Sake Cherry Blossom Festival

Saké restaurant is currently celebrating their Cherry Blossom Festival, and I was lucky enough to sample a few dishes from the special menu which Shinichi Maeda has put together for the occasion.

During the festival, Saké is offering a menu which includes the following dishes (with sake matches of course):

 

Ikura scallops - fresh Queensland scallops topped with ocean trout caviar and ponzu sauce

Sashimi - a selection of the day's sashimi, served with wasabi and soy

Saké - Kozaemon Junami Daiginjo

Ocean trout - pan seared served with sweet pea puree and Asian mushrooms tossed with butter soy Lamb panko - fried lamb back strap served with pickled beetroot puree, Jerusalem artichoke and baby carrot

Saké - Kozaemon ‘Sakura’ Junmai Banshu Yamadanishiki 

Very strawberry sorbet, mousse, jelly, marshmallow, crisp consomméSaké - Choya ume shu 

The Cherry Blossom menu is $88, or $128 including matching sake.  My favourite dish from the Cherry Blossom menu was the Ikura scallops, which were fantastic, although the lamb panko wasn't far behind.  Apart from the food, the highlight of the night was being able to sample different varieties of sake.  Being a complete sake novice, it was a great opportunity to learn about how sake is made, and enjoy the variety of sake flavours, matched with a wide range of Japanese food.

Even if you're not looking for dinner, you can pop in and have a few glasses of sake after work.  And during the Cherry Blossom festival, there's a real cherry blossom tree in the restaurnt - it looks superb.  Other than the food (of course) the thing I enjoyed the most is that once you walk past the bar and into the dining areas of the restaurant, you'd never know you were in the CBD - it's like you've stepped into a peaceful Japanese hideaway.  Despite working almost next door to Saké, I had never made it there until this trip. After a terrific night there, I will have to make up for missed opportunities and get back soon - there are, after all, over 50 sakes to try!

food bling, Brisbane ate as a guest of Saké Brisbane.

Saké
Level 1, 45 Eagle Street
Eagle Street Pier
Brisbane QLD 4000
P - 07 3015 0557
W - http://www.sakerestaurant.com.au/brisbane

 

 

Taro's Ramen Cafe

I'm the first to admit that I don't eat a lot of Japanese food. It's not that I don't like it - it's just not very gluten free friendly.

Recently Taro's Ramen Cafe opened in the city. As I knew that Taro Akimoto (the owner) wrote a blog all about ramen, I was expecting the food to be fairly authentic. If you haven't eaten ramen before, here is what Wikipedia has to say about it:

A Japanese noodle dish that originated in China. It is served in a meat or fish based broth, often flavored with soy sauce or miso, and uses toppings such as sliced pork, dried seaweed, kamaboko, green onions and even corn. Almost every locality in Japan has its own variation of ramen, from the tonkotsu ramen of Kyūshū to the miso ramen of Hokkaidō.

(If you're keen to read a bit more about the different types of ramen, surf your way over to Rameniac, which is a massive source of information about ramen).

From the street, Taro's doesn't look like a Japanese eatery - the first thing you see is a big snack/sandwich bar - although once we stepped inside we soon found the compact ramen menu. Taro's offers the following ramen dishes:

Tonkotsu Ramen (noodles in hot soup -$14.80) - rich stock made from 100% Bangalow sweetpork bone. Cooked for over 16 hours and topped with charsiu (pork), nori (dried seaweed), egg & shallots. Served with pickled ginger and Takana pickles.

Shoyu Ramen (noodles in hot soup - $13.80) - a triple soup blend of vegetable, chicken and dried seafood broth, flavoured with aged soy sauce and topped with charsiu, nori, egg, shallots.

Tsukemen (cold noodles with hot dipping soup - $14.80) - Triple soup stock with dried seafood powder and topped with charsiu, nori, egg & shallots (ask for hot water “oyu wari” to dilute and drink up the soup at the end).

Hiyashi Ramen (cold noodles with cold soup - $14.80) - the stock is made from dried seafood sourced from Kataoka-san of Tokushimaya and topped with charsiu, egg, tomato and fresh salad.

Both my friend and I ordered the Tonkotsu ramen. After finding out I was a coeliac, Taro kindly offered to make an alternative version for me, based on salt instead of soy sauce and containing rice noodles. I decided to take him up on the rice noodles, but kept the soy sauce in the broth.

