Tora Sushi

Over the past few years, I've really only been visiting the same places over again. Same cafes, on rotation.

I decided it was high time I branch out and try a few new things, and so far, my food and coffee discoveries have been great!

Then I noticed Tora Sushi had opened, a place with signage I had noticed while visiting Abacus coffee, but not open yet, until I read about it again in the news a couple of weeks ago. I am fairly certain that this is the first omakase sushi restaurant in Perth (Nobu notwithstanding?), and it feels very much like the omakase boom vibe that Sydney has right now. Which actually made me a little nervous - is omakase so ubiquitous these days, is it even an "experience" to chase anymore?

The price point was also "low" at $150 per person for food. I think these days the cost of an omakase sits roughly at the $250 mark on the east coast for some really high quality and luxurious ingredients. I don't think $150 is bad, but I was curious about how the menu would be constructed based on the price. It was also supposedly booked out for 2 months straight, but in a moment of serendipity I managed to find an empty spot one day while randomly checking their website, so here we go!

I booked at 6PM timeslot, and still carrying some shame from being (unavoidably) late to my Minamishima booking all those years ago (because of a tram breakdown), I made an effort to be slightly early. If I remember correctly, at Minamishima, they track each diner separately so each person starts as soon as they arrive, but at Waku Ghin it may have been a synchronised start. Alas, one of the guests was running super late! The staff were pretty confident we would still be able to complete the meal even though we would be starting 15-20 minutes late.

Here's the first dish - Coffin Bay oyster with kombu and finger lime. During the introduction, the staff explained that for now, they were showcasing a wide range of dishes, and would fine tune them as the seasons changed. That was good, I like getting an idea of a restaurant's culinary range!

Hokkaido scallops with jerusalem artichoke chips! Ah I don't miss the days of attempting to make my own chips! I love the crispness of the chips against the softness of the scallops!

Yes, it's chawan mushi time! I love any restaurant that features a chawan mushi, and this one tasted great! Great texture too. I think it was a clam broth chawan mushi, but what was interesting about it was that inside was a piece of chicken. I was totally used to and expecting prawn, crab, or other type of seafood, so seeing the chicken was unexpected. It still tasted good, but I was starting to see where the $150 price tag comes from!

Before serving the sashimi course, the chef showed the tray of fresh fish fillets to everyone. I didn't take a photo of it and I wondered almost immediately if the chef was expecting me to take a picture, which may have been why he displayed it? I almost felt bad, but then the people next to me did take pictures. Sorry, it's just that I've taken so many photos of sushi and fish that I guess I wanted to try and not be too intrusive. I've even mostly streamlined my camera plus phone snaps to take as little time as possible.

Anyway, this was really yummy! Tuna, kingfish, and goldband snapper. I love white fish where I can actually feel the sinew (am I weird for that?), so the snapper was actually my favourite bit! I love that chew! I also ate the seaweed garnish because it's so hard to get that kind of seaweed!

Here's something interesting - the wasabi, I discovered, was not hot at all! I could pile it on and not get any kind of burn or nose fuzz. I didn't really think much of it, except that I did want some of that burn that never came.

Here we go with some nigiri! They space out the nigiri throughout the meal, which was quite interesting! The selection was small and simple, and definitely from local fish - again, reflective of the price point. Red emperor, and tuna.

The chef made a special mention that this tuna was aged for two days, which was interesting to note! It was definitely much more tender than the sashimi version.

Here I learned more about why the wasabi didn't pack the punch I expected! The nigiri was made without a dab of wasabi under the fish. Instead, the chef asked if I wanted wasabi on top of the fish. Turns out, he himself doesn't like the spiciness from wasabi so he checks in with everyone and adds accordingly!

Look at this cute little teapot! This was a lovely warming soup, and the format here actually resembles what I had at Komeyui! I really love soup "intermissions" though I guess these are actually so good that I shouldn't really call them intermissions. It was a bit awkward to dig out the food inside the teapot so I asked before I did it, but apparently that's the intention!

Wagyu nigiri time! This time with a yuzu kosho topping.

