Exceeding expectations at Sakana-Ya

Crows Nest is littered with eateries, especially Japanese ones, and you’ll find Sakana-Ya just down the road from Ju-Rin. With its unassuming and slightly dated entrance, it is hard to gauge what style of Japanese food Sakana-Ya serves within and what type of market they’re catering for. But venture through the blue curtains and the sliding glass door, and I can guarantee you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The décor within matches the doorway and is somewhat non-descript with wood panelling halfway up the walls and dark brown café-style furniture. Apart from the paper lantern light fixtures and the odd fishing rod and paper fan affixed to the walls, it could just as easily be an eatery which serves neither Japanese nor seafood but rather a different cuisine altogether. However the aromas upon stepping in are unmistakably Japanese – being those of pickled ginger and sweet sukiyaki sauce.

We are seated and served small complimentary dishes of edamame, each containing several pods. Whilst perusing the menu, we notice how “fishy” the place is – the aforementioned fishing rods on the wall, the fish painted on our sauce dishes and the two little guys printed on the paper placemats hiding underneath the serviette and chopstick setting. There is a serious amount of seafood offer and Monsieur Poisson politely complies by ordering, first up, one of his favourite things: sea urchin.

The uni sashimi is presented attractively in an open abalone shell surrounded by sides of colour, and is the largest we’ve ever seen. Monsieur Poisson attests to their sweet freshness, whilst a particular food blogger may or may not have been seen dangling a piece between her lips to resemble a tongue. (All photographic evidence of which has been destroyed. Ahem.)

This is followed by ‘Tuna Tar-tar’ which we feel required more lubrication. Whilst the ingredients and especially the tuna are fresh, the raw egg yolk when mixed through doesn’t provide quite the amount of creaminess of which we had hoped. Perhaps mayonnaise might have been a welcome addition?

Their tempura and sashimi platter doesn’t disappoint with its fresh, cold and bouncy fish slices and light, crunchy tempura. I do wish we’d been afforded the other half of that soft-shell crab though!

The ox tongue is thinly sliced and well seasoned, and we order a bowl of green tea soba in hot soup simply because there aren’t enough places which serve flavoured soba. The noodles are slippery with a slight bite but don’t top those made in-house at Ju Ge Mu & Shimbashi.

And because we greedily wanted to try too many things, we are already quite full by the time our bara-sushi is brought out to us. Lifting the lid off the lacquerware box reveals masses of shredded egg omelette shielding the seafood and rice underneath, apart from the cooked prawns and strategically placed salmon roe on top. Digging in, we discover a delightfully high topping to rice ratio but can only make our way through half of it and take the remainder home. The rolled egg omelette branded with Sakana-Ya’s name in Japanese is a cute touch, as are the serving plates again emblazoned with fish – one of which is of a fugu.

But there is somehow always room for dessert! The ‘An-mitsu and green tea float set’ proves much better value than ordering the two separately, and we are rewarded with a bowl of green tea and vanilla ice-cream sitting on a base of chewy discs of mochi and springy cubes of agar jelly alongside a generous scoop of azuki paste. All this is washed down with a slightly unattractive, aloe vera-tinged green tea drink which becomes enjoyably creamy when the large scoop of ice-cream bobbing about is allowed to meld into it.

Admittedly Sakana-Ya is on the pricey side, but in exchange you do receive quality, freshness and simplicity which respects the true flavours of the food. The service is polite and it has been around for years, which serves someway of attesting to its enduring standards.

Sakana-Ya

336 Pacific Hwy, Crows Nest NSW

Tel: (02) 9438 1468

*Bookings are highly recommended, especially on weekends.*

Opening Hours:  Mon-Fri  12pm-2:30pm (lunch)

  6pm-10:30pm (dinner)

                        Sun & Sat  6pm-10:30pm (dinner only)

happy eating!

Ju Ge Mu & Shimbashi (again!), 25 March 2010

It had been too long since our last meal at Ju Ge Mu & Shimbashi and we missed the slippery smooth texture of their handmade soba as well as their okonomiyaki. Monsieur Poisson suggested it as a catch-up location when his friend was back in Sydney for a brief stint from London, and the place was most accommodating when we had last minute additions (2 adults and 2 young children, no less) to our dining party.

Once we have everyone assembled, we settle in with some soba chips which are a hit with the kids and allow the rest of us some time to peruse the menu.

I’m surprised when the soba chips arrive as a tangle of deep-fried stringy noodles, as I’m sure I’ve seen photos of it somewhere as flat, potato chip-style things? They’re crunchy and not at all greasy, but could do with some liberal salting in my opinion.