After ordering at the counter, we popped outside to the shady courtyard, which was surprisingly cool on a very warm day. The tables were almost full, which is usually a good sign in my book. Our ramen arrived shortly afterwards in large bowls, with equally large Japanese-looking soup ladles. Both our bowls of ramen were served with a side dish containing benishoga (red ginger) and takana (pickled mustard greens).

The stock itself was very rich, and had a cloudy appearance. Swimming around in the stock were the noodles, nitimago (half a soft boiled egg), charisu (a thin slice of pork), fresh shallot slices, a piece of nori and some sesame seeds.

Although the stock had a very rich flavour, it didn't overpower the other ingredients. The pork was especially fantastic - although it was only a thin slice, it had such a beautiful flavour - sweet and slightly cured. The nori was unlike any nori I'd tried before - it actually tasted like the sea and was amazing salty and tangy. The egg still had a slightly soft yolk, and a strong soy flavour. The ginger was also memorable - it's refreshingly tart, tangy flavour really cut through the rich stock.

It's not surprising that the ramen tastes so good. Taro's uses quality ingredients - Bangalow sweet pork, nori flown in from Tetsujin Nori (an organic nori harvester in Shichigahama, Japan) and the ramen noodles are freshly made in-house.

If for some reason you get tired of the excellent ramen, Taro's also sells chicken karaage and a few sushi rolls (as well as sandwiches).

If you're looking for something new for lunch in the city, Taro's fits the bill perfectly. It's certainly a much tastier option than many other tired establishments around the city that serve pedestrian food at much higher prices.

Food bling, Brisbane ate as a guest of Taro's Ramen Cafe.

Taro's Ramen Cafe
Ground Level, Boeing House
363 Adelaide Street (corner of Wharf Street)
Brisbane 4000
P - 07 3832 6358
W - http://www.taros.com.au/

Kabuki 2 Go

I'm pretty lucky when it comes to eating sushi for lunch, because I've got an LR Sushi shop just across the road. I still haven't got around to putting up a post about its great sushi, but it will happen sooner or later. (By the way - if you want to avoid the crazy queue, go before 12pm).

In the meantime, it now has a quality competitor about 50 metres down the road, in the shape of Kabuki 2 Go. As you probably know, Kabuki is the Japanese restaurant at the Stamford Plaza Hotel. In the last week or so, it's opened up a take away sushi bar, just off Felix Street.

I wandered in the other day to see if it was as good as the rolls I've been buying from LR Sushi. The first thing I noticed was that the selection of rolls is smaller. There were only about 8-10 to choose from - at least that makes the choice easier. I bought 3 rolls - tofu, avocado & ginger, fresh salmon & avocado and a California roll. Each of the rolls was a good size - no skimping on ingredients here.

So what did they taste like? The short answer - excellent. I started with the California roll, because it looked like it was actually full of good crab (not seafood extender). It was probably the best of the three. The crab had a lovely, delicate flavour and by the time I'd finished it, I wished I had another. Next was the tofu, avocado & ginger, which I'd bought out of curiosity. Again this roll turned out to be delicious. The tofu and avocado were fresh and the pickled ginger provided a great contrast, both in flavour and texture. In comparison, the fresh salmon & avocado roll didn't bowl me over, but I think that's because its more delicate flavours were overwhelmed by the strong taste of the ginger in the tofu roll that I'd just eaten.

Although there isn't a huge selection of rolls, the quality is good. Kabuki 2 Go is also great value (considering the quality) with the rolls around the $2.20-$2.50 mark. You can also arrange take away catering platters if you call ahead.

With such good sushi on offer, I wonder how long it will be before Kabuki 2 Go starts eating into the long queue at LR Sushi just down the road? They are both streets ahead of the standard sushi rolls that you find in food courts around the city.

Kabuki 2 Go
Stamford Plaza Brisbane
Felix Street
Brisbane 4000
P - 07 3221 1999

Ginga

After the disaster at Viet de Lites before our last trip to the opera, this time we went back to Ginga, a tried and trusted Southbank dinner spot. Ginga has been at Southbank for as long as I can remember and I've eaten there plenty of times over the years. I should start off by saying that I don't eat a lot of Japanese food. That's not because I don't like it, it's just that the gluten free diet really cuts down my menu options.

Ginga has two parts to it - there is a more formal restaurant, which has some great booths to sit in along the back wall, as well as a more casual, sit outside/takeaway part. It wasn't exactly warm the night we were there, and it was raining, so we sat inside.

