Yakiniku Kashiwa, Crows Nest

Yuke

 Japanese barbeque, what a classic! In Sydney, there are a lot of Japanese restaurants. However, when it comes to the quality of the meat, you can't fake it. So, here I was, in Yakiniku Kashiwa, Crows Nest for my friend's birthday dinner. The quality of the meat was very good. However, it depends on how you cook it though. If you don't cook it well, no matter how good the meat, won't taste good..

Anyway, we ordered ox tongue, wagyu beef skirt, pork tube (marinated pork intestine), chicken thigh fillet, chicken cartilage, special combination (liver, intestine and tripe). To be honest with you, I did not what we were ordering. If it was me, I would never, ever, ever order intestine. But I did not know, so I just ate it. Then, it turned out, they were all good *except the chicken cartilage (soft bone) I just could not eat bone (how can you eat bone???). Anyway, I just found out when I wrote this, because I googled the menu.. Oh my... I thought they (the intestines) were squid...........

However, it was very good, surprisingly. The marinate was beautiful. Especially the wagyu beef skirt. I think it was the highlight of the night!

Not forgetting the yuke! Yuke is a raw beef meet, with raw yolk, shallots and Japanese vinaigrette. For some, it is disgusting, for me, it is delicious! But do not order more than 2, it starts to get yuck. I think the yuke is very good. The beef is very tender. If you try yuke quite a lot of times, you would realise that sometimes the meat was not very good, tough. A very good yuke is when it is tender and not smelly.

The restaurant is quite small though. Not very good for a big group. And do not wear your best dress, it is full of smoke inside. But of course, beautiful-barbeque-smell smoke. The price? I have to agree that it is quite pricy. But will definitely come back!

Sushi Bay, Carlingford, NSW

My life is back!!! After a week of dreadful exams... Finally.. I am able to write again!!!!

Soft shall crab sushi

Grilled prawn

So, during exam, I have managed to come to several restaurants, including Sushi Bay, in Carlingford. It says that it is actually Japanese sushi, however, it tastes and looks so Korean. Every sushi they offer, they have Korean sauce to go with it, it tasted sweet, like a teriyaki sauce. Fortunately, this restaurant has sushi train!!!! Sometimes I am so upset coming to sushi restaurants without sushi trains, or the sushi train is turned off.

Fried Unagi

Aburi Salmon

 Anyway, some interesting menus were there. So I tried the fried unagi. It was a bit different. I mean... fried unagi?? We normally have fried salmon skin, or unagi sushi.. But it tasted good.

Then, I tried the grilled prawn with sauce on top. I think that was the highlight of the night. It tasted just right. The prawn was not over or under cooked. The sauce also has a very nice flavour to complement the prawn.

Aburi Scallop

I also tried the aburi salmon and aburi scallop. DO ORDER ABURI SALMON AND SCALLOP AT SUSHI PLACE! Anyway, they are my favourites, I always order them as the benchmark of sushi restaurants. I found their aburi salmon and scallop are quite good, quite unique with some sort of sweet sauce at the top, tasted like teriyaki sauce.

Soft shell crab roll

Now, the exciting part, the soft and shell crab sushi. There are two types: the big one with only avocado, sauce, rice and salmon roe, and the other one was the roll, with rice, lettuce, mayonnaise sauce and everything else. I think the big one, looks good, but does not taste that good, the other one tasted better. I really like the mayonnaise sauce they have. Sometimes mayonnaise can be quite overwhelming but this one does not.

Overall, the service was quite well and the food was alright. I will go back next time. However, it is quite pricy.....

Night Noodle Market, Sydney - Hyde Park

 Night Noodle Market is an annually event held in Sydney, usually held in the Hyde Park. It was really like a festival! There were lights and musics everywhere. A lot of people were there, looking for something to eat. Even though the name is night NOODLE Market, there was not only noodles there. There were a lot of stalls, selling foods from a lot of restaurants, even from community e.g. Japanese community.

