Shoya

Japanese food is my absolute favourite, and so for my birthday, Mum and I had the most amazing dinner at one of the best Japanese restaurants I’ve been to in Australia; Shoya. We sat at the sushi bar, and ordered a la carte, starting with the deluxe sashimi entree. The sashimi here is just as good as any place in Tokyo, and I was gobsmacked by a) the beauty of the ice sphere it was served in and b) the perfection of the salmon, tuna, scallop and kingfish sashimi pieces. Basically, everything melted in your mouth and I could have happily eaten another three serves. Swoon. Next was a piece each of the aburi salmon and unagi (eel) nigiri sushi – the salmon was tender and tasty, but the unagi was the stand-out, with a huge, meaty piece grilled to perfection atop the rice. We then enjoyed the salmon onigiri, which was actually huge and very filling – the flakes of salmon were perfect and there was the occasional pop of heat from a red peppercorn within. Finally, we shared a plate of the agedashi tofu, which was just the right level of crispy on the outside and pillowy-soft inside. Pure birthday bliss.

Shoya, 25 Market Lane, Melbourne VIC                                         http://www.shoya.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.

Monja-ya

My general love of Japanese food is well-known, but if I had to pick an absolute favourite, it would have to be okonomiyaki. Why? Well, it’s exactly what it name means – as you like it, so you can enjoy it with all the things you like most. We stopped in at Monja-ya for dinner in Shinjuku (as a chain store, they have various locations in Tokyo). Half the fun of this place is that you get to cook the food yourself, but if you don’t feel confident, the staff are very happy to help. We started with an order of the cheese okonomiyaki and the standard monja, which the waiter kindly cooked while Mum made the okonomiyaki (go Mum!). The portions here are good value, even better if you pick the all-you-can-eat option. Whilst the cheese okonomiyaki was good, we all devoured the round two choice of kimchi – the added spice was amazing! The monja took longer to cook, but was worth the wait – we loved the sloppier texture with crispy bits from the grill. The trick to a good okonomiyaki? Layering it up with the sauces – okonomiyaki sauce, kewpie mayo plus bonito flakes. Perfection.

Monja-ya, Royal Puddings Building 4F, 3-35-10, Shinjuku, Tokyo Japan   

Onomichi Ramen

There are quite a few restaurants around the Hamamatsucho JR station, but many of them are designed for quick churn (i.e. standing restaurants/izakayas). We were quite tired after a day of sightseeing so ended up picking Onomichi Ramen, as it had seats. Sure, the decor is nothing special, and it has a lingering smell of cigarette smoke, but once you’ve received your giant bowl of ramen those things fade into the background. I ordered the standard soy ramen and added on all the extras – pork and egg. They offer table service, and brought out edamame for us to start. The ramen didn’t take long (so a good spot if you’re really hungry!) and the broth looked rich and fatty. Research after the meal explained that Onomichi ramen is the local specialty of Onomichi, near Hiroshima, and uses a typical soy broth with added fish paste and melted lard. Whilst that may not sound appetising, I promise you, it was delicious, and if I’d had room to finish the bowl I would have. The pork was thick and tender, the egg gooey in the centre and the ramen had a great amount of bite. Yum, yum, yum.

Onomichi Ramen,  Chome-30-11, Hamamatsucho, Minato, Tokyo Japan

Kurikoan

Taiyaki is one of those quintessentially Japanese sweets that I haven’t managed to find in Australia. I don’t think we even have an equivalent, but that just means it’s more important to get it when I do go to Japan! One of my favourite places for taiyaki is Kagurazaka – Kurikoan makes them traditionally (compared to Fujiya’s take), using the fish mould and offering a range of fillings. I couldn’t help but order the red bean paste flavour, which is the original/recommended flavour. We each picked different ones (red bean paste, custard and a third one I can’t remember, maybe red bean with a nut of some sort?) and the staff were kind enough to let us dine in. I’d visited twelve months earlier and had their taiyaki set, which came with an iced tea – I’d highly recommend that option, especially in the warmer months! The taiyaki itself had a lovely slightly-crunchy, still slightly-soft shell, and the inner cavity was packed with red bean paste filling. I enjoy red bean paste as a not-too sweet option, and like taiyaki for being a light but filling snack. Give it a try when exploring Kagurazaka.

Kurikoan, Porta Kagurazaka 1F, 2-6-1 Kagurazaka, Tokyo      http://kurikoan.com/cafe.html

Kuzuryu Soba

I have written a lot of posts about places in Kagurazaka, but this is a new one we discovered on this trip and I fell completely in love with it! We were wandering the backstreets and saw a small tour group beng led up the stairs into what looked like a traditional restaurant. After checking that a reservation wasn’t required, we took a seat inside and discovered that it was a soba restaurant, yay! The waiter was very patient with my Japanese and suggested we order a lunch set, so Mum had a mushroom soba and Dad and I both ordered the tempura set with tempura and kake soba (hot soba in a broth). The tempura was mostly vegetables and had a delicate, flaky batter which was nice and light. I particularly enjoyed the sweet potato piece, before getting stuck into my soba. The noodles were obviously made by hand – you could actually watch the chef slicing them – and were cooked to perfection. The broth had just the right amount of umami and wasn’t overly salty. The bowl was huge but I managed to finish all my noodles – I’ll definitely be back for another serving next time I’m in Tokyo.

Kuzuryu Soba, 3-3 Kagurazaka, Tokyo http://kuzuryu-soba.com/