Next up we have some more nibbling-type food in the form of edamame, which turn out to be quite a revelation for me. I am normally not a fan of these boiled, young soy beans as the squishy texture of the overcooked pods – although discarded and not eaten themselves – are a bit of a turn-off for me. But the edamame here are just cooked enough for the sweet little gems within to be popped through and, in contrast to the soba chips, are very well seasoned.

We’ve also ordered a serve each of chicken and pork gyoza to share. They’ve been split so that four of each appear on each plate and there is an initial confusion as how to tell, and taste, the two apart. It transpires that the chicken ones are sweeter and juicier, whilst the pork ones have a meatier flavour. Nevertheless, both are enclosed in thin dumpling wrappers and are fried to golden-bottomed crispiness.

Once again Monsieur Poisson and I find it hard to go past ordering something from the specials menu, especially when our attention is caught by the promise of flavoured soba. In this case it’s the ‘Three-flavoured tori & kinoko seiro soba’ with green tea, Earl Grey and plain soba served cold accompanied by a hot chicken and mushroom dipping broth. The soba is wonderful without even a hint of graininess and the tea flavoured ones are most refreshing, with the Earl Grey being much more subtle in taste than the green tea variety. As with our last visit, the staff considerately split this serve of soba in two when Monsieur Poisson indicates that we will be sharing it between us.

And then we have the okonomiyaki. It’s the ‘Ju Ge Mu Special’ which features such wonderful things as bacon, scallops, prawns and calamari covered in a tangy barbecue sauce, spring onions and squiggles of mayonnaise. As always served with a tin of nori flakes and bonito shavings (AKA sawdust, by one Dr King) alongside for sprinkling, the okonomiyaki is savoury, sweet, salty and tangy all at once – should rate highly on the umami scale, yes?

Monsieur Poisson and I do not pass up on dessert this time. He goes for the ‘Zenzai ice-cream’ which has the simple combination of green tea ice-cream, azuki beans and ‘slippery dumplings’. Actually, at first, he orders this entirely out of curiosity for what the ‘slippery dumplings’ could be, and all is revealed when the dessert arrives with flat discs of unfilled mochi – chewy glutinous goodness!

As for me, I revisit the ‘Ice-cream Tempura’ fondly remembered from a previous visit. There’s actually not a lot of ice-cream within, but I’m quite taken by the hidden raspberries and their tartness contrasted by the chocolate sauce. The tempura coating is crisp and any possible greasiness is negated by the pieces of fresh fruit alongside.

Ju Ge Mu & Shimbashi

246 Military Rd, Neutral Bay NSW

Tel: (02) 9904 3011

Opening Hours:  Mon  CLOSED

Tue-Sat  12pm-2pm (lunch)

Tue-Sun  6pm-9:30pm (dinner)

happy eating!

Takeru, May-Sept 2009

This Japanese restaurant is not obvious to the unfamiliar. It has no street frontage nor signage and is tucked away up the back corner of the first level of Victoria Plaza. Its dark wooden interior and dim lighting near the doorway don’t do it any favours in attracting customers either. Despite all this the place is mostly full, even into the early afternoons, as I attest when Mistress introduces me to its tasty fare.

There is a half-mezzanine level within which is decorated in pale wood and is much more brightly lit. At the foot of the stairs to the mezzanine is a cute little children’s play area replete with LCD TV usually with Japanese anime or Thomas the Tank Engine on rotation. Takeru is dominated by booth seating with only a few free-standing tables near the door, but all have access to their own touchscreen menus. I know these have been around for a while but the novelty of flicking through photos and reading their descriptions (sometimes in Japlish) has yet to wear off for me.

Takeru Chatswood is the sister restaurant to Takeru Chinatown and does not major in either sushi or sashimi. Sure, there’s sashimi on the menu but it’s more of a passing thought in amongst all the other Japanese-style café dishes. I have eaten here at least ten times over the past seven months but I have yet to order the sashimi. There are too many detractors, especially the selection of half-size dishes which inversely equate to double the sampling rate!

Takeru’s ‘Seafood Salad’ contains dice-sized sashimi pieces decorated with creamy mayonnaise sitting on mixed salad leaves, tomato wedges, cucumber slices and kernels of corn dressed with a vinegary mixture. The ‘Takeru Salad’ which, according to the menu is “very popular”, has a sliced boiled egg served next to grilled chicken which has been marinated in soy sauce, and renkon chips served on top of mixed salad leaves with a sesame dressing.

