Kudos Taste

Looking for some Japanese comfort food? 

Canberra will be pleased to know about a Japanese restaurant that has been recently added to the Canberra House, Kudos Taste (around the same time as Two Before Ten Cafe, which is located in the same complex). The little restaurant is actually a kiosk located in the centre of the complex and a nice and inexpensive place to go for lunch. 

 I like the little owls imprinted on the blue banner!

Green Tea Daifuku with Red Bean Filling

I heart Daifukus!
I love their chewy texture and the different types of fillings that they can come in.
Daifuku, meaning 'great luck' in Japanese, is a confection comprised of mochi (glutinous rice cake) stuffed with a sweet filling. I've always been hesitant to make daifuku as i was scared to stuff things up. The closest thing I've ever made was Tang yuan (glutinous rice balls) with sesame filling which only involves boiling and not steaming and handling hot mochi.

Gold Coast: Amimoto 網元

Amimoto (Shop 13 Lido Arcade, 24 Orchid Avenue (07) 5538 7816) is, by far, the best Japanese restaurant that i've tried in Gold Coast. It is literally a very tiny restaurant quietly tucked away at the Lido Arcade (just remember that it is just next door to a Korean restaurant). Amimoto doesn't have any fancy decor nor extravagant tables and chairs, just simple white tables and a few japanese drawings hanging on the walls...ohn...and a bookshelf with very old mangas. Honestly, i probably wouldn't have gone in if it hadn't been strongly recommended by a good friend of mine. I'm glad that i went in, or else i would have missed this little gem from Gold Coast.

Like, Yama Sakura Japanese Restaurant, we were spoilt for choice and the set menu literally went from A - Z and further to AA, AB, AC...it took us, again, a while to choose what we wanted. Since we didn't have breakfast, we had a bit of extra room to fit dishes beyond the sets that we ordered. We ordered a Sashimi Set and a Chirashi Set, which came with soup and rice (only for the sashimi set since Chirashi already contains rice). The sashimi set came with a good variety of fresh sashimi (scallops, variety of fish, squid, fish roe and octopus) and everything was beautiful and delicious. The same can be said for the Chirashi too!  

Sashimi Set

Chirashi Set

We also ordered a Grilled Unagi (Eel) and a Mixed Tempura. I was utterly impressed by the grilled unagi for being so flawless. It's a strange word choice, i know, but everything about it was just perfect that left me wanting to order another one *if only i wasn't full. I am usually not a fan of deep fried food but i have to say that the Mixed Tempura was great! It didn't leave your mouth feeling like it had been soaked in oil and you could really taste the freshness of the ingredients (vegetables and seafood) used. I particularly liked the fish fillet and the sweet potato tempura.

Grilled Unagi

Mixed Tempura

Lunch was great and very satisfying. I loved the use of good and fresh ingredients by Amimoto as it highlights the essence of Japanese Cuisine. Everything was great and particularly loved the sashimi set and the grilled unagi. I will be back for more and perhaps try their sukiyaki too! It is a little restaurant worth visiting if you happen to be in Gold Coast!

Gold Coast: Yama Sakura Japanese Restaurant

Seriously, in Gold Coast you are spoiled for choice of Japanese restaurants.

There are quite a few of them just in Surfer's Paradise alone. So there i was, during lunch time, surrounded by a few choices in this particular complex; i ended walking into Yama Sakura (Shop 60, 3131 Gold Coast Highway, Surfer's Paradise (07) 5592 2799) just because it looked more 'authentic' than the rest and there was a group of japanese students going in as well.

Apart from the a la carte menu, there were like a gazillion of sets to choose from. Probably every single possible combination of Japanese dishes you can think of, seriously. The waitress came by a few times asking if we were ready to order and we kept telling her that we needed more time. We eventually ended up getting the SET C (consisted of Wagyu Beef Teriyaki, Tempura, Sashimi, Rice & Soup) and the Sushi & Sashimi Set.

Not long after ordering that i realized that they had abalone sashimi set and sea urchin set. It was a bit too late to change the order, so maybe next time. Let me know how it is if you have tried it!

