Sushi Train Fail

Weather was hot and warm and I was too lazy to cook on a monday evening. Both of us were craving for something cold for dinner and sushi pop out of Mr. mouth. I like the idea too but where??? Majority of the Japanese restaurant closed on Mon, am I safe to say that? Some on both Sun and Mon. Can't complain much because they need their break too. Can only blame ourselves why we always crave on Japanese food on either Sun or Mon??

I came across Edomae few months ago while I was there for my hair cut. I saw the sushi train and did note the restaurant to give it a try next time. Suggested to Mr. since it's near as well. We did read the reviews on urbanspoon but still decided to give it a try even though it was bad. Never taste never know right?

We were the 4th couple when arrived. There wasn't a lot of different variety of sushi on the train. In fact quite a few dishes were all deep fried food.


Started off with Edamame which wasn't even lightly salted.


Next was spicy salmon roll. It was really spicy!!! I was suspecting whether the salmon was tinned salmon with chilli that are available in the supermarket. I made a wrong purchased before and it was too spicy to consume.


Don't really remember what type of fish this is. The fish was at room temperature and was kind of tasteless. Not fishy for sure but also doesn't taste fresh.


Unagi was very thinly sliced and rice was fully soaked with sauce. Rice roll breaks once we tried to pick it up with our chopstick. Rice roll was machine made and not handmade. Can't expect too much for the price.


Salmon was pretty tasteless again. Why?


Fried Ebi roll was done pretty well. Both of us was amazed as the few dishes before wasn't good.


Mr. ordered bubble tea which is green tea with milk. It tasted horrible! I tried it and told him to stop torturing himself. How did they manage to serve such a horrible drink??? Wonder if the waitress is attentive enough to sense something wrong when she clears the table. Doubt so!


Torched salmon sushi. Can smell the burned fish fat but why the hell dress the fish with mayonnaise? It spoiled the dish totally!

Mini roe sushi. I was amazed how skinny the sushi turn out.


Mr. ordered a fried pork cutlet curry bento. It was one of the better dishes we had throughout the whole dinner. The cutlet was crispy and curry wasn't too sweet.

Suggest to go for their deep fried menu if you are dining there. Don't expect too much from their  service because it sucks! The waitress practically just dump the bento box and throw the spoon to us when serving. Definitely won't be going back again.

With or Without Soy

Shira Nui has being our top few favourite japanese restaurant especially for sushi and sashimi. We had introduced a few close friends including my parents whom all loved the food served.

Few weeks ago we made a booking for Omakase style sushi. Our 1st Omakase sushi experience had being very memorable. Both missed it terribly.

Did notice changed in crew, new sou chef working side by side with the head chef (should be the owner), a new waiting staff as well. Service was still friendly, fast and efficient.

To totally enjoyed the dining and not felt being hurried, we booked the 8pm sitting.

Complimentary deep fried fish served with pickle was served as a appetiser.  


We were the 1st couple to arrived and start but the last to finish dining. In total each of us had 14 pairs + 1 sushi. That's a total of 58 pieces of sushi for 2 person. A lot? I actually ate the exact same amount as Mr. The amount of rice used on per sushi was very tiny, that was my excuse :p

All the comments below was made depending on my memory as no notes were taken. Apologised for not being able to recall every single pair.




Lightly pan-fried Salmon seasoned with Shichimi tagarashi sushi . One side is "cooked" and the other totally raw.


Lightly blowtorched Mackerel with minced ginger. A bit fishy but the ginger helped.




Beef sushi never failed to satisfy my taste bud. One of Daddy's favourite!


Fatty tuna belly which is full of GOOD OIL.



As the chef served the sushi, he will informed the diners to have it with soy or without. Guess it's still up to individual whether to follow or not.


Fresh and creamy Uni sushi. Was told the uni was from Tasmania.


Some white fish (kingfish?) which was pre-marinated.