Yakimono time! This was actually unexpected for me - grilled rankin cod with maple miso. When I first saw it, I thought, it must be some kind of miso toothfish dish, cause that's what everyone does. The rankin cod comes in significantly cheaper, but I reckon it was a very good choice, I really enjoyed the texture of the cod, and the sweetness from the maple made it quite unique too! Now I want to try making my own maple miso foods!

Ah yes the big wagyu beef dish! I'm sorry - when I was eating this I was reminiscing about the steak I had at Chaco Bar instead of this. Komeyui's beef dish was also a standout that stopped me from fully appreciating this dish. Nothing on Tora, it's just, I've been extremely spoilt with beef. I was even giggling on the inside at myself because I was the only person who ate the beef first and then moved onto the lotus chips and salad - everyone else left the beef for last. Pyschologically, they valued the beef more so saved it, where as I ate it first? My own mind is fascinating.

The end of a meal usually ends with a tamogoyaki or a temaki, here it's temaki! A great combo of tuna, uni, and ikura!

And of course, dessert. This two toned matcha panna cotta was really cute! And I'm so glad they added mochi balls because I love mochi!

Overall this place satisfies my omakase cravings, so any time I want to eat Japanese art, I have a place now instead of always pining for my next Sydney trip and how to get into Sokyo. It's close, and it's relatively affordable. I am definitely keen to go back and see how the menu changes over the seasons!

Komeyui Melbourne

I only really wanted to choose one restaurant to book while in Melbourne, and Komeyui has been on my list for several years and seems to regularly pop up as a great restaurant to visit. Some of the research I did shows that this omakase would be interesting, since they also offer kaiseki options, so I wanted to see what dishes they'd have on offer!

Autumn sunset - fresh oyster, scallop, grapefruit, scampi caviar

Hello scampi caviar, I haven't seen you in so long! So many of my favourite things in a combo I haven't had before!

The Jewel of Heard Island - cured toothfish, shaved qukes, yumepirika tart, miso oroshi ginger sauce

Okay this plating is so fun and interesting too! I definitely love the way the dishes are presented here. This is my first time having cured toothfish too, and it was nice! The yumepirika rice tart was very crunchy, which was a great contrast to the fish.

Onsen Tenaga Ebi - steamed scampi, soy curd skin, ginger ankake

This was the cutest dish of the night! Look at it! An adorable little scampi complete with flower decoration! Of course, I took multiple pictures of it as a result. The chef also recommended to scoop the brains out of the prawn to mix into the ginger ankake. How fun and tasty!

Konnichiwa Wagyu-san! - Seared Mayura MB9+ wagyu, truffled creme fraiche, shaved shiitake

Even the menu description is excited! This doesn't look like much but it was my favourite dish of the night! I thought it would be the scampi, but as soon as I bit into the beef, I knew. The truffle oil and the shiitake made it nice and aromatic, but it was the bite of the beef that sold me. It was tender, but there was this lovely hint of resistance, like sinew? But not chewy - I don't know how to describe it exactly but it's my favourite kind of texture where it gives a little, before it gives way. Sooo good!

And then came the 10 piece nigiri selection!

Snapper, alfonsino, tuna, and Salmon with fried radish (I think it was fried radish) were the first in the lineup. The salmon was actually a pleasant surprise because that fried radish?? was very crispy and the texture worked so well! It's something I haven't had before in that combo so I was very happy with it!

Josper Wagyu Bouillon - Josper grilled MB9+ wagyu soup, cherry tomato, shallot, pumpkin.

Soup time! What a cute little soup! It took me a while to remember what a Josper was, but I recalled it being a super fancy oven! This was a light, clear soup that was perfect to have between courses.

The last few nigiri were kingfish, scampi, otoro, wagyu, scallop, and anago. I was curious as to how this wagyu would taste, considering the previous wagyu dish was so good. The seared wagyu and shiitake from earlier was definitely a clear winner!

What's also interesting is that I seem to recognise anago! The size and shape is different from that of unagi! It was good to have this as the final piece!

Born in Kochi-ken - matcha gateau, adzuki red bean paste, yuzu panna cotta.

I was super amused at the olive branch in the middle, only because my pigeons love olive branches haha! The waitstaff recommended alternating between the two desserts, but I had a clear favourite, the yuzu panna cotta.

