Ippudo Sydney @ Level 5, Westfield Sydney

Japanese food is one of my favourite cuisines. I have never had a bad Japanese experience, and ramen is something that I can never get sick of. So when I saw all the photos, hashtags and instagrams post of Ippudo, I just had to try it. Ippudo has been in Japan for almost 15 years, and started expanding internationally in 2008. Since, Ippudo Sydney opening in early December, it continues to be a craze amongst Sydney siders. 

Ippudo provides exceptional service, where once every customer enters the restaurant all the staff say irasshaimase! Quiet intimidating at first, but when you see the whole staff turn and greet incoming guests, it is quite amazing. Also, not all the staff are Japanese, which makes it even more fun and interesting.

Steamed buns with braised pork, lettuce and ippudo original sauce 

The infamous steamed buns are a definite must have. Everything about it is was amazing, the fresh crunchy lettuce, perfectly braised pork and the hint of spice.

Ippudo original tonkatsu broth served with thin noodles, pork loin, cabbage, black mushroom and shallots with flavoured egg

I thought I would allow my first Ippudo experience to stick to original and simple flavours, therefore tonkatsu ramen with the normal garnishes. It was such a clean tasting ramen. I loved the noodles used! The egg just makes the dish that much better!

Ippudo original tonkatsu broth enhanced with special blended miso paste and garlic oil. Served with thin noodles, pork belly, black mushroom and shallots.

This is what my friend ordered. It was very similar to my dish, but with an extra punch of flavour from the miso paste and garlic oil. 

Grilled Japanese eel on rice with original Kabayaki sauce

Kabayaki sauce is similar to a teriyaki but a bit more sweet and more sticky. It is sticky due to the heating process of the sugar and soy sauce. The sauce is traditionally the marinade on eel, and in this case was also in the rice. It was a lovely bowl of flavour.

Green tea lamington with red bean centre and green tea ice cream 

Dessert time! A Japanese twist on an Australian favourite. It wasn't as spongy as traditional lamington, but still had enough cake to be defined as a lamington. The middle layer of red bean helped with the sweetness of the green tea icing that surrounded the lamington. A great way to end the meal.

Black sesame pannacotta with creamy sauce 

The pannacotta was extremely interesting. Despite the use of black sesame, there was still a smooth texture. It was a tasty dessert, but started getting sickening (unless we were just too full and were struggling).

Good food, good times!

Manmaruya @ Campsie

Happy New Year everyone! Better late than never =D. After having an awesome start to the new year I thought I should finally update my blog with my favourite Japanese restaurant.

Manmaruya  is a small Japanese restaurant located on the main strip of Campsie. Upon my first experience a couple of years ago I fell in love with it and continue to go back when in need of a good Japanese feast.

Honey and lemongrass pork bento box

This was the first time I had tried a bento box at Manmaruya, and I was not disappointed. It came with a side of rice, sashimi, fried gyoza, seaweed salad, miso soup and normal salad. There was a great balance with the strong taste of lemon grass and the sweetness of the honey. The gyoza  was shallow fried which resulted in a crispy outside and a lovely inside, compared to normal pan friend gyoza which often feels oily. 

Ox tongue bento box

This was my sisters boyfriends order and he loved it, but to me the ox tongue was a bit bland in terms of flavour but the texture was fine, without it being too chewy.

Tan tan ramen

Tan tan ramen is a pork mince ramen with egg, bean sprouts, seaweed, bamboo topped with fresh shallots. It is an easy ramen to eat as you don't have to bite into or tear a part the meat. Simple is best, and is a great dish for any first time ramen eaters.

Medium sushi platter

You can't go to a Japanese restaurant without trying any sushi. The sushi platter was composed of various sushi's using fresh ingredients. Got to love sushi!

Overall, Manmaruya has great tasting food at affordable prices and has been mentioned in to 2011 SMH Good Food Guide. The service is fantastic and the desserts are nice and simple. Dinner services start at 5.30pm, and the restaurant doesn't take reservations for Friday and Saturday nights so I would advise to get there as early as possible to avoid waiting.

Good food, good times!

Wagaya Japanese Restaurant @ Haymarket

For Patrick's birthday I planned a surprise. But first was to to go to Wagaya (Level 1, 78-86 Harbour St Haymarket NSW 2000) for dinner. It is a modernised Japanese restaurant with a great atmosphere. And the best thing about it is the touch screen menu. Everything is ordered by the touch of a button and that also includes receiving the bill.
 

There is over 100 different items on the menu from all different sushi & sashimi to ramen and also the option of hot pot. Here is a few of the lovely wagaya wonders.

Scallop and garlic fried rice $10.90

A basic and delicious rice dish that goes with everything on the menu. A great way to start the Japanese feast.

Lightly grilled salmon sushi $8.30

Rainbow roll $10.30

One of the more popular and nice sushi roll. Filled with colour and different types of seafood delights on the top including prawn, salmon, king fish and tuna.

Deep fried chicken Karaage $7.30

Deep fried goodness! Karaage chicken can never disappoint and everyone loves a good friend piece of chicken.