Set C came as a bento box and i wish there were a bit more of everything in it. Being in a set, the sashimi used didn't taste as fresh as the one from the Sushi & Sashimi set and there were not many pieces of wagyu beef teriyaki either, four strips to be precise. It was alright, but for $15, i probably would have got something better at Iori.

Out of the two sets that we've ordered, i liked the Sushi & Sashimi set better. The sushi was nice and the sashimi was fresh and decent-sized. I particularly liked the squid as it was beautifully sliced and deliciously fresh.

Sushi

Sashimi

Overall the lunch at Yama Sakura was okay. The only disappointing thing was the Set C because it didn't feel like it was worth the money; Sushi & Sashimi Set, however, was good and fresh. When i get a chance, i will definitely come back for the Sashimi Abalone and Sea Urchin - at least it's something that's not readily available here in Canberra.

Brisbane: Shinbashi Yakiniku

I'm finally back after going to Gold Coast for a little break - which explains my lack of updates! Thank God for the safe trip back to Canberra and gladly i wasn't affected by the flood in Queensland.

Despite the rain, the trip (overall) was nice and i got to try a few places that i would recommend to you all -coming in the next few posts, so stay tuned!

***

I decided to try Shinbashi Yakiniku (Japanese Style BBQ) after seeing how much my friend loves that place. 'It must be good' - i thought to myself since she had already been there AT LEAST three times (mind you, she lives in Canberra) and the restaurant has only been opened for about 7 months!

Shinbashi Yakiniku (2900 Logan Road, Underwood, Logan City - (03) 3841 5888) is tucked away in a rather quiet complex, so don't freak out if you can't find it at first sight. It is a nice and simple restaurant furnished with wooden tables and chairs and the staff is very attentive and polite.

Not long after we were seated, we got some Iced Tea and a bowl of Edamame. It took us a while to decide on what to order as the menu is packed with a lot of mouth-watering dishes. We ordered the $69 set menu for two plus a few other dishes. The fun thing about Japanese BBQ is that you cook your own food (meaning that you can't blame the chef if it ends up tasting horrible) and the good thing about it? It doesn't use oil, which translates into a healthier meal plus your clothes won't end up smelling bad afterwards.

The meat/seafood dishes at Shinbashi are seasoned to the minimal, just enough to enhance its flavours and freshness. I was actually pleased to see the restaurant commitment in serving good quality produce.

Below are the dishes that we tried:

Vegetables:

- Enoki Mushroom: simply cooked with a slice of butter. Simple but delicious.

Seafood

Overall the seafood was alright. Just make sure that you don't overcook it or else the seafood will be dry and tough.

- Squid: tasted normal but it was fresh.

- Japanese Scallop: tasted good when cooked just right. I failed the first batch, so it ended up a bit chewy. The second batch, however, tasted lovely.

Meat

- Premium Ox Tongue: tasted really good (juicy & tender) and not surprised that it is a popular dish at Shinbashi. I am not a big fan of ox tongue but this one i would totally recommend! Don't forget to eat it with the onion condiment that comes with the dish.

- Boneless Chicken: this dish had a 'heavier' marinade in order to bring out the delicate chicken taste. It was nice but not one of my favorites.

- Chicken Cartilage: I liked this dish because i am a total fan of chicken cartilage. It tasted really nice with the simple hint of pepper and salt, and the bit of meat around the cartilage was very soft and tender. Recommend it if you like something crunchy and chewy.

- Pork Jowl: It is a rather fatty cut of meat but i have to say that it tastes simply delicious after being cooked. Just for your info, I cooked it until the fatty part started turning a little brown and crispy. Recommend this too!

- Marble Beef: liked the fact that it was thinly sliced which made it super soft and tender. Nice dish. Make sure you don't overcook it.

- Wagyu Marble Beef (~marble score of 4): this one is not as soft as the marble beef but still very good and tasty. It has a chewier texture which i like.

- Wagyu Rump (Marble Score 7-8): definitely the highlight of the night. It was simply devine and the wagyu just melted in my mouth. I haven't had such a good piece of wagyu for a while. It was only seasoned with a bit of seasalt and all you need to do is to sear it. *Thumbs up and it's a must order dish!