There was also a most delicious matcha and soybean tea that was served at the end! Funny story, I tried to order this at the beginning, since I saw it on the menu, but I was told that coffee or tea was included at the end, so that I could choose another drink if I wanted. The tea turned out really tasty, and it was so good that I got an extra pour of it!

Overall it was quite enjoyable, and I liked the variety of dishes. It's been so long since I've done any kind of fine dining and this was a great experience!

And we're not quite done yet. On the way to the bathroom, I noticed the photo on the wall. Wow, pigeons!! Haha I can't believe they'd have a photo of pigeons! I found that adorable, but was also puzzled that someone would actually print a photo like this! I mean, I took a similar photo in Sydney lol, maybe I can "publish" a pigeon photo!

Omakase Room by Tatsu

There are lots of sushi places in New York, and Japanese food overall does seem pretty popular. There are tiny ramen joints every few blocks and all of them looked good. However, I was after something specific by deciding to try a sushiya in New York. I was hoping to try out ingredients that are abundant on this side of the world, and not to have the same things as I would in an Australian sushi restaurant. I had a few choices, and my original one was a place called Gaijin. My friend had a bit more of an extensive list though, and after browsing and doing a very small amount of research, I settled on Omakase Room because it felt more like what I wanted out of a New York sushi experience - I didn't actually want a crazy New York experience like Sushi on Jones, and I certainly didn't want to fork out a stupid crazy 600USD at Masa. Omakse Room seemed to be the perfect price point with the kind of atmosphere I had in mind.

This was the only restaurant that I didn't scout out prior to the reservation itself. It has an address, I have a hipster sense, how hard could it be to find? Well, it turned out it's only the second restaurant that I've been completely baffled by the entrance of (the first being Waku Ghin even though the door was 100% obvious)! I'd spent the whole time looking up for a sign, that I didn't think to look down for a sign! And finally we went through the curtains into a wonderful, very traditional looking sushiya.

I believe this is only an 8-seat counter, but nevertheless, I was impressed that the staff greeted me by name! It was very much like Waku Ghin, the only other place that's done that. It makes me wonder though, does that mean you could walk in pretending you were someone? We were the first people in the restaurant, and got seated closest to the door.

This is chef Tatsu, and his sous-chef. I don't actually know if sous chef is the correct term. Is it more like an assistant or apprentice? I wish I knew more about how the cook hierarchy of these places worked! We were offered a choice of drinks, and I chose sencha, even though normally I don't like Japanese green tea, but hey, I was at a Japanese restaurant. It was kind of a must! The good thing is, the one drink cost does include all refills during your meal (I'm always worried that I'll accidentally end up at a place where they charge per cup)!

I asked the chef if photos were allowed, and he was okay with it. However, when I took out my camera, it was the waitstaff who spotted this and let me know that cameras weren't allowed, but phone cameras were. She seemed a bit apologetic but I thanked her for letting me know! I think that a full camera was probably intrusive and wouldn't have really been respectful to the art of sushi anyway, unless you'd specifically contacted them for a photoshoot, so I was definitely understanding of why she said it! As a result, the photos here aren't as good as I was hoping to take, but it's not the images here that count, it's what actually happened in the restaurant, that made the best memories; the photos really are only a way to trigger those memories!

Right at the beginning, the chef started grinding fresh wasabi into paste, and I was already excited! I can get quite gushy and vocal at restaurants (in hopefully a very polite and ladylike way), so he explained that this was wasabi from the Shizuoka prefecture in Japan.

Our first course was yellowtail from Japan. The thing that I noticed from our first piece of sushi, was the rice! Red rice vinegar is used here, which is cool since I'm pretty sure all my other experiences involved white rice vinegar. For the first time, I also chose to eat all these by hand instead of using the chopsticks, just to make the experience even better!

Aji came next, and I love mackerel! I liked this one better than the yellowtail.

Oh yeah, scallop! I love Japanese scallops cause they're massive and sweet!

The first locally sourced piece was this fluke nigiri. Not too bad, but a lot of white fish taste the same to me haha.

