Cross Bun ($4.20) as the best in Sydney, but to be honest my knowledge of hot cross buns is neither deep nor broad enough to dispute or support this claim. This particular hot cross bun was quite densely packed compared to your average supermarket variety, with a good amount of spice in the dough and a deliciously heavy load of fruit and walnuts. It was, all in all a good hot cross bun.

The Yuzu Doughnut ($5.20) was pretty good, not too sweet apart from the candied citrus slice on top. I enjoyed the soft dough and the mild but delicious yuzu custard cream within.

This Custard Puff ($4.80) came on its own in a little cake box, so you know it’s special. It had a strong Beard Papa energy, and I loved everything about this, from the sweet and buttery cookie choux pastry to the light and creamy vanilla custard filling. So good.

The Strawberry Extra Decoration Cake ($58), which I ordered for a family birthday based on our good experience with their other offerings was sadly not as exciting as the rest. It was a fairly basic sponge cake with an interior layer of strawberry, and in my personal opinion too much whipped cream. It did not stand out as a cake against competitor cakes. At least it was not too sweet.

THOUGHTS

We tried and liked a great number of things from Azuki, but the one dessert I think you can’t walk past is their excellent custard puff. We’ll definitely be going back for another, along with some other things.

Azuki Bakery
3/63-71 Enmore Rd, Newtown NSW 2042
(02) 8542 9317

Categories
Japanese

That Katsu Guy – Manly Vale NSW Restaurant Review

The first thing that I noticed on my trip to That Katsu Guy’s market stall at Wentworth Point two weekends ago was that, contrary to my expectations, That Katsu Guy wasn’t one Japanese guy cooking katsu. It was actually just a local Aussie guy and his wife, and while in most situations that would normally be a red flag, it was absolutely not a problem in this circumstance. Reid and Prema Green cook up absolutely delicious, authentic, and innovative Japanese dishes from within the confines of a moveable market stall, so good that they have attracted the nod from celebrated local Japanese chefs like Yuta Nakamura of Gold Class Daruma.

Veteran readers of this blog will know that I went through a big bacon and egg roll phase back in 2020, and That Katsu Guy’s breakfast sando ($11) can kick it with the best. Sandwiched between two layers of soft shokupan is a panko-coated and deep fried combination of a soft and gooey egg, cheese, and bacon. This katsu “patty” is then sauced with a balanced amount of a combination of tonkatsu sauce and mayonnaise and served to the hungry customer. Katsu bacon and egg is not something I’ve had before, and I think is a good fusion of Western and Japanese cuisines.

Also part of our lunch was this Kakuni Pork Belly Kushikatsu ($8), a braised pork belly that was coated in panko and deep fried and skewered. The meat had a great melt-in-the-mouth quality, and again saucing was used conservatively and appropriately. Great.

COMMENTS
My only regret is not having more of their food, but having waited quite a while for the first set of food in the midday sun I didn’t feel like going for a second round. Next time.

That Katsu Guy
C15/1 Campbell Parade, Manly Vale NSW 2093
0405 092 872

And various market stalls across Sydney

Categories
Café Japanese

Tento – Surry Hills NSW Restaurant Review

I’m a highly price-conscious consumer of food and other small luxuries, and while I will happily shell out for something truly special, sometimes I do need to be convinced that a meal is “worth it”.

I didn’t have any of this soy cappuccino ($4.50) as I was pre-nights but I really enjoyed the look and feel of this cup. They sell their mugs for around $50 on their Etsy store, and it looks like woman has bought 13 of their 16 items ever sold. I’m not currently in a suitable financial position to spend $50 on a small mug that I will never use (my mugs are in the litre-range, excellent for loading up on the disgusting but healthful material that is psyllium husk), but many of their creations are quite beautiful.

My partner isn’t usually an oyster eater, but these Magaki Pacific Oysters ($5 each) had enough random toppings on top to make her venture out of her comfort zone. These particular oysters were topped with salmon roe and flowers, which did add a nice fruitiness to the oceanic flavour mix. Again, love the bowl.

These Gobo Chips ($13.50) with wasabi mayo were a bit too fibrous and slimy for me. Any supposed health benefits, for example from burdock root’s relatively high fibre content were probably well balanced by the battering and deep frying.

We quite enjoyed the Snapper Ramen ($24), with its nice in house tonkotsu base, baby bok choy, and lightly seared fish. The yuzu kosho was described by our waitress as something we could use to add flavour, as was the vegan capsicum butter, which I felt was a bit redundant as that is the general purpose of any flavouring or topping. The flavours of the soup were nice overall, and perhaps the two above mentioned additions hindered rather than helped it. I enjoyed the fish but would’ve liked more.

The Area 51 ($36), a seared toothfish ochazuke was unfortunately quite similar in taste to the snapper ramen. It was probably our own fault for choosing both of these dishes rather than something different. My main complaint carries over from the snapper ramen, there being only a small amount of toothfish at this relatively large price, though my secondary complaint is the less than ideal broth to rice ratio. It tasted nice, but it just tasted like more of the same.

THOUGHTS

We spent $88 between the two of us, with one drink. While we did eat quite a bit of food, I still have difficulty reconciling the substantial price point for what was ultimately good but not super-special.

Cool crockery though

TenTo
3/8 Hill St, Surry Hills NSW 2010