Salmon Sashimi $7.30

Spider roll $9.40

Home made Gyouza $6.50 (for 5)

Ika fri $7.90

 

Chicken nankotu $6.50

This was a strange dish but it said 'common' on the menu so thought why not give it a go. From the taste and bite, it seemed to be parts of cartilage coated in batter and fried. It was crunchy. Not sure if I would order it again. 

Lightly grilled salmon and scallop sushi $12.50

Near the end of the meal we decided to play sushi roulette. The gist of sushi roulette is that there are 6 pieces of sushi on a plate, and one has an excessive amount of wasabi compared to the others. So everyone picks one, and eats it at once and just wait to see who gets the wasabi bomb. And to the birthday boy's luck he got the wasabi bomb!

Sushi Roulette $9.90

There is not such thing as a birthday without a birthday cake. I ordered a cake from the old oak patisserie (http://oldoakpatisserie.com.au/s/). It is a little patisserie inside the met centre (on george street). It was a wide range of cakes and from the ones I have tried I have not been disappointed!

Cross section of the Immortal Sin

Baked cheesecake base, chocolate mousse and a final layer of caramel mousse topped with drops of chocolate mousse

Good food, good times!

The Ultimate Teppanyaki experience @ Kobe Jones, King St Wharf

http://www.kobejonesteppanyaki.com.au/wharf-teppanyaki

For the lovely Thuy Lam's Birthday me and a few close friends surprised her with The Ultimate Teppanyaki experience at Kobe Jones (21 Lime Street (Cnr of Erskine & Lime), King Street Wharf), which is an 11 course meal! 

**NOTE: This was not a teppanyaki experience where they throw food at you**

The atmosphere and decor is classy and elegant, and the staff are very welcoming. When we arrived our table wasn't quite ready so we waited in the KJ lounge.Once we were seating our chef wasn't there, luckily we didn't have to wait long. But due to our hunger it felt like forever!!! The feast now begins!

The first 5 courses were delicious, each with its own unique balance of flavours. And of course, with the concept being teppanyaki, each was cooked in its own unique way with a flame every now and then. The flaming special was a cooked sushi roll, with what seemed to be a cheese sause on the top, not something you get are your local sushi restaurant. The scallops with the wasabi sauce were refreshing since the wasabi taste wasn't strong and the hot mushroom salad was one of the best salads I have ever taste. The chef gave us a choice to which marinade we wanted on the Balmain bug, and since we couldn't decide he made us both.

Flaming No 1 Special

Crab salad with avocado wrapped in Hiramasa kingfish and flamed on the teppan

with our secret sauce

Carpaccio scallop

Scallop sashimi, sizzled with heated extra virgin olive oil

and drizzled with wasabi pepper sauce

Hot mushroom salad

Sashimi

 Selection of salmon, kingfish and tuna

Balmain bug caught in Port Lincoln and cooked on the whole shell

with wine and garlic or seaweed butter

Garlic rice

Tasmanian wilderness beef (total 100 gm)

100% free range, pasture fed, hormone and GMO free, with

grilled asparagus, spinach and mushroom

Crunchy rice and cooked fat

Between the amuse-bouches and the main they served a vodka lemon sorbet. It had the taste of a nice summers day in the sun. If I were able to buy it by the tub, I would! The reason they served the vodka lemon sorbet between the meals was to cleanse the palate and it was definitely refreshing!

Vodka Lemon Sorbet

The mains were somewhat disappointing. The beef was a tad overcooked for my liking and the rice had an oily texture. The vegetables were great though, it had a seaweed sauce on it which is something you can't get in the stores. There was also a side of what seemed to be cooked fat and crunchy rice, however it tasted as if I was eating pure oil, not a pleasant taste to feel in your mouth. After the main we were supposed to receive a miso soup, but they missed/forgot it, so the 11 course meal ended up coming down to 10.

DESSERT TIME!!! We saw a few people eating the dessert earlier in the night and it looked great! And after the not so great main I was definitely looking forward to dessert, unfortunately the dessert had to many strong flavours for my taste. The glaze/sauce that was on the crepe was very overpowering and so the taste of the crepe actually disappeared. However, texture wise it was perfect, nice and soft and easy to eat. The green tea ice-cream on top was very creamy and fresh. I loved the ice cream that came with the crepe.

Crepe Suzette

Freshly made crepe flambé with Grand Marnier with ice cream

The whole entire meal was definitely an experience, a 3 hour experience to be exact. But something strange did happen. Upon leaving, the vibe of the restaurant completely changed. It became a karaoke type lounge. There was someone singing on the PA and when we walked past the KJ lounge paying for our meal, there seemed to be some drunk people asking us if we wanted any drinks. The vibe change was very strange and something that I didn't expect. Overall it was a great nice and a great experience. If I were to go again I would try the normal menu and not the teppanyaki option.

After the long meal, we went back to my house to surprise Thuy Lam with the Domo-kun cake! She walked in with her eyes covered, and once unveiled I could definitely tell that by her reaction she loved it and was wonderfully surprised. Even though through out the night we were saying that the cake was a self portrait of her. I told a few others to come by and join in a joyous occassion.

In the end it was a lovely night with some really great people. I hope everyone had as much of a good time as I did! and another HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THUY LAM!! xoxo

Good food, good times!