I took a few general shots too, just because I could. By this time, other diners had entered. I believe it was a group of four men. I think they initially came in as a group of three, for a reservation of five. Then, one more came in so that they'd fulfilled four out of their five person reservation, but that last person couldn't make it? Whatever they'd done, it'd confused the two waitstaff a lot, and chef Tatsu didn't look happy when they were all trying to figure out exactly what was going on and how many people to expect. I wasn't very impressed either, mainly at the way the guests had let it all unfold - no advance notice, no apology, they just kind of treated it in such a way that didn't reflect the place they were dining at! It pains me because of how much I appreciate restaurants as a business, not just a place of eating.

Service continued for us, and it was tuna time! Spanish bluefin tuna, marinated in soy to give it that cured-ness on the outside. This wasn't my favourite piece of tuna, I think that still belongs to Tetsuya's all those years ago, though I'm pretty sure I have a close second from one of the omakases I've been to recently too. Also, this is specific to akami tuna and does not cover otoro, for hopefully obvious reasons!

Whoops, I think my list got messed up sometime between the visit and now. I seem to be missing a piece somewhere, but I'm going to say that this one was the kinmedai.

My records don't seem to have this bite listed, but I'm pretty sure it's prawn, and on this side of the world, most likely a langoustine of sorts. Not quite as crazy good as Minamishima's scampi trio, but also still very tasty!

Woah a smoker! Yeah! I was very excited to see this come out because I love just... seeing things lol. Chef Tatsu even told us to get ready to take a video!

And behold, the smoked spanish mackerel nigiri! While I couldn't get too much smokiness from the sushi itself (I have a really bad sense of smell), there was still a very light waft of smoke lingering around, so I closed my eyes and kind of just took a big sniff in the air and just enjoyed the thought of the smokiness when eating the fish.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the lady waitstaff laughing! I'm pretty sure she was giggling at me! I didn't mind if I looked silly, I just smiled because she probably knew I was enjoying the experience a lot!

Yes! That's right, it's springtime! This is the season for hotaru ika!!! Woah! I'd totally forgotten this is a super seasonal treat, so this was super exciting! Sadly, it didn't have the cutesey eyes that I totally adore looking at before popping the whole thing in my mouth, but this was seriously the best (and only) firefly squid I've had! I know I ate a similar baby squid in my last trip to Japan, but I just feel it wasn't THE type of firefly squid I was after, as it was a different colour and shape, so I consider this the first time I've properly had it. I actually had a disastrous attempt at tasting this squid when I bought some frozen stuff from my local Japanese shop but had no idea how to prepare it, and it was just unpleasant fishiness as a result. However, this had a great flavour, no gutsy/squid innard thoughts formed in my head while eating it, it was just a nice savoury oceany goodness, with a lovely burst of shiso!

Otoro! Yep, I've been spoilt. My favourite two otoros are still from Sokyo (not the omakase version) and Daiwa Sushi, but it's a really high bar to clear! This was actually super delicious too, especially once it started melting in the mouth, but for some reason the impact/memory of the others was a lot stronger.

What's this funkly ugly looking blobby thing? Wait, is that what I think it is? Oh, it's an oyster! An oyster from Washington! I didn't recognise it in its "naked" form because 99% of my oysters are eaten when they're cosy in their shells! It's weird, I have this perception that oysters taste better when they're in their shell, and this bite totally proved me wrong! It was big, it was sweet, and tasted like the pacific oysters we get here in Aus!

I felt like my tastebuds on this were correct because I wasn't the only one who mentioned to the chef that this was great, the old men dining next to us did the same! Yay my opinion was validated by random rich men who just talked about Hudson Yards and sounded like they had money to throw around and sort of ate at a few restaurants which I could tell from the vocabulary used but were quite clueless with some things I was used to, like they mistook scallop for clam and I'm like how do you even do that???

More tasty treats. Nice, my shima aji is served "millefeuille" style! Three thin slices piled on top of each other so elegantly, I never get enough sushi made in this style! Also, I'm pretty sure this was an accidental shot, but I gotta change up the angles and keep it interesting, right?

