Harajuku Gyoza

I had heard a lot about this new Gyoza and Alcohol concept @ Harajuku Gyoza. However, being a non-drinker, I put-off visiting this place simply because I wasn't sure if I would enjoy the experience.

While looking for a place to munch before our class, my cake buddy & I decided to check out Harajuku Gyoza. We headed to HG straight after work at 5.30 and found it to be rather empty.

We chose to be seated at the bar so we could watch them cook our Gyoza.

I also found the place to be overloaded with cuteness. Love this pink plate!

 

We ordered a range of Gyoza from the menu.

Grilled Pork Gyoza ($8)

Grilled Lemongrass Chicken Gyoza ($9)

Grilled Duck Gyoza ($8)

Grilled Chicken Gyoza ($8)

My favourite was the Lemongrass Chicken as it tasted fresh and flavoursome. Duck was my least favourite as I was not convinced the flavour worked well in the gyoza.

We even decided to check out their dessert Gyoza. The Nutella Banana Gyoza with IceCream ($9) tasted just like chocolate & banana pancakes, except it is wrapped inside a dumpling!

As for the Apple Gyoza with IceCream ($9), it tasted just like an apple pie. However, I found it to be a tad too sweet to my liking.

As we were leaving, we noticed a queue building up at the door. *Phew* I was glad we went early and missed the line. To be honest, I enjoyed the experience and wouldn’t mind going back for an early dinner if we can avoid the queue.



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Sono Japanese Restaurant Portside

Valentine’s Day came early this year when D took me for a surprise dinner at Sono. It was a pleasant surprise as I have been hinting about wanting to go there for as long as I can remember. Hence, the expectation bar was very high when I walked into the restaurant.

We were greeted by their friendly staff who showed us to our table. The restaurant looks modern and upbeat. There is even a good view of the Brisbane River. First impression, checked!

We decided to go with the six-course Tasting Course ($85) which seemed to be a popular choice on the floor that night.

The first course was served almost instantly. It was an appetizer trio of fresh oyster with lime sauce, seared wagyu with citrus soy sauce and chilli grated radish and soft shell crab karaage with shiso salsa. The oyster was fresh and creamy, but I couldn’t really taste the lime sauce. In saying that, it didn’t really matter because it was so fresh that there wasn’t much of an after-taste. The wagyu was tasty, but I wished there were more. Out of the trio, soft shell crab was the winner. Crunchy deep fried soft shell crab was complimented well by the light citrusy salsa.

Next came the sashimi platter: Tuna and salmon sashimi and snapper with shallot, sesame seeds, garlic vinaigrette. I was impressed by the great knife skill showed on the dish with both salmon and tuna sliced with precision. I enjoyed the snapper too, although it reminded me of the jellyfish cold dish served in Chinese banquet.

This was followed by fresh crab meat croquette and scampi spring roll. The croquette was too creamy that I couldn’t really taste any crab meat in it. On the other hand, the spring roll was enjoyable. The scampi head used as plate decoration added a nice touch to the dish.

The fourth course was a sushi platter of prawn tempura sushi roll, fish tempura roll and seared salmon belly sushi drizzled with mayonnaise, sea salt and avocado. The sushis are great, but not spectacular. It was the grilled avocado that took me by surprise. I love the smoky taste on the avocado and will definitely try it grilling avocado at home one of these days.

Next, we moved on to the mains. Out of the 3 choices on the menu, I ordered wagyu and D had the duck breast. My medium cooked South Qld Kobe wagyu was perfect. Juicy and tender like how it should be. Yum!

The NSW duck breast teriyaki orange sauce looked very impressive too.

The dessert was a bit of a letdown. Chocolate mud cake with vanilla ice cream seems out of place for a classy Japanese restaurant. I would have been more excited to end the meal with 2 simple scoops of green tea or black sesame ice cream, instead of this ordinary chocolate cake.

Overall the food was great, but I was expecting to be ‘wowed’. I guess I should be more realistic next time. 





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Oishii Sushi Bar

Oishii is our go-to place for modern style sushi in the Southside. I have been going there for many, many years and it has always been busy and packed. The only thing that has changed over the years is the price, reduced portions and a slight decline in quality. Blame it on inflation - but despite that, they still manage to attract big crowds of people every night. Reservations recommended if you intend to come after 6pm.

Being a regular for many years, we have our own favourites that we order every time we come here. It is dreadfully non-adventurous, but a least we know what to expect.

Our two favourite sushi dishes are Spider Roll ($13) and Himawari - Sunflower Roll ($13).

Spider Roll is a combination of tempura soft-shell crab, egg salad, and cucumber on rice covered with flying fish roe. I love the texture combination of this sushi – crispy, soft and crunchy.

Himawari is a combination of deep fried chicken with avocado on rice wrapped on an egg roll. It is very modern and refreshing.

When we’re really hungry, we stretch our wallets (and our bellies) for the appetisers. Our ‘defaults’ are Agedashi Tofu – deep fried tofu served in dashi-based sauce ($6) or Takoyaki – deep fried octopus balls ($7.50), or maybe both, depending on our greed!

I recently ventured out of my usual and ordered Salmon Sashimi ($17). It was a huge plate with big slices of salmon. I am a big fan of sashimi, but the thickness of the salmon slices did put me off a little bit. It was a bit hard to bite through and almost impossible to fit in a mouthful. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, but just had to forego my table manners in the process.

