Yoshikawa Inn and Tempura

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This post has alredy been moved - you can find it HERE.

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YAYOI Restaurant. Sydney.

Earlier this year I was honoured to be asked to MC the launch of Yayoi Restaurant in Sydney - the first of the famous Yayoi family to open oustide of Asia. 

It was a pretty exciting time for both the family owned company and for the Sydney market who were introduced to Teishoku style dining which loosely translates as a 'set' of dishes. That is - you order a meal which generally contains a main protein dish, and a couple of sides - usually a selection of vegetable dishes or perhaps tofu for example - plus rice, soup and pickles.  It's Japanese home cooking - nothing too tricky - just tasty, filling and feel good!  Teishoku meals are well-considered and nutritionally balanced with a range of flavours and textures  - plus, at Yayoi they are attractively presented on trays and it's bloody delicious.  While Teishoku meals are the focus at Yayoi - you can order individual dishes for yourself, or sharing, too - like we did on this occasion.

Yayoi also happen to have quite a few sakes (and boy did we taste some!) and Japanese Beers which adds to the experience of course! And the rice, which they have grown just for them, is a hybrid with the appearance of white rice but the nutrition of brown - and it is very good.  Win Win. Plus it gets cooked at your table in a mini version of a traditional rice cooker. As it takes about 20 minutes they suggest ordering it straight away so it can cook away at your table while you peruse the menu and order everything else - which comes out very quickly.

 The restaurant has been packed for lunches and dinner since it opened and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw another one popping up in Australia in the not too distant future... so keep an eye out for a Yayoi near you! 

Last week I was finally able to return to Yayoi and relax with a Japanese friend and her husband and enjoy a few old favourites. Fortunately we were all on the same wavelength with the favourites...  ie the stuff we can't usually get here, the comforting grub from our other 'home'  - the expertly fried stuff we don't normally cook for ourselves - the likes of Tonkatsu and Chicken Nanban for example, done really well.  Oh...I could do with a bite of this deliciousness right about now.

It was really nice, several months after the glamorous opening, to see first hand how well the place is running - I've never been served so quickly and seamlessly in  my life (you order by i-pad and your drinks are with you within a minute or so and your meal very shortly afterwards!) and the food we ate was so authentic that it really was like being back in Japan - rarely do I experience that here in Australia.  

Well done Yayoi! I'll be back again soon with the boy who missed out and is VERY cranky about it!

Oh and if you want to hear a little bit more here's me gasbagging about Japanese food on 2GB 

Sobaya Nicolas

Reading about Sobaya Nicolas I noticed it had been awarded a Michelin star... so I must admit I went in with rather high expectations. I wouldn't say I was disappointed  - but I wasn't bowled over.  I WAS disappointed by the fact they didn't have the dish I was most keen to try - the soba with foie gras.... 

The rest of the meal was nice enough - and when they brought the nutritionally rich and comforting soba cooking broth to the table to pour into the remaining dipping sauce once we'd finished eating our noodles (one of my favourite part of the soba experience)- I was pretty happy. 

 The handmade soba itself was good as was the dipping sauce but the gimicky stuff didn't really cut it for me. Believe me - I wanted it to. I've heard the soba with fruit tomato - when in season - is very good. 

Our 4200 yen Autumnal course included an appetiser plate including some marinated mackerel, duck breast, pumpkin salad with tofu dressing and sushi rolls using soba noodles in place of rice.

A rice dish with buckwheat and mushrooms and a simmered dish with chicken, chestnuts and ginko

I love this little square dish - one of the added joys of finishing a dish of food in Japan is finding hidden artwork underneath

Taro, lotus, ginko and a steamed buckwheat flour manju (dumpling) with pork

Zaru soba - Chilled soba on a basket  with dipping sauce

My friend Emilee - I've known her since she popped out of her mama. So cool to hang out with her as a grown up.

Annindoufu (almond tofu) with buckwheat honey

and below

buckwheat dumplings in sweet red beans

Wabiya Korekidou - Yakitori - Kyoto

Ouch - it's almost a year since I ate at Wabiya Korekidou - I can't believe how the time has flown - but I still have very fond memories of this excellent meal. Being on Hanamikoji dori (street), slap bang in the middle of the main Geisha thoroughfare, I had little hope that it would be as good as it actually was.  But as I am learning - most of the meals I have consumed in the Gion district have in fact been very good. Yes they cater for tourists and therefore a little bit more expensive than you might pay elsewhere but Wabiya, one of a small group of Chicken restaurants, has got it right. The spaces are large-ish (for Japan) yet maintain a cosiness and comfortable style. The food is very good and the staff and locals are welcoming. Actually one of the locals was more than welcoming but I'll come to that later. 

We chose the Hanamikoji course for ￥6300. It was a bit of a splurge but we were up for seeing what they could do. When I say splurge - I'm talking Japan right - not Australia where this kind of money pays for a main course and a glass of wine if you are lucky. ￥6300 is about $65 AUD and buys you 11 courses plus coffee/tea  - hot or iced! Love that. Why we can't find a simple cup of coffee over ice in Australia still dumbfounds me (it is true there are a couple of places now getting into this concept - about bloody time - we live in a damn hot country people!?!