It was squid time! Oh no it's the thin squid that I don't like. The cutting on this was super cool though, because both sides of the piece were scored! I've only ever received single-side-scored squid before, so that was actually a really nice thing to watch the chef do! That being said, yep, I definitely like chunky squid better than thin squid. I've just come to accept this as a fact of life and that no sushi chef can change my mind about this haha.

Yes! Oh my goodness yes! It's uni time!!! Three morsels of sea urchin from Maine, tidily arranged on a bed of rice. This was super nice, sometimes I get worried that the species chosen for a meal is the iron-tasting kind, but these were the sweet kind, so i was really happy!

WHAT WOW OH MY GOODNESS A DOUBLE WHAMMY but this was a MASSIVE tongue of urchin that was so big that it's actually chopped in half to fit the nigiri hahahaha. It wasn't until after I finished my meal that I learned that chef Tatsu actually watches your reaction when eating the sushi to determine what to serve next. That means my face must have really kind of said "I love uni" on the previous course! This was a californian sea urchin, so I feel like I just did a sort of east coast to west coast uni adventure! I liked this one a lot more, I feel like there was just more oomph in the sweetness and creaminess of this one!

Actually, him reading the reactions of us diners makes sense. I couldn't figure out why the old men dining next to us received different items, but this now makes sense! Also, I'm really glad that we didn't receive the salmon nigiri because salmon is such an Aussie thing and I'm all Aussied out - I don't want that stuff while in New York!

Salmon roe on the other hand, yes! I can't get enough roe. It's so good, so tasty!

Ah, this tuna hand roll must indicate that I'm getting close to the end of my omakase session!

A lovely miso soup served as a good, warming break from all that sushi. I had to ungracefully use my chopsticks at this point to pick out the tofu that ended up being stuck at the bottom of the bowl though, because I always seem to not be able to slurp up the tofu when drinking the soup, so they end up getting left over in the bowl.

And our lovely sous chef person pops into action! He helped out a few times during the course of the meal, but I felt like most of the time he was just standing there. My friend noticed that he was leaning against the wall at times, so we were wondering exactly how Japanese-culture-like it would be if he stood to attention the whole time we were there! It still takes a lot of self discipline as he was attentive, since his job was to do things like heat up the miso soup at exactly the right time so that we were served this without needing to wait too long between courses, and here, he's grilling up one of our final bites.

Anago was the last piece in our omakase, and it was cooked perfectly! I really liked this, and I'm glad it wasn't unagi because that's everywhere. This was nice for a change!

I also didn't realise this until after we'd finished our meal, but tamago, which I was used to being the actual final bite, is available on request, but he doesn't seem to provide it by default. If only I'd knew at the time, or decided to foolishly ask! But now I know for next time, always ask for tamago if it isn't served, as it's likely that you'll get one. I also think we were asked if we wanted any other custom pieces, but I was pretty full at this point, and couldn't think of anything I really, really wanted to repeat, since I knew I had plenty more crazy good tasty things to eat during this trip.

At the end, the lady waitstaff came over and presented me with Tatsu's book, Kowadari by Omakase Room. WOAH. HIS BOOK. IN MY HANDS. WhaT. Isn't this usually something sold for $50 or more??? And Chef Tatsu just wanted me to have it? Oh my goodness I didn't know what to say! I've never owned a chef's book before, or any restaurant book, so this was a major honour! Wow! I will treasure it so much! Except I can't find if it actually has a price, so what if he does this for all customers? Hahaha. Either way, it doesn't matter. I totally wasn't expecting it, so the very gesture, the experience and conversations I had with all the staff made receiving the book far more memorable than just simply purchasing it or being given it for no reason, it was the entire experience from start to finish, that really defines the value of the book. I'm so happy!

This is definitely a lovely place to experience Japanese sushi. Sometimes I crave sushi but I can't fulfill it, and it wasn't until the days leading up to this trip that I realised why I couldn't bring myself to go to any sushi shop when I wanted to eat sushi. It's because the craving I had was for the artform, not just the ingredients. That's what makes all the difference for me, so this definitely hit the spot!

Hooray for a wonderful experience!