Grilled Oyster with Japanese Mayo. Would prefer it with less mayo but I still enjoyed it.


Tuna with slightly spicy chilli sauce. Interesting taste.


Tuna tartare. We were lucky to be the only couple who tried it.


Lightly blowtorched salmon belly.


Eel with Roe. Loved how the roe popped in my mouth.


Tuna mixed with Uni and blowtorched. Creamy, fatty with a unique taste.


Complimentary fruitty sobet for palate cleansing

Comparing the photos taken previously, there's a slight change in menu. Guess different fish in season during different months. Different ingredients available daily. That's a good sign meaning chef do take into consideration what's the best available.

2nd Chance?

Kumo Izakaya is the latest addition to Melbourne Food and Beverage industry. It was only 2 weeks old when I popped on a Tuesday night.  The building looks amazing and it stands out among all others along the street. The restaurant decoration in both interior and exterior looks very polish and grand. The designer cover every single detail regardless how tiny it is.



I like the tableware and it's available for purchase at the restaurant. It doesn't come cheap. Wonder will they feel the pinch when their staff breaks them? Or the staff have to pay for the damage?

We arrived 30 minutes early than expected but that wasn't a problem as it was pretty empty. Got seated and served really quickly.  Up to this point, the impression I had was good. But sadly it stop there.

Might be due to large number of serving staff available that evening, we were being questioned every 2 minutes whether were we ready to make some order. The over attentiveness being to irritate us.



Mr. was driving plus he doesn't drink therefore ordered a mocktail : Elderflower Cloud - Elderflower Syrup, Peach Bitters, Mint and Basil topped with Ginger Beer



The rest, we shared a bottle of Sake - Kizakura Nigori. It's very sweet but smooth. I like it.



To start, we ordered 6 dishes to share. Was advised that we might to double every dish as each potion was catered for 2. Lucky we sticked to our order.


Wagyu Beef Tataki with Tosazu
Beef tasted very average without much marbling and soaked with light teriyaki sauce. The attention to detail was poor, execution was lazy because it tasted like a very commonly prepared dish which can be done by anyone. It shouldn't command a premium price.


Seared Scallops with Butter and Soy topped with Bonito Flakes
The scallops were cold, bland and tasteless. It doesn't taste like what it claim to taste.


Sashimi Jo-moriawase Premium Chef's Selection (26)
Another disappointing dish with the half of the scallops wasn't fresh, tasting weird. In fact other than the scampi sashimi, all the rest of the sashimi wasn't fresh at all. This dish cost us $50!


King Prawn Fry Wrapped in Potato with Green Tea Salt
The potato was very crispy but the prawn was overcooked. It wasn't fresh, dried and had a fridge smell. It was frozen prawn that they used?


Assorted Kushimori Chicken Skin, Thigh and Breast Skewers
The chicken skin wasn't crispy. It tasted like it was boiled and then very lightly grilled. It wasn't pleasant to eat. The breast was way overcooked, very dried and tasteless. Even for the thigh, it was dried.


Housemade Black Sesame Tofu Tempura
The skin was very crispy but the black sesame tofu tasted weird. It wasn't smooth and with a slight hint of black sesame. Another disappointing dish.

To save the night, Golden Field was picked to continue with our night dinner. Before we left, we had to spend 5 minutes trying to grab any staff attention to get the bill.

Other than the drink, there wasn't a single dish we enjoyed. It was definitely over priced! Will I give it a 2nd chance 6 months later? Seriously no idea especially with so many restaurant out there to pick.

p.s. we did feedback about the food. he looked surprised by our feedback. maybe it was his 1st time receiving negative feedback?

Izakaya Den

Our dining experience at Izakaya Den started with flying colours but ended unpleasantly. Continue reading if you like to find out why.

As we were attending a farewell drinking session later in the evening, we decided to grab dinner in the city before. We were counting on our luck as we didn't have any reservation made at.

