Sushi Samurai, Neutral Bay

Queen Chu is one of my best friends. The reason why we work so well together is because we're both obsessed with food. We both love to cook, we both love to read cookbooks, and, of course, we both love to eat. Unfortunately since uni started this year, there hasn't been much time for us to do any of those things together because we are both drowning in the seemingly insurmountable workload that comprises an honours thesis. Somewhat amazingly, along came a weekend when we were both relatively free and immediately we began brainstorming places to eat. We rounded up a group of 6 and headed to Sushi Samurai to catch up over some sushi.

Luckily I had made a booking earlier in the day because when we arrived at 7.30pm on a Saturday night it was completely packed and they were turning away people who had rocked up hoping to get a table. The restaurant was quite dark which made it difficult to read the extensive menu as well as take photos. We were also seated under the air conditioner which was dripping water occasionally onto the table so we made sure we didn't put any of the food in that spot!

Agedashi tofu - $6.80

Masuya, Sydney

It appears I am being stalked. Or even worse, it is me who is the stalker! Because even though it had only been three weeks ago that I happened to bump into Ellie from Almost Bourdain at Quay restaurant, there she was again sitting across the room from me at Masuya on this very night.

Gyokuro Green Tea Shake - $5.80

We're here tonight to celebrate Sir D's birthday, and we start off with some drinks. The green tea shake is a frothy, milky drink topped with a swirl of whipped cream and sweetened red bean. I wish I had ordered a couple more of these because they were so good I could drink them all day! The shake was quite sweet from the Tasmanian honey in it but still retained the subtle bitterness of the green tea.

Sashimi Platter Special - $58.00

sushi e, Sydney (March Into Merivale)

There really is such thing as a free meal! Thanks to the Tweet to Eat competition as part of March Into Merivale, I was lucky enough to score a free voucher to eat at one of nine Merivale restaurants offering $33 lunches and dinners, which include a main meal and a glass of wine or beer.

Deciding which restaurant to go was probably the hardest part, even with the help of the $33 menus available for viewing on the website. We ended up at sushi e, located in the Establishment building of the Merivale empire, and were seated on stools at a marble bar surrounding the sushi chefs, which allowed us to watch head chef Nobuyuki Ura in action.

We started off with a steaming bowl of miso soup (included in the $33 menu), which was very welcome on this dreary, rainy evening. The broth was more bland than I'm used to, and in the soup was deep fried tofu, spring onions and mitsuba leaf.

Sakana-Ya, Crows Nest

Feeling like going out for dinner somewhere close by, Sir D and I headed out to Crows Nest to eat at Sakana-Ya on a Thursday night. The restaurant was surprisingly quiet which also meant that the waitstaff were particularly attentive. We sat down and were given a regular menu as well as a sheet of chef's recommendations and the types of fish available for the day.

The menu was so extensive that we took forever to decide what to eat and spent a great deal of time staring at all the types of fish. There were so many things I wanted to try but there were only two of us so we settled on a few dishes that caught our eyes.

Tuna tartare with raw egg - $14.00

Ozeki Sushi, Chatswood

My friends know me well. "Jacq!", said Queen Chu, "there's a new sushi train near Chatswood Chase - lets go check it out!" Queen Chu loves food just as much as I do so without delay we went in our post-uni-exam bliss to eat sushi to our heart's content.

Chicken katsu with cucumber inside out roll - $3.80

We were greeted with the coolness of stainless steel decor and the waitresses directed us to some seats at the bench. We watched the plates of sushi go by on the train and the first thing we noticed was how big the serving sizes were! Giant slices of fish and sushi bursting with more than substantial fillings were going past our eyes and we couldn't wait to dig in. (And I also couldn't wait to take photos with my new DSLR camera =D)

Salmon nigiri - $3.00

Musashi Dining Bar, Haymarket

Following our fantastic lunch at Marque and watching Julie and Julia, we finished off our day of all-things-food by having dinner at Musashi. Since they don't take bookings after 6pm, we joined the queue and waited for about 30 minutes before getting a table. Which was good in a way since it gave us time to build up an appetite for the delicious food to come.