More renkon chips are abound in the ‘Soft-shell Crab Salad’. The crab is lightly dusted with parmesan which gives it an interesting aroma when served but doesn’t intrude too much on the taste. Soft-shell crab can also be found with a serve of crisp-coated agedashi tofu, topped with a generous helping of bonito flakes.

Takeru offers a few Japanese interpretations of pizzas, including one which is topped with mochi slices. The pizza bases are soft, light, slightly sweet and quite more-ish. I’ve tried the ‘Squid Ink Pizza’ but expected it to taste more distinctly ‘inky’, although I’m not at all sure what I expected ink to taste like! In actuality the ink has very little taste – perhaps a faintly bitter aftertaste – but offers the pizza a very saucy texture. My favourite has to be the ‘Mentai Hotate Pizza’ with its sweet, barbeque-like sauce contrasted with the salty mentai and sweet scallops.

Takeru has a range of dishes which are available as half-serves, presumably for children or those wanting a light snack, which serve as a chance for people like me to taste test many more items. Amongst my favourite are the ‘Half-serve Gyu-tan Curry’ and the ‘Half-serve Mentai Spaghetti’. The ox tongue is very tender and comes in a pool of smooth Japanese curry while the spaghetti is usually linguine, and comes with a mix of seafood, sticky mentai, okra and mushrooms in a thin creamy sauce.

The ‘Half-serve Tonkatsu Doria’ is a dish of tomato-flavoured rice topped with a fried pork cutlet smothered in a white sauce and melted cheese. It arrives piping hot and is very warming, not to mention rather rich as well!

The ‘Half-serve Omelette Rice’ features more of the tomato rice, but enclosed in a thin egg omelette with a side of meat sauce. It is large for a half-serve, quite filling, and exceptional value for its price of $5.90.

Also on my recommended list are the ‘Half-serve Unagi Cha-han’ and the ‘Half-serve Teriyaki Chicken Don’. The eel fried rice is smoky and garlicky with perfectly separated granules of rice topped with shredded nori. The teriyaki chicken is sweet and sticky without being overly salty or dark in colour.

The ‘Ika Butter Shoyu’ is not a half-serve, but just happens to be a serve at the smaller end of the spectrum of tender squid rings which are a bit too oily for my liking.

Takeru has a page (yes, there are printed menus too) of bentos under its ‘Lunch Specials’ section which are unfortunately not available at other times. They provide a generous meal with the usual inclusions of rice and miso soup. Standards in Takeru’s bentos are agedashi tofu, potato croquette and ebi-fry (prawn) with runny egg salad that has much mayonnaise. I usually choose the ‘main’ of Japanese barbequed beef because it has a nice charred flavour, is juicy and comes in a sweet soy sauce. Of course there are other options which include salmon and chicken.

I don’t normally order dessert here, and one of the few things I’ve tried is the ‘Chiffon Cake with Green Tea Ice-cream’. Feather-light green tea sponge is served with creamy green tea ice-cream. The sponge has a thin, chewy ‘crust’ while the inside of the cake is smooth and springy rather than buttery and crumby.

Service is swift and hardly requires conversation here, but the food and comfortable surrounds are what keep me coming back.

Takeru Chatswood

Shop 10, Victoria Plaza, 369 Victoria Ave, Chatswood NSW

Tel: (02) 9412 1203

Opening Hours:  Mon-Wed  12pm-9:30pm

Thurs-Sat  12pm-10pm

Sun  12pm-9:30pm

happy eating!

Sydney International Food Festival: Sugar Hits, Oct 2009

*We interrupt our usual broadcast to bring you a summary of the month that was…*

October for me means celebrating several friends’ birthdays and has also, for many years, meant Good Food Month. Having never worked in the city means that I have never been able to take advantage of Let’s Do Lunch offers, but just because Good Food Month has now been renamed to Sydney International Food Festival does not change what the month-long events mean to me: Sugar Hits!

Throughout the month of October many places offer a nightly dessert deal including dessert wine for $20, from 9-11pm unless stated otherwise, most of them being hotels. In the past some places have allowed the substitution of alternate drinks for non-wine drinkers, but in recent years the deal components cannot usually be changed.

This year there were a few funny things about Sugar Hits:

• the website had originally advertised Sugar Hits for $45 – a bit of a price hike! – which was soon corrected
• Tony Bilson’s Number One and Swissôtel were both omitted from the printed program but were listed online
• there was a misprinting of the phone number for Sir Stamford
• there was an unexpected change of menu at Shangri-La (more about that as you read on)

Four Seasons, 4 October 2009

A large group of us descended upon Four Seasons without much planning, however one of us did call ahead to make a reservation. Upon arrival he was told Sugar Hit was not being offered that particular evening, but when the whole group was assembled staff said they could serve it to us anyway. Confused? Oh yes, much.