1st pick was Izakaya Den as it had being on Mr. edible wishlist for quite awhile now. Mr. roughly know where it's situated. We knew it's underground and kinda of hidden but we still couldn't find it at 1st. We went onto google map using our iphone and realised we were actually standing right in front of the entrance. Oh man do I felt stupid :-/

There was already a line formed when we got to the restaurant. Was informed there will be about 20 minutes wait and was offered clean towel for refreshment and menu.



Menu was rolled up and bounded using colour rubber band. I mistaken the longer roll for food menu but it was actually drink menu.

As Mr. doesn't drink, he ordered Nettai Nippon - passionfruit, fresh lime, basil,shiso,dash tobasco. It was very refreshing with initial taste of strong basil and ending with tobasco. It also had a bit of crunch from the passionfruit seeds.



I started with Onoya no Kabosu - Kabosu is japanese citric fruit like yuzu, sweet and aromatic. It was very smooth, tasted both sweet and sour. In fact it doesn't taste alcoholic at all.

We were seated at the bar, in front of the grilling section. Bar section on the left and hot food section on the right. It was a good spot, I always loved to watched the chef going thru the docket and prepare the food. I could even see the bartender prepare every single drink order.










Sweet Corn Kaki-age
It was served with green tea salt? But do go easy on it. This dish was flavorsome enough to just had it by itself. It was filled with lots of sweet plump corn. It was deep fried till very crunchy but not oily.


Char Siu
I enjoyed this dish a lot more than Mr. He felt there was too much honey in this dish. But the pork slices were cooked till very soft and practically melts in the mouth.


Kingfish Sashimi
Mr. felt it was a very refreshing dish but I felt the dressing was too sour. It was a waste to cover the sweetness of the good fresh fish with so much citric.


Fried Black Rice
Although it was a very simple dish made up of a bit of oil, small serve of black rice, egg and a pinch of salt and pepper as we observed the chef frying every single plate. It was also a dish that surprised both of us. I like the individually separated gains of rice and the bite of it.


Wagyu Porterhouse served with pickled cauliflower
I loved the cauliflower. It was crunchy, fresh, sweet and sour.


This was a piece of meat! But can I complain that it was too small? It was 1st grilled and finished off in the oven wrapped in foiled.


Barramundi Fillet with Hajikami
It was grilled very nicely and juicy.

The chef in-charged of the grilling section was very attentative regardless whether was it beef or fish fillet or whole fish head or vegetable. She gave them all the same care and attention. I loved watching her cooking with love.

Up to this point, we both were happier with the food we ordered, the service but all went down hill from here. As we both still had tummy space to fill. We ordered two more dishes waited for more than 30 minutes and nothing in sigh. The kitchen had definitely slowed down as most of the guests were either all done with their meal or had most of their ordered dishes in front of them.

We began to feel puzzled and wondered whether did the waitress missed our order as she seemed very busy just now. We had a check with the waitress whether had the chef began preparing our dish but she only came back to us after 5 minutes and said we will need to wait for another 5-10 minutes if we still want the dish.

I wasn't very happy at that point because the table next to us placed their order after ours and they had all their 5 dishes served before us. How did that work? I suspected that the waitress didn't punch in our order into the system until we checked with her. But she still gave us excuse that the kitchen was busy which wasn't what we saw.


Mussels
Nothing special and felt the mussel wasn't fresh. The mussel wasn't fat instead it was pretty small.


Marinated Scallops
Presentation was pretty but that's about it. Scallops was a bit dry. I wasn't sure were the scallops cooked. The lotus roots were crunchy. But the whole dish was pretty bland.


Black Sesame Brulee
Lucky the dessert didn't disappoint us. There was a thin layer of burned sugar and strong flavor or black sesame. It was still soft and not over baked.

We were very disappointed with the last two dishes but lucky the grilled dishes made up for it. Did it live up to my expectation? I don't think so or because I read about them too much and had too high hopes?