Tokyo Bird

My dream has come true. There is an authentic Japanese izakaya in Australia. Tokyo Bird sits in a little Surry Hills laneway and fulfills all my izakaya needs – an extensive drinks menu, lots of ‘little bites’ to eat and a vibe that’s buzzing. We started with cocktails – I chose the Breakfast Martini, with gin, curacao, lemon and yuzu marmalade. There is so much citrus happening there that my cheeks puckered, definitely in a good way. Dinner started with the Assorted Pickles ($6) and Katsu Chicken Nuggets ($9). The pickles were lightly done and dusted in  spicy togarashi seasoning – excellent for nibbling slowly. The katsu nuggets were the best thing ever – tender chicken bits deep fried in panko and served with kewpie mayo. Needless to say, they disappeared very quickly. We then picked four yakitori dishes. I loved the Negima (chicken thigh with shallot) – tender, charred nicely and basted in the magic yakitori sauce, it was probably my favourite of the four. The Tonton (pork belly) was lovely and fatty, and the Hatsu (chicken hearts) were tasty, although slightly tougher than the other meats. Finally, we both loved the Nasu (eggplant and miso) – beautifully salty with creamy eggplant, we were in izakaya heaven. I will be back as soon as I possibly can!

Tokyo Bird, 2/226-228 Commonwealth Street (entry on Belmore Lane), Surry Hills NSW, http://www.tokyobird.com.au/

Provini

Provini has been on my to visit list for a while, and it moved up the list after reopening with a new look and refreshed menu. I started with the pig’s head slider ($8 each), mostly because it was the most exotic-sounding item on the menu. The meat was tender and perfectly crumbed, sandwiched between two knots of panini and enhanced by the sweetness of roasted peppers. Tick. Next up was the meatballs ($16), which came with four meatballs in a pot of delicious sugo topped with cheese, and a large chunk of bread. This was the pick of the night – the pork and veal meatballs were perfectly cooked and packed full of flavour, the bread was excellent and perfect for mopping up what little sauce remained after we devoured it on the meatballs. We chose a pasta to share for the main, opting for the pappardelle ($26), with pork, veal and a white wine ragu. Unfortunately the dish was only just warm when it arrived (after quite a long wait) and there was no real ragu to speak of. The meat was lovely – it had been pulled into tender strips – and the pasta was al dente, but it needed much more sauce. We certainly didn’t leave hungry though!

Provini, 50 Bunda Street, Civic ACT, http://www.cocu.com.au/provini/

Chez Kimchi

Sometimes you just need… ha! Thought I was going to say ‘a burger’, didn’t you? No, this time I acknowledge that there is indeed a time and a place for KFC. Korean fried chicken, obviously. A friend and I caught up for KFC at Chez Kimchi on a Friday night, getting a table without a problem. We started with iced apricot tea – served in a large glass it was beautifully refreshing, and kept us going until our first dish arrived. Hello kimchi and pork dumplings! Wrapped into perfect little rings, the serve of 4 ($6.80) was a perfect starter for two. We loved the spicy kick of the kimchi and enjoyed trying the dipping sauces provided. I was also a bit enthusiastic about the pickle sides – so, so good. The main event was the half-size fried chicken. Curious to see what the wasabi sauce was like, we picked the Spring Onion Chicken ($18), which had 7 pieces of chicken (so tricky to split, but we managed). Unfortunately we didn’t get any wasabi sauce with it, but the chicken was so perfectly crispy and delicious that we didn’t really mind. The food here is such great value too – definitely one to come back to.