Originally, there were a total of 6 pieces of wagyu. I was so eager to try it that i almost forgot to take a photo of them. *phew

Look at all that Wagyu goodness =9

 To finish our lovely meal we treated some Matcha Ice Cream - two scoops of matcha ice cream on some cornflakes and finished with some red bean syrup. I like how they used corn flakes at the bottom to add that 'crunch' factor! Yummy =)

Verdict?

Nice staff. Good food. Fun Experience.

I had a lovely dinner at Shinbashi and i did enjoy the whole experience of cooking my own food. The food overall was good and you can tell that Shinbashi does look after the quality and freshness of what they serve. The highlights of the night (for me) were the Premium Ox Tongue, Pork Jowl and the Wagyu Rump...ohn and the Matcha Ice Cream too (i'm a total sucker for green tea ice cream)! 

I will most definitely be back when i get a chance to visit Brisbane again!

Thanks Steve, owner of Shinbashi Yakiniku, and the staff for looking after us! 

Nara Festival 2010

Remember the post on the Okonomiyaki Recipe? I was meant to blog about the Nara Festival but completely forgot about it until today, when i was looking through my unused blog photos folder. Sorry for the late post, but here you go.

Candles placed all around the Nara Park for the highlight of the festival

The Canberra Nara Festival celebrates the strong Sister City relationship shared between Canberra and Nara (Japan) and this year, the event took place on the 18th September. The festival offers a variety of things to do and there is always something for everyone. There were mochi pounding and calligraphy demonstrations and things that people could get involved into such as kite flying, origami making, calligraphy, massage trials and some Japanese performances to enjoy. The highlight of the event is obviously seeing all the 2000+ candles lit by the end of the event - unfortunately, i wasn't able to stay long enough to see it! (sucked...)

Seeing little kids 'fishing' for colourful water balloons definitely brought back glimpses of my childhood; felt like getting one, but i didn't =P. 

Being a food fan, i had my attention mostly drawn to the food at the festival...and being a mochi lover, one of my must-do things was to not miss the mochi pounding demonstration. In a nutshell, the mochi is placed in a big mortar and pounded with wooden mallets until it reaches the right consistency. The mochi is then made into smaller pieces and eaten with a sweet peanut mixture, red bean paste or nori & shoyu (savoury).

I think i wasn't too fond of the nori & shoyu mochi...i prefer my mochi to be sweet

There were various flavours of mochi and daifuku available for sale and i ended up getting the Sakuramochi, since i don't get to have that very often. Sakura mochi is a pink mochi filled with red bean paste and wrapped with a salted sakura leaf.

The Okonomiyaki was not good and that's why i shared an Okonomiyaki recipe here in my blog! They had put to much batter and too little ingredients. It was like eating an overly thick pancake that was dry and not sweet. The Takoyaki, on the other hand, was delicious (and pipping hot!). No wonder there was a long queue not long after i got mine.

The gyoza tasted good and authentic but some of them were a bit burnt on the edges. Other than that...oishii~ 

It was an afternoon well spent, immersing in the Japanese culture and enjoying some of its delicacies. Sadly i had to leave early and missed out on the main highlight of the Nara Festival. Next year, perhaps?

Okonomiyaki

After having a bad Okonomiyaki during the Nara Festival (a post about it coming soon!), i had the urge of making one myself. I've never made one before but i was convinced that as long as i didn't end up burning it, the results would better than the one i had at the festival. I looked up for some recipes online and found one that turned out quite well...i ended up making a Banana Prawn Okonomiyaki, Beef Okonomiyaki and Marinara Mix Okonomiyaki.

Out of all the Okonomiyakis that i made, my favorite one was the Banana Prawn Okonomiyaki. The beef one and the marinara one didn't have as much taste. So i do suggest that you season them before making your Okonomiyaki.

A small tip: adding slices of bacon does make the Okonomiyaki taste better.

