Sushi Buffet @ Sushi Samurai, Neutral Bay

Judging from the number of posts about Japanese restaurants on this blog, you can safely guess that I love Japanese food. Having lots of cheap and cheerful places that serve fresh and tasty Japanese food around my area is a bonus. Sushi Samurai is one of those places that we go to frequently and we've never been disappointed.

Cream croquettes - $5.80; Eggplant with sweet miso - $6.80

The cream croquettes and miso eggplant are dishes off the normal menu that we order pretty much every time we go. The croquettes are filled with a creamy, potato-like filling that is supposedly crab flavour, but my favourite part is the crunchy exterior that are deep fried to a crisp. And who doesn't like miso eggplant? The eggplant is deep fried until the insides are soft and creamy, and a sweet miso paste is slathered on top for flavour. A few sprinklings of sesame seeds later and we're digging in to cubes of soft, sweet eggplant which are thoughtfully pre-cut for convenience.

Tempura pork dumplings - $9.80; Baked scallop - $15.80

There is also a specials menu which changes daily. We try the tempura dumplings and baked scallops from the menu which are quite generous servings. The crispy tempura dumplings have a pork and vegetable filling, and are drizzled with soy and Japanese mayonnaise. The scallops are served in the half shell, and baked with a miso mayonnaise.

Sashimi party platter - $25.80; King prawn tempura roll - $11.80

Spanish Terrazas, Sydney

All you can eat tapas!

A post on OzBargain advertising all you can eat tapas for $29 leads a group of us to hightail it down to Spanish Terrazas on a cold and wet Tuesday night.

Inside Spanish Terrazas

We've made a booking but it's not entirely necessary because the restaurant is large and spacious with plenty of seats on the night. We also spot a couple of other large groups feasting on tapas which gets us rather excited.

Garlic mushrooms and Chargrilled capsicum

The list of tapas is 21 items long which leaves us spoiled for choice. To minimise food wastage, there is a limit of 3 tapas per person per order, and you can order more after these are finished. Sounds good to us, since there are 6 of us dining so technically we can order 18 items off the menu.

Chicken chorizo and BBQ chorizo

When it comes time to order, we are limited to only ordering half the originally intended 18 items for fear of food wastage. This is a little disappointing to us but we understand about the food wastage (there's starving children in Africa!) so on the promise that the second lot of food will come out after we are done, we concede.

Chicken drumettes

The food comes out relatively quickly and we dig in with gusto. The garlic mushrooms are a favourite of mine and are deliciously garlicky with a touch of chilli as well. You can't go to a Spanish restaurant without trying the chorizo either and there are two types on offer. The chicken "chorizo" is really more of a chicken sausage and has a mild flavour, while the BBQ chorizo packs more of a punch.

All you can eat @ Sushi Choo, Sydney

Inside Sushi Choo

Even though I've been to the Ivy a few times before, I've never noticed the brightly decorated Sushi Choo nestled behind the stairs with its red lanterns, Astroboy figurines and bonsai trees on the counter. Tonight we're indulging in the early bird $20 all you can eat offer and we arrive bright and early at 5.30pm when the restaurant opens to maximise our eating time.

Oh hai mr piggeh!

5.30pm is very early for me to be having dinner but I can't resist when we're seated and the sushi starts rolling out in front of us on the train. There's a fat green piggy sitting between the sushi train rails and it's as if he is giving us license to pig out on the all the sushi. Ok, we will!

Edamame (left) and Creamy pasta salad (right)

Being only $20, the variety is limited as expected but the sushi is fresh and tasty and you can see the sushi chefs working away behind the counter to keep the rails fully stocked. Aside from sushi there are also other foods circulating on the train, including edamame and a creamy pasta dish with vegetables and wholegrain mustard.

Salmon nigiri (left) and Tuna nigiri (right)