Even at 6pm (which is very early in my books to be eating dinner) there were a good few people in the restaurant. When we told our waitress that we had to be out by 7pm, she said it would be no trouble, and took our orders straight away.

My favourite thing about Japanese food is ordering lots of little dishes. If you go with a big group, you get to plough through about half the menu. Tonight there was only two of us, but we still managed a good selection from the menu.

To start with, we had a plate of edamame (soy beans) which were $6.90. I can't go to a Japanese restaurant without wolfing down a few edamame - they are so moreish. They came out almost straight away and were demolished equally as quickly.

I ordered the maguro (tuna) sashimi ($16.00). I didn't used to be the biggest fan of sashimi, but I've had some really fantastic sashimi at Sakura and now I'm hooked. The sashimi came out as about 5 pretty big chunks of tuna, served with a soy based dipping sauce and some wasabi. I don't think it was as good as Sakura's sashimi, but it was tasty nevertheless.

Keeping on an (almost) raw theme, next I had the beef tataki ($12.90) which was served with ponzu sauce and pickled ginger. I also ordered some steamed rice ($2) with the beef tataki, as I didn't know how big the serving would be and I didn't want to have my stomach grumbling during the opera. Beef tataki is beef which is only just seared around the outside, then sliced very thinly. It was delicious.

Our meals were being brought out as soon as they were cooked, which is exactly what we needed for a quick getaway. We also ordered the Shojin bento ($19.00), which is a tray made up of vegetable tempura, steamed fresh vegetables & tofu, vegetarian sushi, miso soup and steamed rice. The vegetable tempura was probably the winner from the bento plate with delicious fresh pieces of broccoli, mushroom & asparagus. The miso was also particularly good.

Like any good Japanese restaurant, there are plenty of other things to choose from. The menu is split into sashimi, sushi, maki sushi (nori rolls), temaki, salads, robata yaki (grilled meals), tempura, noodles, sets, hot plates, bento and a few dishes which are called a la carte.

There is a fairly compact, but good, wine list. We had a couple of glasses of the Jim Barry Watervale riesling ($7.50 a glass) which was a great match for my raw fish and beef. We also had a yuzu sour ($8.90), which was vodka with yuzu juice (or some kind of yuzu drink). The yuzu sour was a super drink - sour, tangy and refreshing. It would be hard to stop drinking them on a hot summer night, believe me.

Service throughout the night was excellent. Our food came out extremely quickly. A waitress was never far away, and our bottle of water was replaced with another as soon as it was empty.

Ginga is a good, reliable option for lunch or dinner at Southbank. It's deservedly popular with both locals and tourists. That's why Ginga is still going strong after all these years.

What does all this mean? A great selection of Japanese food at reasonable prices, with excellent service.

food bling ratings
Food - Good
Service - Great
Ambience - A Japanese feel inside or relaxed outdoor seating (try to sit in a booth)
Value for Money - Good
Wine - Compact, but good selection
Vegetarian - Good

Ginga Japanese Restaurant
Shop 11-12, Little Stanley Street
South Bank 4101
P - 07 3846 2313
W - http://www.gingarestaurant.com.au/

Sakura

I've already done a post about Sakura at Highgate Hill.

I've been told by a few friends that eat there all the time that Sakura is no longer BYO, so I've updated my earlier post. It's still worth a visit, and if you've got a decent sized group, book the private room for a great night out.

Sakura
9 Gladstone Road
Highgate Hill 4101
P - 07 3844 9935

Sakura

Sakura is a popular Japanese restaurant at Highgate Hill, set in a small row of shops on Gladstone Road, just up from Brisbane State High School.

I went here most recently on New Year's Eve for dinner with a group of friends in the private dining room. As I haven't been able to track down a copy of the menu, I can't post a full review, but at least I can give you a good idea of the great food which is served at Sakura.

Sakura is decorated with traditional Japanese touches and I've always found the staff to be very friendly. You'll find they go out of their way to say hello when you walk into the restaurant, which makes everyone feel welcome.

Although I'm no expert on Japanese food, the menu covers plenty of flavours, including seafood, beef, sushi, tofu and vegetables.

Highlights of the night included the seafood sashimi plate - a great selection of different flavours and textures; the tempura vegetables, which are incredibly moreish (pictured); and the shabu shabu beef (also pictured) where you get to cook thinly sliced beef and loads of vegetables in a big wok on the table. You rarely get to cook food yourselves at restaurants anymore, so this dish is particularly fun.