Okonomiyaki Recipe

Ingredients
- 1 cup of Plain Flour (or Okonomiyaki Flour, if possible)
- 160ml of Water 
- 2 Eggs
- 4 cups of Cabbage, cut into strips
- 2 stalks of Green Onions, thinly sliced diagonally
- 3 strips of Bacon, cut into 6cm pieces

Optional
For Prawn Okonomiyaki:
- 10 Fresh Prawns cut into approx 1cm chunks

For Beef Okonomiyaki:
- 10 Thin Slices of Beef

For Marinara Okonomiyaki:
- 300g of Marinara mix, cut into small chunks

Toppings
- Kewpie Mayonnaise

- Okonomi Sauce (if you don't have the store bought one, you can simply make the sauce by mixing 3 tbsp of ketchup, 1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce and 1 tsp of Soy Sauce together)
- Katsuobushi (Bonito Flakes)

Preparation:
1.In a large bowl, whisk together the plain flour and water until smooth
2. Add Eggs, Cabbage, Onions, Shrimp (Beef or Marinara mix) and mix, but don't over mix.
3. Oil a frying pan and add 3 pieces of bacon. Then, add Okonomiyaki mixture into the frying pan.
4. Using a spatula flatten and form pancakes until around 1.5cm thick and approximately 20cm
5. After about 3 minutes, flip over pancake and cook for another 4-5 minutes.
6. Flip pancake again and cook for another 3 minutes or until firm and well browned.

7. Remove the pancake into a plate and drizzle with Kewpie mayonnaise, okonomi sauce and sprinkle with some Katsuobushi. READY TO SERVE!

HK: Yummy Delight

Yummy Delight (Shop 326-327, 3/F, Plaza Hollywood, 3 Lung Poon Street, Diamond Hill), what a weird English name for 甘味讚岐手打烏冬 Restaurant. Its Chinese/Japanese name actually says what this Japanese restaurant specialises in: hand-made Udon! I love hand-made noodles in general, they tend to have a nicer texture when made and cooked perfectly! Let's see how their hand-made udon taste...

Yummy Delight is a newly opened restaurant that is nicely decorated with cute lamps and Japanese-inspired fabric hanging from the ceiling - I like nicely decorated restaurants! The place is cute and does make you want to go in!

We ordered a few Udon dishes, nigiris, sashimis and a salad. We got the Mixed Mushrooms Hand-made udon soup, Grilled Beef Ribs Hand-made udon soup combination and the popular Pork Ribs Hand-made udon soup. The udon had a nice 'springy' texture and you can definitely notice the difference from the packaged udon. The mixed mushrooms hand-made udon was quite light whereas the other two had a stronger flavour. The Beef Ribs were not as nice because it was marinated with a substantial amount of bicarbonate of soda, which took the beef flavour away. The Pork ribs, on the other hand, were better and it was my favourite udon combination.

Left: Grilled Beef ribs hand-made udon soup combination; Right: Mixed mushrooms hand-made udon soup

Pork ribs hand-made udon soup

Next, was the fancy entry of the nigiris and sashimis that we ordered. First up was the Tobiko and Ikura nigiri, followed by the Flame Seared Tuna nigiri and Flame Seared Salmon belly nigiri. The Tobiko and Ikura nigiris were okay but i kinda liked the flame seared fish nigiris more. I think I've been having this 'thing' for flame seared fish lately...you should try flame-seared salmon belly (if possible), they are awesome and packed with 'good fats' that melt in your mouth! yummm~ *they didn't have TORO! so sad...

Tobiko & Ikura Nigiri

Front: Flame seared tuna nigiri; Back: Flame seared salmon belly nigiri

Next up was the sashimi clan: Red Clam Sashimi, Salmon Sashimi (no photos for these at the moment, they are in the other SD card) and very thinly sliced Sea Bass Sashimi! Oh, and we got a Tuna Sashimi Salad as well. The Red clam wasn't really fresh because the meat felt a bit tough, the salmon was okay but i liked the sea bass sashimi the most. The Tuna Sashimi Salad didn't taste particularly good...you can tell the difference in grade between THE Tuna Sashimi and the Tuna Sashimi used in Salads =P

Sea Bass Sashimi

Tuna Sashimi Salad

Lovely decorations and lovely dinner with a few hits and misses. Since the place specializes in hand-made udon, don't expect it to offer the best grade of sashimi or the best sushi. The hand-made udon, however, is nice. Focus on popular dishes and you should be alright =)

Iori Japanese Restaurant

Two thousand and ten is the year that Iori (41 East Row, Canberra City) celebrates its 9th year anniversary. It is located in the heart of Canberra CBD, but due to its non-extravagant outward appearance, you can potentially miss it. However, it is a very popular destination during lunch (or even dinner!) time so it is recommended that you make a booking to avoid disappointment.