Grilled jumbo oysters with bacon, butter, garlic, olive oil and soy sauce - $18.00 for 4

We started our meal with one of the specials for the day: grilled jumbo oysters with bacon, butter, garlic, olive oil and soy sauce. These oysters were huge and were grilled to perfection so that they were almost melt-in-the-mouth. The buttery, garlicky sauce was not too overpowering and I loved the sprinkling of crispy bacon bits and spring onions to add a bit of crunch.

Sashimi (main) - $25.80

Sushi Rio, Sydney

My sister Charm and I are both love our sushi. We ventured out to the city one Friday afternoon for lunch and we stumbled across Sushi Rio's lunch special where all sushi was $3! With a bargain like that we couldn't resist and so we abandoned our original lunch destination to eat at Sushi Rio.


The place was quite full but luckily when we went there was no line and we were seated promptly. One thing I like about Sushi Rio's setup is that their plates are grouped into categories according to the type of seafood/meat in the sushi. So all the salmon, prawn, tuna, chicken etc has its own little section of the train preceded by a sign saying what the section is. Pretty good for those unfamiliar with their sushi.

Raw salmon onion nigiri (normally $3.00)

We started off with the salmon onion nigiri which was very fresh and zigzagged with wasabi mayo.

Grilled eel nigiri (normally $3.50)

The eel nigiri is sweet and tender - the most tender eel I've ever had I think!

Raw scallop nigiri (normally $3.50)

Sushi Sagunja, Chatswood

Sir D's new reason for getting out of bed every morning: Aburi scallop sushi from Sushi Sagunja!


This is a sushi train place which opened up recently in the Mandarin Centre foodcourt in Chatswood and they are offering all sushi and sashimi on the train for $2.50 everyday! We couldn't go past a bargain like that so one lunchtime we stopped by to see what they had on offer.


I'm a bit of a cynic when it comes to bargains because surely there must be a catch? I thought maybe the sushi wasn't going to be very fresh or maybe there would be not much variety but boy was I wrong! The sushi was very fresh and whilst we were there it was great to see that they were continuously making new sushi for the conveyor.

Salmon nigiri

Tuna nigiri

Salmon belly nigiri

The Sydney Fish Markets, Pyrmont

On an uncharacteristically warm (28ºC!) Sunday in winter, I had a craving. For seafood. And what better place to get fresh seafood than the Sydney Fish Markets? I don't go to the fish markets that often but when we do I get super excited because I know it means dozens of freshly shucked oysters, usually some sashimi, prawns, and the occasional crab or lobster. My idea of heaven!

Fresh sashimi cuts at Peter's Fish Market

Cooked and fresh blue swimmer crab

Kobe Jones, King St Wharf, for all you can eat sushi!

Anyone who knows me well enough will know that I am an absolute sushi/sashimi fanatic. In fact, I think that sometimes I eat so much raw seafood that when I die, it will probably be from heavy metal poisoning. When I read about Kobe Jones offering all you can eat sushi for $25 (including their famous volcano roll) on Here Comes The Food, my eyes lit up and my stomach screamed "YES YES YES!!". So a group of friends were rounded up and we went down to King St Wharf on a beautiful Friday afternoon to eat as much sushi as we could.

Menu

Thankfully, Queen Chu has rung ahead to book and let them know that we are ordering the all you can eat sushi. A sushi menu is already on the table ready for us, and the friendly waitstaff let us know that they will be bringing out the first plates soon.

Tasting plate - (clockwise from top) Kobe Jones's finest nigiri, Crunchy roll, Dynamite roll, Avocado roll, Kobe California roll and Volcano roll (centre)

Rise, Darlinghurst's 4th Year Anniversary

Although this is my first post about Rise, it is actually my 4th visit which coincides with a special offer they have to celebrate the 4th anniversary of Hideki Okazaki becoming the owner-chef of Rise. For one week, Rise is offering a special 7-course omakase menu for $36pp, and having been completely enamoured by the food during my previous visits, it was simply an offer I couldn't resist.

Rise is tucked away in a relatively residential area of Darlinghurst, away from the numerous restaurants and wine bars on nearby Victoria Street. My first visit to Rise saw me completely at a loss of how to enter the restaurant - I attempted to open the locked door facing the main street, but luckily another of my dining companions found the fire-engine red door marking the entrance to the restaurant. And it was unlocked.

Ocean trout marinated with gochujang miso and porched quail egg