If you are looking for good Japanese food, give Sakura a try. I've found the best nights here are when you get to graze on a good selection of dishes from the menu - so grab yourself a group of friends, book the private dining room (which has a sunken floor to add to the Japanese experience) and order a bunch of food off the menu. The staff will look after you, and you'll have a great night of Japanese food at reasonable prices.

Sakura
9 Gladstone Road
Highgate Hill 4101
P - 07 3844 9935

Wagamama

Finding ourselves at Chermside after a long Sunday afternoon of shopping and movies, and not being bothered to cook anything when we got home, we wandered into Wagamama in the newish food court.

Having eaten in Wagamama restaurants around Australia and in London, I was pretty familiar with the drill. If you haven't eaten at Wagamama before, it's an international chain, serving Japanese food. There is a pretty standard menu, you sit at communal tables and the prices are generally reasonable. The staff take your orders with little hand held PDA type devices and also write bits and pieces on your placemat (so other staff know what you have ordered).

I've found Wagamama a bit hit and miss in the past. Last time we ate at Wagamama in Sydney one of our meals come with a rubber band hidden in the dish, which was an unexpected surprise. The staff there dealt with it really well, to their credit.

The menu is modelled on Japanese ramen bars. It covers ramen (noodles in soup), kare lomen (noodles in a coconut based soup), teppan (noodles cooked on a griddle), teriyaki, rice dishes, salads and side dishes.

I'm a big fan of their edamame ($4.50), which are incredibly addictive. We were shown to our seats, only to be quickly warned that quite a number of dishes were not available tonight, including the edamame and both the main course specials. So there was to be no edamame tonight.

Instead we ordered the sweet potato kusabi ($6). These were described on the menu as hand-cut chips served with basil and wasabi mayonnaise. We saw them sitting on the pass for about 5 minutes before they came to our table. Unfortunately they were terrible. First of all they were cold, and out of the 30 or so chips, about 5 of them were actually crunchy, the rest being soggy and just not cooked enough. As half cooked slices of sweet potato, with the mayonnaise, they tasted pretty good. But they weren't chips by any stretch of the imagination. At the end of the meal we asked the waitress if they were supposed to be served cold, and were told that they are cooked, but get cold very quickly. Next time we will definitely stick with the edamame, if its available.

Luckily, both our mains were very tasty. My chilli chicken ramen ($15.50) came in an enormous bowl, with loads of soup. The soup contained a big chunk of grilled chicken, fresh chillies, sliced red onions, beansprouts, coriander, spring onions and a wedge of lime. It was spicy, tasty, fresh and had plenty of heat. It was also very filling, and I almost got through the whole bowl.

We also had the yasai cha han ($11.50), described as stir-fried rice with egg, snow peas, mushrooms, butternut pumpkin, sweetcorn, fried tofu and spring onion accompanied with a bowl of vegetarian miso soup and pickles. Again, it was a big serving. Once you poured the miso onto the rice, this was a really tasty dish. There was a good mix of flavours, with the crispy snow peas, mushrooms, plenty of corn and small pieces of pumpkin.

So once again, Wagamama was a bit up and down. The chips were terrible, but our mains were great.

Service is friendly and fairly informal. Most of the wait staff sit down at your table with you to take your order and answer any questions you might have about the menu.

Wagamama also has a small drinks menu. I had a glass of the home made lemon iced tea ($2.50) which was good. We also had one of the shikoku island iced tea ($5.60) which is basically iced tea with vodka. Be warned, these taste great and you can gulp them down very easily. Otherwise, you can order wine (sparkling, red and white), beer (including Asahi), soft drinks, juice, sake and plum wine. Green tea is free with a main course if you ask for it.

All up, Wagamama is an ok place for a quick Asian dinner. I would prefer to head into the Valley for an Asian restaurant with a bit more character, but that's just a personal preference. If you find yourself a long way from the Valley or your local Asian restaurant, as we did, then there is always Wagamama.

Although I've only supplied the details of the Chermside restaurant below, you can also find Wagamama at Emporium in the Valley and in the Wintergarden in the city.

What does all this mean? Well priced Japanese food from an international chain, served at communal tables.

food bling ratings
Food - OK
Service - OK
Ambience - modern design, with communal tables
Value for Money - Good
Wine - OK
Vegetarian - OK

Wagamama
Parkland Pavillion
Westfield Chermside
Corner of Gympie & Hamilton Roads
Chermside 4032
P - 07 3350 3034
W - http://www.wagamama.com.au/