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!
Pretending to be a chef: Jewelled Sea
Jewelled sea
Tea cured ocean trout, shaved scallop, jerusalem artichoke crips, horseradish creme fraiche, finger lime
After a lot of travel recently and eating a whole heap of good food, it's finally time to start cooking again. This time, with a proper knife. Being end of financial year specials, I managed to pick up a Global 20cm chef's knife for $95. It's light, grippy, sharp and sleek! I figured I'd actually learn how to use one of these before splurging on a patterned, real Japanese knife.
Ok, so I had actually found my ingredients, then formed a dish in my mind, then realised I needed a knife. What had I picked up? Scallops in shell and ocean trout. So I decided to collect some jerusalem artichoke, finger limes, horse radish and creme fraiche.
I've been tea curing fish for a couple of weeks now, so this was relatively easy - salt, sugar, earl grey tea leaves, lemon. I used to put way too much salt and left it for way too long so that it was always too salty, but now, with the addition of lemon, I'm able to cure small pieces in a couple of hours or less.
I had no idea how to use fresh horseradish and incorporate the flavour into creme fraiche. I decided to finely chop it and see if I could simply fold it into the cream. Also, I was being all "I think I know what this is" and picked up the horseradsih without confirming what it was, because sometimes I'm silly like that, so as soon as I got home and started prepping this, I sliced off a bit and licked it to confirm. Go me!
I was very lucky that the native Australia/game shop had finger limes! They came whole and frozen though, so thawing it was a bit of a pain. However, I was very pleased when I could squirt most of them out quite easily. And because the pulp bulbs are round, they do indeed look like caviar!
And here are the scallops. I thought they'd be more difficult to clean and prepare, but it was actually quite easy. They were incredibly sandy though! After a thorough wash, they were ready to slice.There are no more progress shots, instead, just the final product:
I actually really liked the presentation - so pretty, and inspired by Quay's raw marron dish that I had when I visited. The pink gems of finger lime were absolutely beautiful, and my jerusalem artichoke chips curled up quite nicely, and gave the dish a sweet nuttiness that worked well. The raw scallops also added sweetness, while the cured trout was the salt element. The horseradish creme fraiche was meant to mimic wasabi, and add tanginess and kick, but I got that horribly wrong. Turns out finely chopped horseradish doesn't actually mix properly, so there were bits in my cream. The balance also wasn't there; it had to be more burning and lighter. If I'd manage to whip it into airiness it probably would have worked. It also needed more sour, with the amount of finger lime I had placed, it wasn't enough.Overall was I pleased with my dish? Yes for presentation, no for flavour. I usually make food that tastes as good as it looks or better, and this wasn't one of them. I still have a lot to learn!