The menu featured ‘Baked chocolate mousse with mandarin sorbet and anise seed croquant’ paired with Brown Brothers’ orange muscat and flora which was not allowed to be swapped for coffee or tea. In hindsight, Four Seasons served the largest glasses of dessert wine of all the Sugar Hits we attended!

The baked mousse was fudgy with its texture resembling a brownie and the sorbet had a slightly bitter taste akin to citrus peel. There were little cubes of jelly dotting the plate that tasted like manadarin and were firm but not quite as chewy as, say, a gummy lolly. All elements sat on a plate decorated with swirls of chocolate sauce and mandarin sauce.

InterContinental, 5 October 2009

Monsieur Poisson and I ended up here after trying to book for Azuma Kushiyaki (see below) but were told they were closing early due to it being a public holiday and would not be offering Sugar Hit. We phoned InterContinental and were told no booking was required so we rocked up around 9:30pm.

The description for their Sugar Hit was a ‘famous dessert trilogy paying homage to chocolate’ by Austrian pastry chef Karl Beil. We started off with a glass of orange muscat and flora each before being presented with a rectangular platter with a white chocolate dome, chilli chocolate slice and a chocolate macaron on chocolate paste.

The white chocolate dome was a marshmallowy mousse resting on a disc of sponge. It was sweet but not overly creamy. The chocolate macaron, as Not Quite Nigella said, is actually a macaroon and for some reason the one on my plate was much larger than that on Monsieur Poisson’s. The biscuit was almondy and was sitting on some seriously rich chocolate paste. The chilli chocolate slice was spongy yet rich at the same time with an obvious after-kick of chilli. Alongside was some nashi pear paste which we were told served the purpose of cleansing the palate between each chocolate morsel.

Sheraton on the Park, 9 October 2009

 

We arrived at Sheraton in the midst of pelting rain after learning that both Azuma Kushiyaki and Glass had been booked out since 4:30pm that afternoon. Sugar Hit was being served on the ground floor of the Sheraton, as opposed to upstairs as in years past. There didn’t seem to be an organised reservations system in place and we saw people being seated whenever they arrived regardless of whether they have made a reservation or not.

There was no mention of what the dessert wine was when it was placed in front of us and we could only assume it was Brown Brothers’ orange muscat and flora. I suspect that the wine had been pre-poured and the glasses chilled en masse as the wines arrived being less fragrant than what we had experienced elsewhere.

The dessert was a ‘Warm chocolate pudding with golden almond splinters, honeycomb ice-cream and chantilly cream’. Not being much of a pudding girl, I didn’t have high expectations but was pleasantly surprised by the spongy and fluffy pudding covered by a river of chocolate sauce flecked with almond bits. The centre was hot but it was no fondant so I can understand how some would have been disappointed. The ice-cream had lovely crunchy honeycomb bits and was sitting in its own mini-waffle basket which stopped the ice-cream from running everywhere. The cream was smooth with a rich dairy taste and cut through the pudding nicely.

Partly due to the miserable weather, Monsieur Poisson ordered a caffe latte afterwards that arrived with quite a bit of milk foam and a biscotti on the side.

Shangri-La, 16 October 2009

Shangri-La’s Sugar Hit menu caused confusion for me this year as the program had them serving ‘Coconut panna cotta, mango jelly, frozen coconut pops and pineapple’, whereas the website listed a ‘Hazelnut torte, lemon curd, sugar-coated hazelnuts and lemon jelly’. Not similar in the least! However the dessert wine was allowed to be swapped for soft drinks and juices, but not tea or coffee.

What we got on the night was a hazelnut torte that was more mousse than torte, with its obvious lack of nut meal, that had a lemon curd centre. The sugar-coated hazelnuts had turned into sugar-coated popcorn, although the popcorn was crunchy, light and thinly and evenly coated in toffee. The stripes of lemon curd on the plate were not quite tart enough for me but, then again, I like and can tolerate quite a bit of sourness. The lemon jelly was cute and dusted with caster sugar which reminded us of jube lollies from our childhood.

Azuma Kushiyaki and Glass were reportedly booked out until the end of the month and I was disappointed at Sheraton because I had expected a much more nutty affair!