Minamishima

Well hello gorgeous. Apparently the only way to book the best sushi restaurant in Melbourne is over the phone, and a friend of mine had been commenting about how difficult it is to secure a reservation. Well, I haven't really failed yet, so I decided to give it a go. As to not overwhelm the person (or people?) on the other end of the line, I decided to wait a few minutes after office opening hours before calling.My first go? Busy signal.Second? Busy signal.So on, and so forth.Maybe my phone was broken. Maybe theirs was broken.I tried calling Tipo 00 just to see if it was me or them. Busy signal.I tried calling Tipo 00 again. They answered. I had a super awkward conversation about trying to book a table for one (see my post about it).Tried calling Minamishima again. Busy signal.1 hour 10 minutes later, after about 80 dial attempts, someone answered! Yay!I think at this point I was actually really nervous, because what do I say now? Hi I'd like to make a reservation? Luckily there wasn't any awkwardness and I probably sounded like a normal person. Finally done, table for one.Well, I thought it was for one. A couple of days before my reservation, I received my confirmation SMS, except that the text said that I was reserved for two. Um, no? But I hit confirm since I needed my table. Also, it was a Sunday that day so I wasn't even able to call to double check! Luckily I had a friend on call just in case I did somehow magically end up with a two seat reservation. However, it seems someone at the restaurant noticed this, and I received a call shortly after anyway to confirm it was only one person. Phew!Finally, the big day came. And of course, there must have been a cancelled or broken down tram, because I had to wait super long for the next one, and when it arrived, it was a single carriage, so everyone had to play sardines :(I made it within 15 minutes of being late for my booking, but it was okay, it looks like there were several chefs who were keeping track of everyone at different paces anyway, so I settled down and placed a drinks order and listened to the specials.Woah, that was fast! I was already handed my first piece! Hokkaido scallop and seaweed. What a great little bite!Okay, now where was I. That's right, the specials. I had already overheard the person sitting next to me decline the one of the specials, so I kind of knew what to expect. Sooooo.... the specials were fugu, scampi with various toppings, and wagyu beef.Fugu!! Well, I thought about the chance of me dying a horrible death there and then, and decided, hey, why not, let's try fugu. So I said yes.I passed on the scampi because it was just scampi with toppings?And I was "bored" of wagyu beef.  But more on the definition of "bored" in a later post (Kisume).Junsai and edamame tofu. What a cute little starter! I love water plants, and these ones were great and gooey! The tofu was quite interesting. It felt more like a jelly made of agar agar than a tofu, but that's just me. Still very soft, and definitely had a soybean flavour to it!And here's my drink. It was a mikan shiso soda, with a surprise maraschino cherry inside! I chose this one since I sampled my friend's yuzu soda yesterday.Pretty water bottles!So you know how I decided to pass on scampi with toppings? Well, yeah. I saw one being made, realised exactly what "various toppings" were, and asked for one of these! My goodness, what a treat! What a superstar lineup of scampi sashimi on a bed of crispy nori, topped with none other than: blue scampi caviar, daikon and bottargar, finger lime. I was advised to eat these from left to right, and having the finger lime last provided a really nice zesty freshness! I can't believe I initially turned this one down! Never again!Alright, the main sushi course has started! First up, king dory. I think it was king dory, or something that sounded really similar. Quite nice, but I what I noticed here, is that I was comparing to the only other omakase I've had in Australia - Sokyo, and the one thing that's distinctly different is the rice. Here it's less vinegary, and a slightly different texture. I think I prefer Sokyo's rice.Cobia. Yay, cobia! I've been wanting to try this fish ever since I saw Mr Niland do cobia bacon. It's quite a nice piece of fish! I would compare it with the likes of kingfish in terms of flavour and fattiness. Always gotta do the action shots these days :)Calamari. Yeah, my opinion of squid hasn't changed. I still don't like it raw, lol.Octopus, on the other hand, is delicious! This was served slightly marinated, and with a dab of wasabi. The wasabi was for the octopus only, the chef explained. Yummy!I really liked this Queensland prawn with prawn powder. It