 Me and my brother were there, going around the venue and we were confused of what to choose because there were just so many of them! So we looked around and found this unique Spanthai restaurant. Guess what Spanthai is... It is a Spanish-Thai restaurant. It was very unique. The pad-thai and paela were cooked in a very big pan, just like ala-Spanish cooking. So, we got that for $12 (it was quite expensive) and enjoyed it. We ordered the half plate pad thai and half plate paela. The pad thai was pretty average but I think the Paela was beautiful.

 Then, we looked around again and we found a Japanese Okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is a Japanese omelette with fillings inside (normally it has cabbage and shallots for sure). There were 3 choices of fillings, but we chose spicy beef and cheese. The girl in the stall was wearing Kimono, really felt like I was in Japan for a second. Then, waiting abut 5 minutes, the okonomiyaki came out. It smelled so good. With the seaweed and dried octopus at the top, it looked even more yummy.
Then, we tucked in and it was very good! The cheese was melted in my mouth; however it was not spicy enough for me. It was quite expensive though, $12 for a small plate of okonomiyaki which you can normally buy for $6.

Well, overall, if you go in a big group, it would be even better because you can share and TASTE all the foods! The prices are quite expensive though. It costs you $5 for only a bottle of water. So probably it is better to bring your own bottle. The entrance is free and the festival will be still on from 15-19 October 2012, from 5 - 10 PM. To look more, visit the website at http://www.cravesydney.com/content/night-noodle-markets/gjoc54.

Wagaya Restaurant, Sydney

 Hi Everyone!! More about Japanese restaurant here.
So, last Friday I went to Wagaya Restaurant at Sydney, in Chinatown. It was not the first time I went to this restaurant. However, the feeling of Japanese in this resto is so "Japanese".. With the Japanese people serving, the feeling cannot be even more Japanese. With ordering the menu, it uses an electronic touch-screen where the visitors can just order foods and drink by touching it.

Eel tempura

So, that night, because there were 24 people in the dinner, we can tried a lot of menus. We ordered eel tempura, soft-shell crab salad, dragon roll, aburi salmon cream cheese roll, aburi salmon and scallop roll, beef tataki, sashimi and some ice creams. The eel tempura was very nice. It was so crispy outside and so tender inside. The sauce used also contributed a lot to the dish.

 The soft-shell crab salad was pretty good too. The dressing for the salad was very good. It has lettuce, tomato, corn, cucumber and the soft-shell crab of course. However, the soft-shell crab was not as crispy as I thought it would be. It still tasted good though. Then the beef tataki came out, I thought it was so average. I thought they overcooked the beef. It was pretty strange as well as there was no sauce on the beef tataki. We had to dip it into the sauce instead. Probably just a different way doing it.

Aburi salmon cream cheese roll

Soft shell crab salad

 Then, the rolls came out. There were three rolls that we ordered. The first one was the dragon roll. It had eel at the top with the fried lotus seeds at the very top. It was very very delicious. The next roll was very good too, the aburi salmon cream cheese roll.. It was heaven. The cheese was just melt in my mouth. With the combination flavour it got, it was a gold. Also, the scallop and the salmon roll were very good as well. Who does not like grilled scallop and salmon on their roll? With a little bit of fish roe, it was a perfect simple roll.

Dragon Roll

The sashimi was alright, I did not think it was very good. However, when I visited the restaurant the first time, I thought the sashimi was much better. I had the scallop on Friday and it was not as good as a year ago when I went to this restaurant. The other components were quite average, except the tamago (eggs). I thought the tamago was quite exceptional.

Black sesame roll

Then, who does not like Japanese ice cream with its unique flavours?? There are green tea, black sesame and vanilla that the guests can choose. However, do not choose vanilla!! You can get vanilla ice cream everywhere.... So, I tried the black sesame.. I was VERY VERY GOOD! I liked it so much, rather than the matcha/ green tea (especially if you have trouble sleeping at night after having green tea).

Overall, the experience I had here was very nice. The service was very good and quick as well, with the touch-screen technology helping the serving process. However, booking is necessary as this restaurant is very crowded.

Zenya Restaurant, Eastwood

Sho-yu Ramen

Gyoza

 Hi Everyone!!!