Chez Kimchi, Shop 11, 70-86 Bunda Street Civic, ACT, no website

Honkytonks

I hadn’t really considered Honkytonks as a dinner venue, but after catching up with a friend there for drinks, we weren’t really ready to move elsewhere. With the recent introduction of table service and an extensive Mexican-themed menu, I was pleasantly surprised by the impressive-looking chimichangas and hot-dogs being brought out. As I am wont to do, I ordered the burger. The Pablo Sanchez burger ($16.50), to be precise. I was lured mostly by the call of the jalapenos and chipotle sauce giving a Mexican twist to the traditional beef burger. The food came out fairly quickly, and my burger was served in a plastic basket with a huge portion of fries alongside. The burger looked great and on first bite, I got a lovely hit of jalapeno heat and spicy chipotle suace – just what I wanted. The patty wasn’t anything to write home about, but it was still slightly pink in the middle as patties should be, so points for that. The fries were thin, crispy and moreish, served with a small dish of tomato sauce that helped cool down the spice from the burger. For the price, it doesn’t really have a scratch on Grease Monkey, but still a good mid-range burger in Civic on a night out.

Honkytonks, 17 Garema Place, Canberra ACT, drinkhonkytonks.com.au

Ryo’s Noodles

My first stop after picking my bags from the luggage carousel in Adelaide was Ryo’s Noodles. Yep, not even kidding. Last time, Mum gave me massive order envy with her miso ramen, so that’s what we both picked this time. Ryo’s is unusual for a ramen restaurant in that you can request your serve to be salt reduced, which we both did. The star of this ramen is the broth – the miso flavour just adds a lovely richness to the already complex broth, which only tastes better the more you eat. I found myself wishing for a second stomach in order to have more! The pork is beautifully tender and not overly fatty, although I would have liked another slice. The spring onion and bamboo shoots are great textural elements, and the ramen noodles themselves have a great amount of bite, making them a real delight to eat. The bowl actually has a very generous serve of noodles, and I was very full by the end of my meal. We had cups of green tea with the food, which come with free refills – the tea was simple and a nice complement to the ramen. See you on my next visit, Ryo’s!

Ryo’s Noodles, 80 Gouger Street, Adelaide SA

Everybody Loves Ramen

I don’t know how I feel about this post. I was super excited to try the burgers from Everybody Loves Ramen – they look beautiful and having lived in Japan, I had high expectations. I chose the Yuzu Burger ($14), given a) yuzu is one of my favourite Japanese flavours and b) the patty is made of my all time favourite Japanese food – okonomiyaki. Now, perhaps these facts set the bar a bit high, so I was really surprised when I bit into my burger and discovered that a) the yuzu glaze was actually yuzu icing, making a sweet layer on half of the bun and b) the ‘okonomiyaki’ was a tiny food-court style patty. Whilst disappointed, I did eat the filling – the bun was just too weird a combination of sweet and savoury for me – the classic kewpie mayonnaise and tonkatsu sauce combination always work delightfully, bringing the okonomiyaki up a notch. I did enjoy the random popcorn hiding beneath my burger, but to be honest I probably wouldn’t order this again – it was trying to be too much all at once, so wasn’t great at any one thing.

Everybody Loves Ramen, at the Night Noodle Markets, Reconciliation Place, until 13 March 2016, no website.

Bao Stop

Bao Stop part two consisted of the amazing-sounding Peking duck fries ($15). Visualise, if you will, a large tray full of crisp, golden fries, topped with shredded duck, spring onion and Peking sauce. Can you see it? Well, basically that’s what Bao Stop are offering and what we ate on a recent visit to the Night Noodle Markets. The queue for this stall is rather long, so grab something from somewhere else first to snack on while you wait. The service at the other end is actually really fast, so once you’ve ordered the food takes less than 5 minutes to be served (wow guys, wow). We shared this dish between two, and found it very filling – the duck on top is plentiful, tender and full of flavour, enhanced by the Peking sauce that I must learn how to make at home. The meat just falls apart into lovely flakes of duck perfection. The fries were of the thinner variety and were cooked perfectly, although some were slightly soggy after being doused in sauce. The portion isn’t stingy – you are absolutely getting bang for your buck here, worth the wait for a fun, tasty treat.

Bao Stop, Night Noodle Markets, Reconciliation Place until 13 March, http://www.baostop.com/