was cooked and insanely sweet, and then the prawn powder on top gave it an extra flavour much like prawn crackers!This one was described as the edge of flounder. Hey, I think I know what he was talking about because I had a whole flounder not that long ago! It is literally the edge of the flounder, but deboned, so that the flesh was so soft but still all intact.Local tuna. I think he said local. That probably means it's yellowfin since they're found in South Australia.Look, a blowtorch has appeared!No don't worry, this bluefin toro wasn't blowtorched!This one was though. Both versions were tasty, though I can't quite remember which I liked better. Probably the not-seared one.The smoked bonito was a real treat!But this was more interesting. Mackerel and a type of seaweed. Quite nice textures on this one.Sea eel in a cute rectangular form! While it tasted good, I didn't find this one too special.But lo and behold, this was the showstopper tonight. When I saw the red plate come out, I figured, that must be my fugu!! So I started taking lots and lots of pictures.If I've previously said that a food was overkill, well, it's just been superseded. This was simply insanity. So many tiny different toppings went onto this, and then out came the microplane and the whole thing was smothered in foie gras! The fugu itself, I couldn't tell was fugu, because I didn't get any tingling. I'm also still alive, and the person sitting next to me asked how it was. I told them, if I'm still alive in half an hour, I'm sure I'm good to go. The texture was a little crisp and chewy, but lean. This was in contrast to the foie gras which was rich, smooth and melt in the mouth.Yay, salmon roe and rice! I actually laughed a little on the inside when I saw this, because I've actually been planning to make this during Christmas! But too bad, my restaurants beat me to it! A simple delicious dish.It was about here that the waitress said that it was the end of the savoury courses, and asked if I wanted to have anything else from the sushi counter. The guy sitting next to me had ordered two more cobia, and I was thinking of either that or the scampi, but I decided to be sensible and not overeat or overspend (lol), and didn't go with any extra pieces. Hooray for self control!And the little tamagoyaki to finish the night. This one was cute and had their name stamped on it! I'd say the texture of this is similar to that of Sokyo.A light broth made of snow crab, and in it was a little spanner crab "marshmallow" as I call it. Basically, spanner crab and egg white mixed together to be like a light and fluffy version of a fish ball. And a chrysanthemum leaf. Nice and clean!And to finish the night off, chocolate. Green tea, genmaicha, and houjicha flavoured. They were really smooth and enjoyable, and were an accurate representation of the tea! It was simple and it worked. I finished the night pretty full, but not nearly as roly-poly as my Tipo 00 experience.My verdict? It felt like walking into a real, classy sushi bar. It felt more "real" than Sokyo's omakase (but would never compare the two directly since the atmospheres are too different). This place had the right decor, setup and just overall feeling. My favourite special was that of the scampi, because the scampi was so sweet and I have a love for all three toppings. The cobia was the biggest surprise since I had no idea what to expect, and had a really good flavour and texture. I can see why the guy next to me really liked it, because it was my favourite piece of fish too! If I had to re-order a piece? The QLD prawn.The fugu was great to try once, but honestly, I don't think I would recognise it if I ate it again. It's definitely something that I would recommend getting, it's not as scary as I thought it was, and I said to the guy next to me, yes, I would order this again. I think I would. It has some strong competition though, I would always choose (and recommend) the scampi over the fugu simply because I like how it tasted a lot more (and scampi caviar! Bottarga! Finger lime!). Who cares about the wagyu, the best I've had was at Waku Ghin!What I also found funny, was that even though I was 15 minutes late, I actually kept pace with some of the diners who'd started earlier. They had a lot more drinks in between, whereas I had the single one and a lot of water. So even though I was taking pictures of everything as I went, I didn't actually spend a longer time as a result, which I thought was pretty cool, since social media is the death of dining times these days.The experience was totally worth it, especially as the base cost of this meal was less than $200. If you can't get to a high end sushiya in Japan, this is the next best thing.