Azuma Kushiyaki, 23 October 2009

So if Azuma Kushiyaki was booked out, how did we get to Sugar Hit there? Due to a little trickery on Monsieur Poisson’s part, he made a dinner reservation for us to celebrate our anniversary. Ours was a drawn-out meal anyway and when 9pm swung around…

This was the Sugar Hit that I really wanted to try, partly because it was new to the Sugar Hit list but mostly because of the stunning photos I had seen on other food blogs. Judging from these, Azuma Kushiyaki looked like an exceptional value-for-money Sugar Hit.

Azuma Kushiyaki’s ‘East meets West – Dessert Tasting Plate’ featured ‘mochi with kinako served with vanilla ice-cream and Japanese brown sugar syrup, green tea rolled cake with chestnuts, nori seaweed langue de chat biscuits, vanilla cheesecake and Belgian chocolate mousse.’

I started off with the mochi which was sitting in partly melted ice-cream by the time I had finished with my frenzy of photographing. They were a nice bite-size, not overly sticky and mildly sweet from the kinako. I was instructed to pour the sugar syrup over the mochi and ice-cream which added a glorious burnt caramel taste. The green tea cake was light with a fair amount of green tea taste and quite a lot of creamy filling. I seemed to get more chestnuts in my piece than I had seen in photos. The langues de chat were buttery with a savoury twang of nori which reminded me of Asian packs of nori-flavoured potato crisps. The vanilla cheesecake was of the unbaked variety and was smooth, creamy and very milky in taste. The chocolate mousse was dark, not sugary and heavenly even for someone like me who normally doesn’t like mousse!

Monsieur Poisson gave the Sugar Hit a miss and ordered himself the Belgian chocolate mousse from the current dessert menu. It was presented with as much care and precision as my dessert and Azuma Kushiyaki was definitely the standout for me amongst this year’s Sugar Hits.

Sir Stamford, 24 October 2009

We were accompanied by Ms Sourdough and Weirdo to this Sugar Hit, but unfortunately Weirdo was on a diet and had to sit and watch us eat! We were confounded to be asked what drinks we wanted by a staff member and further perplexed when he told us the Sugar Hit was paired with a ‘riesling which is not really a riesling’. Anyhow, after a little while we had glasses of orange muscat and flora placed in front of us before the arrival of a ‘layered treat filled with strawberries and cream, with layers of soft ginger shortbread in between’.

Sandwiched in between rounds of icing sugar-dusted, crumbly, ginger shortbread were layers of thick cream and fresh strawberries. The top was decorated with slices of dried strawberry and mint leaves, which added a different layer of flavour and textural contrast. The amount of cream proved too much for Ms Sourdough and myself, but Monsieur Poisson happily accepted my rejected cream. The shortbread had interesting bursts of ginger and saltiness (perhaps from the use of salted butter?) and was rather filling, but was nice with the berry coulis that had been drizzled on the plate.

Swissôtel, 27 October 2009

We squeezed in one last Sugar Hit before the end of the month and landed ourselves at Swissôtel, where they had a twist on the partnered drinks. From the above you would probably think the only drink on offer was Brown Brothers’ orange muscat and flora, but the other featured dessert drink was Hennessy cognac. Swissôtel was serving Brown Brothers’ zibibbo or a Hennessy cognac mule cocktail with their dessert of ‘White chocolate raspberry layered mousse, champagne glazed poached berries and dark chocolate pistachio’.

Monsieur Poisson tried the cognac cocktail which was made with lime juice and ginger beer. It had an interesting tart and gingery kick at the end but the cognac was quite potent and Monsieur Poisson failed to finish it. I rather enjoyed the zibbibo because of its light flavour and bubbles. The layered mousse had a layer of nuts hidden in the middle and a crumbly base. The cup contained a white chocolate mousse concealing poached berries at the bottom. The dark chocolate pistachio was quite rich and was like chocolate fudge decorated with pistachio rubble.

And that, is it for another year. I probably need to take it easy with desserts after all this, and it seems that October is the only time during the year that I consume any sort of dessert wine!

Four Seasons (The Café)

199 George St, Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 9250 3231

InterContinental (Cortile Lounge)

117 Macquarie St (entrance cnr of Bridge St & Phillip St), Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 9240 1396

Sheraton on the Park (The Gallery Tea Lounge)

161 Elizabeth St, Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 9286 6000

Shangri-La (The Lobby Lounge)

176 Cumberland St, The Rocks NSW

Tel: (02) 9250 6000

Azuma Kushiyaki

Ground floor of Regent Place, 501 George St, Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 9267 7775

Swissôtel (Crossroads Bar)

Level 8, 68 Market St, Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 9238 7082

happy eating!

So how many Sugar Hits did you do this year and what was your favourite?