It doesn't look it but this was a really fabulous, pure flavoured, chicken soup - on the side is yuzu kosho (green chilli yuzu condiment)

Ground chicken (soboro) mixed with hatcho miso and chilled seasonal crudites for dipping into the mixture

Steamed chicken with ginger, garlic and spring onions  and sudachi lime for squeezing over

Another soup with mushrooms, walnuts and fresh soy beans

3 yakitori skewers of thigh meat - the chicken on each skewer was from a different part of Japan so you could really taste the difference in the meat - I love this concept!

Renkon Manju (lotus root dumping) in chicken broth with grilled manganji peppers

Torinegi - Yakitori with negi (baby leek), 

Chicken neck yakitori

yakitori topped with grilled sweet onion

And seasonal Kamameshi - a rice dish with egg, chicken mince, ripe tomato and truffle oil

Duck  and chicken Tsukune - mince skewers cooked with tare (glaze) and served with raw egg yolk for dipping. I'm a sucker for good tsukune. 

And the final savoury course is rice with sato-imo (taro) and chirimen jakko (tiny sardines cooked in soy with sansho peppers - a local speciality)  - this was also served with pickles  - as is the Japanese way - rice and pickles at the end of a meal. 

We were so very full as you can imagine and we had one rather enthusiastic  (and a little bit drunkee) high ranking Japanese business man and his underlings begging us to come with them to his favourite Gion Bar. He'd been plying us with very good red wine from about course 3. I was a bit concerned and annoyed by the attention  - and not at all interested in blindly following 3 strange men to a dodgy bar but my mail accomplice insisted it would be fine - and 'you know -how often do you get invited to a bar in Gion which is not open to foreigners'  - so my arm was firmly twisted.   With increasing pressure from our 'shacho' (boss to hurry the f#%*# up we gobbled down a few mouthfuls of our lovely black sugar and ginger pudding, thanked the chef and took off into the evening.

you will find this branch of Wabiya Koreikidou on Hanamikoji  - about a 3 minute walk south of Shijo street - on the eastern side of the street. If you hit the big Geisha performance hall you have gone too far. 

And into the night we went.  The underlings assuring me all was fine and that the boss just liked to frequent this bar where there were girls - 'a little bit like maiko but not maiko....'. Which had me more concerned than I needed to be. They were absolutely charming young ladies, one of whom spoke English. We were again plied with some excellent French reds  - which of course we did not pay for.  

When the conversation turned to me being 'glamour' - which I soon found out meant that I had big boobs  (and that I looked like an opera singer) it was time to move on. But not before our host put his stunning calligraphy skills to work writing us all messages from his heart about what he saw in each of us. It was quite the party trick and I snaffled away mine as a souvenir - even though I seriously doubted we would be 'naturally meeting again' - but this is Kyoto and if you are going to experience a series of  bizarre coincidence this will be the place.  He grew embarrassed after a short time - too much attention to his beautiful brushwork - and the wine was really kicking in by then - so we all left and bowed him goodbye as he poured himself into a cab. 

                                                                                   

If you are interested in an in-depth culinary and cultural tour of Japan with moi then...

please take a peek at my tour page. 

I only take 8 guests per tour, we stay in luxury accomodation at the wonderful Kyoto Hyatt Regency, eat incredible food,  meet inspiring people, visit breathtaking cultural and historical places and spaces, stroll through serene streetscapes, admire Japanese design and style through their artisan craftspeople - and simply experience the real Kyoto.  

Great for solo travellers, couples or friends. There are 3 tours on offer for winter 2014/15 - one of them Zenbu Zen  - is for ladies only so if you are a solo female traveller and want to experience Japan with like minded folk who like to have a laugh then step right up! JL

Grand Kitchen Tada

NOW PERMANENTLY CLOSED

Grand Kitchen Tada opened in the latter part of last year in an old soy sauce brewery in the heart of town just north of Kyoto's famous Nishiki market. The building itself has been refurbished into a main restaurant area, private dining room and a very cute little shop to the left hand side selling a small selection of homewares, antiques and handmade Japanese decor items. Plus their soy sauce - yes the same family still own the building and are making shoyu! I spoke to the mother of the restaurateur one day when they were shut and she gave me the goss. 

I returned another time for lunch with friend Sally Lynch, who will forever stay Sarree Rinchee to me.

We sat up at the bar as they were pretty busy  - and I prefer to check out the action anyway. 

First came tea, pickles and Kombu tsukudani (kombu preserved in soy and mirin) then a couple of ice cold beers arrived. Not usually my thing but it was rather warm and we needed some cool relief. 

The speciality of the house seems to be the beef cooked on a hot rock (although other meats/veg are available to be cooked a la rock too). Ours came by way of a set tray which included rare duck breast, yuba salad, dumplings in broth, spinach ohitashi with salmon roe, scallop and shishito tempura, soup, rice, pickles and tea - all for around 3000 yen (about $35 at the time). It wasn't the best beef I've eaten in Japan - but that is comparing it to other Japanese beef so it certainly doesn't mean it wasn't decent. 

The food was fine - but nothing to jump up and down about. It is very convenient to Nishiki Market so if you get hungry mid way you can rest your legs for a while here and I'd say this food is less challenging to a western palate than some other Japanese restaurants so if you are new to Japanese food this is a gentle entree. 

Again, it was early days so if I return I'll let you know - or if you have been and had a great experience please feel free to share it here.  The staff were friendly and the space is gorgeous so all in all it was a very pleasant experience - and of course I had the company of Saree Rinchee.

Cold rock

You'll find the restaurant on Tominokoji Street ( sometimes referred to as Tomikoji street) just north of Nishiki Market on the western side of the street.