Showing posts with label Japanese. Show all posts

Madono, Sydney Chinatown

Posted by kogepanman in , , , , , , on Thursday, May 21, 2009

Dinner at Madono

After a long drive back from a 1 day trip to the Hunter Valley, we decided to eat in the city before heading home. I suggested Madono as I knew someone loved eating Jap and I wanted to try something different. My friend recommended Madono in Chinatown as a new choice and it was decided. The entrance of Madono is very understated with a few steps and some stone steps leading down to the restaurant. Some of us were a little hesitant in trying this place as upon entering, the premises did not present too well with minimal design apart from a few ornaments it was jus tables and chairs. It wasn't too big either and only had 1-2 tables when we arrived. However, as the night progressed, it slowly began to fill up.

Nicely presented Menu :P

Looking through the menu, and given that we had varying budgets and tastes, we opted to order our own dishes. The majority of us ordered Dinner sets which were exceptional value given that they included a bowl of miso soup, a small bowl of udon and a side dish of sashimi. Sushi set had: Salmon Sashimi, Kingfish Sashimi, Scallop, Salmon Sushi, Eel Sushi, California rolls, Battleship sushi with salmon roe + Miso Soup + Udon + fruit.
Sushi Set

Beef set had: Beef Marinated with vegetables + salmon Sashimi + Udon + Miso Soup + Fruit + Rice. I had this set and couldn't finish all the rice and beed >_<

Beef Set

Pork Cutlex set had: Pork Schnitzel and roasted vegetables + rice + Udon + Miso soup + Salmon Sashimi + Fruit
Pork Cutlet Set

The Dinner Bento box had: Assorted Temura, Assorted Sushi, Assorted Sashimi, Teriyaki Chicken, Agadeshi Tofu + Miso Soup.
Dinner Bento Box

The other dishes were both Udon. The first being Seafood Udon which looked delicious but wasn't very filling. The blue swimmer crab was also fiddly to eat. Flavours were nice though.
Seafood Udon

The other Udon dish was Beef and Prawn Tempura with Udon.
Beef and Prawn Tempura Udon

As expected, these udon dishes were the cheapest of the lot, however were not quite that filling. My recommendation would be to order the sets or share 2 Udon dishes in order to be full :)

Madono Progressive Japanese Cuisine

Lower ground, 398-402 Sussx Street

Haymarket Chinatown Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9211 3534

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Masuya, Sydney CBD

Posted by kogepanman in , , , , on Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Light Dinner at Masuya

Having strolled around the city after work we were a little peckish and decided to go to the Japanese restaurant designed for white collar workers. Located on O'Connell St., Masuya is situated down a flight of stairs and is nicely decorated with a classy ambiance. When we arrived, there were no tables free as reservations are usually required (being a Friday night). However, there was still room at the sushi bar so we snapped up those spots asap! Although there isn't much room at the sushi bar and not being able to order hotpot, there is the bonus of being able to watch the sushi chefs do their work.

We started with a Tsunami which is like an Japanese alcoholic lemonade mix, and a mango mocktail- both very nice.

Tsunami

Mango Mocktail

As we were only peckish and not starving we opted to have a selection of sushi from the sushi bar and also the sample selection platter for the day which had Grilled Scampi, smoked trout, Oyster with vinaigrette dressing, soft shell crab, duck breast with plum sauce as well as two other fishy items that I couldn't quite hear what they were from the waitress. Standouts from that selection would have been the duck breast and the Scampi.

Selection platter

Our sushi selection was the standard with the likes of Sea Urchin and Scampi but also Mackeral which is really fishy and seared scallops. Sushi was prepared beautifully and fresh.

Sushi Selection

Last dish for the night to fill our protein quote for the meal was Wagyu beef with ginger and mash. It's hard to go wrong with Wagyu- especially at a place like Masuya :P

Wagyu beef with Ginger

Masuya

Basement Level
12-14 O'Connell Street
Sydney 2000

Phone: (02) 9235-2717, (02)9231-0038

Monday to Friday (Lunch ) : 12:00 - 14:30 (Last Order)
Monday to Sunday (Dinner) : 18:00 - 22:00 (Last Order)
Sunday : CLOSED

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Nobu, Melbourne Crown

Posted by kogepanman in , , , , , , on Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Trip down to Melbourne to visit De Niro's Nobu

Recently, I went down to Melbourne and organised to splurge a little by going to Nobu at the Crown Complex. Part owned by Robert De Niro and having read good things about it's parent restaurant in Manhattan, I had high expectations. Nobu is renowned for serving fine modern Japanese food in designer surroundings.

Walking down Southbank, it wasn't too hard to find the Restaurant as it by the water. Upstairs is Nobu bar which has drinks and a selection of light foods, whilst downstairs is Nobu the restaurant. We made our booking a month or so in advance so there was no need to wait - not that there was a queue as there were plenty of empty tables when we arrived (approximately 6:30 p.m)

The waiter assigned to us had a heavy accent and it was a bit difficult to understand at times, however he was quite helpful. We browsed the menu but as it was quite expansive we asked for suggestions from our waiter and chose 1 or 2 dishes ourselves.

First we started with drinks, Shira Ume and Matsuhisa Martini. The Ume (plum wine) was nice and not too sweet, whilst the Cucumber Martini wasn't too pleasant as the cucumber flavour didn't mix too well.


Shira Ume and Matsuhisa Martini

Our first dish was tacos with lobster and crab meat. These normally also have salmon and tuna sashimi in them, however we opted to just have the lobster and crab meat. They were fantastic! It came with a kind of sweet and sour type sauce and I could have eaten them all day...


Taco with Crab and lobster meat

Next was the Beef Tataki with fried onions and shallots, beautifully cooked and delicious.

Beef Tataki


We also ordered a side salad of kelp thinking that it was the usual ones from Japanese restaurants but it was something totally different- 3 different kinds of seaweed- each tasting as though it had just been dredged up from the bottom of the ocean. Not exactly what I expected and was a bit hard to swallow, but interesting.

Kelp salad


Black Cod Miso was the next dish and was a stand out with the soft flaky cod and the sweet miso flavour providing a delicate balance of flavours and textures.

Black Cod Miso

To try Nobu's take on a favourite of mine - bugs (the seafood variety) we ordered the Moreton bay Bugs with Asparagus, Mushrooms and Potatoes. Whilst yummy, the dish didn't have anything that made me go -WOW.


Moreton bay Bugs with Asparagus, Mushrooms and Potatoes

As an extra main- in case we weren't full by this time (which we were) we orderd the beef tenderloin. Again, whilst it was beautifully cooked, moist beefy goodness, it didn't have any wow factor.

Beef Tenderloin

Lastly, for dessert, we ordered the chocolate bento box, being a rich warm gooey mudcake and a scoop of green tea ice cream. A nice sweet finish to a very nice meal.

Choclate Bento Box


Nobu

Crown Entertainment Complex
Ground floor
8 Whiteman St
Southbank 3006 VIC
Phone: (03) 9696 6566

Hours: Mon-Fri noon-3pm, Mon-Sat 6pm-10.30pm


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