Sokyo omakase - take 2!

I have this thing for Sokyo and omakases. I like both! The sushi I have at Sokyo is always so good, I feel like sushi anywhere else just isn't as good! There are of course exceptions (like Umi Kaiten Zushi and all those nice restaurants in Crows Nest), but this is the one I keep coming back to.I didn't actually plan to have two omakase sessions in a year, this visit was all due to circumstance - I just happened to be in Sydney, and a winter omakase tends to be more interesting than a summer one - however, I missed out on truffle season by a few weeks. So close yet so far! Sano san remembered me which is always a plus. And since I was more familiar the second time around, I managed to look around and play with my camera more - like this shot of him plating things up before our omakase started.Since I've been so incredibly busy (I have a life!), I've posted this a couple of months after dining here, so my memory of how things tasted is likely hazy. Lots of one liners of "it was delicious!" will be seen here!First up, aged snapper and abalone. I think this is the first time I've had aged snapper, which was great! It wasn't too fishy at all, even though the ageing process increases fishiness (I think). Plus that abalone was so good!Cuttlefish noodles, uni, caviar. This was incredibly good. It's so hard to say if any single dish is better than any other dish - last time I had the marinated tuna which was a completely different flavour profile. But since it's winter - uni galore!I love the way this was presented. The golden bowl was so pretty and made this dish look so grand! Some lovely tuna belly.White fish first - NZ snapper. I absolutely love fresh snapper. I think this was the same as last time. I love the scoring!Alfonsino, another white fish. I think Sano said it was Imperador, but Google tells me it's the same kind of fish. Yellow fin tuna. A nice, lean cut. Always good.Big eye tuna (NZ). Sano was very happy about getting some big-eye tuna, and it was certainly delicious - made tastier by the marbling you can see here!Pearl meat. I liked February's visit of pearl meat better, but this was still good.Big eye tuna muscle. I think he said muscle.And of course, big eye tuna belly. So distinctly different from the other cuts!But this is the gold - otoro from Japan. It's so visibly different, and melts in the mouth oh so much more!More big eye tuna! This time it was grilled. My friend and I got a big chunk to share, and it was so good! As we were eating through it, Sano san did look a little concerned, as he spotted it being slightly undercooked. I didn't even care, it was so delicious! And a place like this has such fresh seafood, I wasn't the least bit worried about any risks associated with undercooking food - I mean, I do that a lot at home anyway!And then some mackerel - fresh stuff this time, with a healthy dose of citrus dressing, which was needed since it's such a strong flavoured oily fish. I love mackerel!Time for a different angle! And I thought this shot came out quite nicely. No salmon anywhere this time, instead this was ocean trout. Yay! I sometimes get tired of having salmon everywhere I go, so this was a nice change.This fried imperador wing was pretty cool, and very tasty! In fact because it was deep fried, I asked Sano if it was possible to eat the fin. He wasn't too sure, but I gave it a go anyway, and yes, it was great!I call this one the (uni)giri taco, because it's an uni nigiri placed in a seaweed shell. I love uni!Oh, I appear to have skipped a photo of our aburi scampi. But this one will do! Here's Sano flaming them to bits, but leaving them oh so tender and tasty on the inside!It was about this time that he paused the omakase to focus on making this - a really super fancy chirashi with some Yarra Valley golden caviar. Man, how does one obtain golden caviar??? And after looking around a little, I realised that Chase was in the house! I can't believe I recognised him! It was his day off and he was just walking about - too fast for me to prep my lens and shoot though. But that's ok - I got a picture of his food instead! Muahahaha.Cuttlefish - turns out I still don't like it. I guess it's the texture. I don't really like slimy stuff (which raw squid tends to be).Then it was the scallop taco-ception! The shot wasn't so great, but it's the same rice wedged in a scallop wedged in a seaweed shell - otherwise known to me as the taco within a taco. I always love this one!Aburi kingfish belly. I'm glad there was less kingfish this time around, for the same reason as my feelings about salmon - I get it enough everywhere else.My friend and I were both feeling pretty full about now, and Sano checked in with us. I said I didn't want the hand roll this time and to go straight to the tamago (I did refer to my previous blog post to track where we were at, and Sano said that there were more courses this time as well). So egg it was! That fluffy spongey cakey-textured goodness.And my cheeky dessert shot! Goma street, mocha, fruit panna cotta and my favourite, strawberry ice cream mochi.Thus ends my second omakase! It was still very reasonably priced so I was very happy. I would have to keep doing this every time I'm in Sydney! I love Sydney.SOKYOOOOO