Ever tried Japanese Ramen before? Of course probably most of you have. What I like about Japanese Ramen is about the deepness of the flavour of the soup which is so different with any other soup.
In Zenya Restaurant at Eastwood, the soup of the ramen is very very deep. It tasted really nice. I just had it tonight, the sho-yu ramen with gyoza as its side dish. I think the ramen was clever. I think the gyoza quite average though.

Crispy Skin Salmon

The crispy skin salmon looks very nice too. I did not taste it though. But my friend said that it was very very crispy and really nice.
However, the service was quite average.
Overall however, looking at the prices, it is quite worth it. So I will be back next time..

Sushi Tengoku Kensington, NSW

Hi everyone!

Aburi Scallops

So... yesterday I went to Sushi Tengoku in Kensington. That was my second time going to that restaurant. The restaurant is not that big and classy. It was such a casual dinner. However, the foods are not much like the place. They sell sushi, sashimi, roll and things that are normally sold in the sushi restaurants. But, what so different about this place is about their generousness in the portion. For example, look at the aburi salmon and the aburi scallop, you can hardly see the rice. Because the rice is kind of like hidden in the BIG BIG BIG Salmon and Scallops. Well, people might think.. hmm.. Big does not mean delicious..? Well, fortunately, this is not the case here. The scallops and fishes are so fresh. And because they are big, you can really taste the stuff (sometimes in some sushi restaurants what you can taste is just rice and soy sauce). Also, not only the seafood, the sauces are very good too. On the top of the aburi salmon and scallop, they put this delicious Japanese mayonnaise then blow-torch it.

Aburi Salmon

Volcano Roll

Not only the aburi sushies that are good, the VOLCANO roll is worth trying. Well, the first time I looked at it, it does not look very appealing (The thing is, not any single thing in this restaurant looks pretty to be honest), but geeeeeeee, it was good. I did not really know what they put on the roll. I think it should be a kind of fish roe or something. But the flavour is quite creamy and sweet. I think that was an excellent combination of flavour.


Then, I also ordered the sashimi moriawase. It is a mixture of the sashimis. There are tuna, salmon, king fish, octopus, and squid. Of course, they are raw. Anyway, I think the sashimi is quite average, comparing to some other sushi places, but still delicious.

Sushi Moriawase

So, overall, it is a worth-trying restaurants. And like me, once you try it, I think you want to come back. Because this restaurant offers some sort of uniqueness in the sushi that you will not get in any other sushi restaurants (especially the BIG scallops)!

Sakae Restaurant, Eastwood, NSW

Hi Everyone! Hope you have a wonderful day today! 

Beef Tataki

I had a lunch with my brother this Monday at Eastwood. We went to this Sakae Japanese Restaurant, not far from the Eastwood train station. When we got in, we were amazed with the choices of menus there.. So many of them!!!! It took us about 20 minutes just to choose what we wanted (there are a lot of bentos, lunch promos and etc.) So we ended up ordering Beef Tataki, Curry rice with Ebi Furai and Beef Teriyaki Bento.

First came out was the Beef Tataki, yes, it supposed to be because it is an entree. I was surprised with the amount of onion they put in.. So much of them.. However, when I tucked in and ate the onion, it did not smelly at all. It just added a crunch to it. The beef was delicious and the sauce was wonderful.

Ebi Furai Curry Rice

Beef Teriyaki Bento

Then, the curry was served, with the ebi furai on top. It did not look very nice. But it tasted good!!! I think the curry is delicious. However, I got some prawn skins from the ebi furai which I think it was not a pleasant. But overall, it is worth it to order this dish.

Then, the last one was my brother's dish, the beef teriyaki bento. I tried the salmon sashimi and I think it was alright. So I asked my brother how was it and he said the beef teriyaki
was a bit dry but tasted good.
                                        Also, the mash potato is very good and tasty.

So, overall, it was just an ordinary lunch, nothing really special, except the BEEF TATAKI! (We ordered the beef tataki twice!)
The service was alright and fast.