I reckon that Iori is one of the best and most authentic Japanese restaurants here in Canberra. It is a rather small restaurant with a humble and traditional Japanese decor. The restaurant has various seating options such as the Sushi Bar,Tatami and ordinary tables and the menu offers a great variety of dishes that leaves you wondering of what to order.

Since my friend had finished all her exams for this semester, we decided to go to Iori to celebrate. I was disappointed by the fact that they no longer had the Chirashi set - which was my favorite. Thus, we ended up ordering a Sashimi Bento and one of the items that was under the Chef's Special Menu (which is limited to 9 serves a day): Dragon All Set GT. There is a different Chef's Specials for Dinner, so just check it out in their website!

Sashimi Bento - a Traditional Japanese Lunch Box containing Sashimi (fresh raw fish) and entrees served with Rice & Miso Soup. The portion has definately gone smaller throughout the years as i clearly remember that some components of this dish had more than just one piece. Back then,however, no entrees were served with it. Overall, the fish was quite fresh except for the tuna.

Dragon All Set GT - Famous Dragon Roll, Teriyaki Chicken, Deep fried Seafood, accompanied with Salad, served with Miso Soup. This set was definately worth it with the amount of food that came with it. The Dragon Roll was nice, especially with that subtle spiciness in the prawn tempura and the teriyaki chicken cutlet was nice and tender. Ohn...almost forgot to mention that the little entrees were quite okay, especially the crab one!

Dragon All Set GT

Teriyaki Chicken

Dragon Roll

The staff was polite and the service was great. We had a nice lunch and we walked out of the restaurant very full and satisfied.

Mini Macha Chiffon Cake

Having recently bought a chiffon cake tin from a Japanese shop, i finally decided to use it. I decided to make a macha chiffon cake because i was craving for it and also because here in Canberra, macha cakes are not as common as Sydney. Yes, macha cakes are a luxury here!

The recipe yields two mini macha chiffon cakes and they turned out spongy and soft; it wasn't as sweet as i would have liked it to be because i ran out of caster sugar (fail!). I covered the cakes with whipped cream, sifted some macha powder on top and decorated with some multi-coloured cachous pearls. The cake tastes the best without being refrigerated because once you put it in the fridge, it turns dense (as you can see from the photos). I had to refrigerate the second cake as it was covered with cream and i was too full to eat it after finishing the first one.

Mini Macha Chiffon Cake (yields two 10cm cakes)

Ingredients

-100ml of full cream milk

-1 1/2 tbsp of macha powder

- 75g of unsalted butter

- 90g of low protein plain flour, sifted

- 4 eggs, separated

- 100g of caster sugar (this should give you the right sweetness)

- 300ml of whipping cream

- 2 tbsp of caster sugar

Method:

1) Whisk macha powder and milk in a saucepan until well blended. Make sure you there are no macha clumps left in the mixture.

2) Add in butter and put the mixture over a stove. Stir until butter is melted and allow the mixture to cool.

3) Pour the macha mixture into a big bowl and beat in the flour and the egg yolk alternately (do this in 3 batches).

4) In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until foamy, add in caster sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

5) Fold in 1/3 of the whites mixture into the macha mixture, mix well. Then, fold in the rest of the egg white mixture and mix well.

6) Pour mixture into two chiffon cake tins and bake in a preheated oven of 170C for 25 minutes or until set.

7) Remove the cakes from the oven and invert them immediately on a cake rack.

8) Whip the cream with caster sugar and cover the macha chiffon cake with it. (Remember to only cover the cake with whipping cream once the cake has been completely cooled down)

Ready to be served!