Next time, I might stick to my regulars, or try one of their other sushi like Red Dragon instead.




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Wagaya

Continuing on our quest to try new Japanese Restaurants in town, we ventured to Wagaya in the Valley. We had heard raving reviews about Wagaya, mainly centred on the new electronic ordering system. Being technology nerds, we decided to check it out for ourselves.

The touch screen ordering system is very impressive. Choose a dish, hit order, confirm, wait a few minutes and the food is delivered to your table. No kidding, that is how fast their service is! Of course, this presents a tendency to go overboard with your order, but the order history list will set you back on track. :)

We mainly ordered dishes to share, starting with Renkon chips (Deep Fried Lotus Roots with Spicy Salt), Takoyaki gratin (Octopus balls with Cheese topping) and Deep Fried Chicken Karaage. The Renkon chips were my favourite - addictively crispy and tasty. Takoyaki gratin was a surprisingly good combination of octopus balls with cheese. The deep fried chicken karaage was just mediocre; nothing spectacular.

Renkon Chips ($6.50)

Takoyaki Gratin ($7.30)

Deep Fried Chicken Karaage ($7.90)

We went on to order more dishes, but sadly it was downhill from here. :( Based on my experience, I would suggest staying away from the grilled dished unless you like overcooked, chewy meat. The Pork Skewer and Chicken Yakitori were both overcooked. Even the scallop (usually my favourite) was utterly disappointing, chewy and rubbery. What a waste of good seafood! The only saving grace for all 3 dishes was the tasty sauce.

Pork Skewer ($6.90)

Chicken Yakitori ($6.50)

Hotate Kushiyaki ($9.30)

Before we realised it, we had spent too much and were still left hungry. We decided to order a noodle dish to fill us up. Double thumbs up for Tantan Ramen. Spicy pork mince noodle soup - best dish of the night!

Tantan Ramen ($10.50)

We enjoyed the atmosphere but weren’t overly excited about the food. In saying that, I wouldn’t mind going back again to try their other dishes.


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Hakataya Noodle Shop - Market Square

The new kid on the block at Market Square is Hakataya Noodle Shop. For those who are familiar with the area, there is already a Hakataya Noodle shop across the road at Sunnybank Plaza.

This place is crazy busy. Just look out for long queue or a big “sorry we sold out” sign, and you’ll know what I am talking about.

This new shop is packed as usual with very tight seating. To our amazement (and because people did not know they’ve opened yet) we were happy to find that there was no queue on this occasion and we walked straight in.

We ordered the Miso Spicy-Men (noodles) and a plate of gyoza (dumplings) to share. The soup was well seasoned and tasty. At first glance, the noodles resemble ‘instant noodles’ and you may question the fact that you’ve paid more than $10 for you meal. But the devil is in the detail...

According to the brochure, the soup was cooked for 39 hours to draw out the best flavours and nutrients. Similarly, the char siu (marinated pork) is cooked for 2 hours 40 minutes, followed by 2 hours of simmering and then chilled in the fridge for 48 hours. The result - a delectable and tasty soup, well cooked noodles and melt-in-your-mouth pork.

Miso Spicy-Men - Japanese spicy miso and pork noodle soup ($13)

We also enjoyed the gyoza very much. The skin was crispy on one side and soft on the other, complimenting the main course very well.

Gyoza - Fried Dumplings ($7)

Hakataya Noodle Shop has already established itself as a favourite with many locals, and is a must try for anyone travelling through the south side of Brisbane.


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Menya Mappen Noodle Bar

Earlier this year, Mexican taquerias hit the city with eateries like Guzman Y Gomez and the Burrito Bar. Now, the latest craze is on Japanese noodle shops.

There are 2 noodle shops located just outside Sunnybank Plaza: Hakataya Noodle Shop and Menya Mappen Noodle Bar. They are almost impossible to miss if you are in the area - just look out for a big group of people queuing up and it will lead you to one of these noodle shops.

It took us a while to study the menu at Mappen on our first visit. Most of the dishes looked very similar with only slight variations. It is basically a choice between Udon or Soba noodles, soup or dry, hot or cold noodles and extras such as half-boiled egg, curry or sukiyaki beef. There is a Japanese curry with rice dish too, for those who are not interested in noodles.

Once you have ordered the noodles, you can proceed to the self-serve tempura section. All items are individually priced, so you can get as much or as little as you want. Bear in mind that some of the items might be sitting on the counter for a while, so might be cold. I am not too worried about this as they provide hot tempura dipping sauce for free.

The noodles are very tasty and I enjoyed the freedom granted by the self service tempura station. We ordered a relatively basic noodle dishes, complemented by tempura sweet potato, seafood stick fish cake and chicken- Yum.

Ontama Mentaiko Bukkake Soba (Hot noodle with Tsukedashi soup with Mentaiko Butter and creamy half-boiled egg)
Tempura fish cake, seafood stick and sweet potato

Ontama Bukkake Soba (Hot noodle with Tsukedashi soup and a wedge of lemon)
Tempura sweet potato and chicken

The dining experience is very casual with signs asking that you return the tray to the counter once you’re done. It’s like going to a private food court with quick and cheap meals - with noodles priced at around $5.90 and tempura starting at about 80c per piece.

Overall, it was a fun dining experience and I will definitely be back.


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