Japa Deli, CBD, Auckland

The redevelopment of the corner block down at the bottom of Anzac Avenue has tidied up what used to be one of the less pleasant parts of the CBD. A widened footpath, new palm trees and a building redevelopment has poshed up the street side and the area seems to have been given a new lease on life, the little eateries there - including a curry takeaway and raamen bar - see more traffic than before. We were here to try Japa Deli, one of the new entrants to the block, which had been recommended by a friend.

The shopfront and indeed the interior is stylishly decorated with warm woods, soft lights and brick walls contrasting the shiny espresso machine and cafe counter. The restaurant interior was much the same, with polished floors and dark wood tables with beautiful flowers and candles. Though it was 8 o'clock on a Thursday evening, the place was still half full - mostly couples. Soft jazz, pop and cafe beats played in the background. It seems Momo Interior Design company did a great job laying this place out for an inviting and casual atmosphere.

The Cake Cabinet.

Though it's pretty late and near the end of the day, there are still sweets left in the glass display at the front. I spy coffee jelly (!!!), baked cheesecake, strawberry cream sponge cake and cream puffs. The cakes are looking a little sad from sitting in the cabinet all day. I hope they nom these overnight and don't leave them there for tomorrow's customers, but I'm sure with their 'A' grade hygiene rating they wouldn't even contemplate such a thing! I'd love to come back and try some of these during the day time - there are special combo deals for coffee + cake or even coffee + hotdog displayed on the cafe menu.

Salmon Hand Roll.

I was pleasantly surprised to see hand rolls on the menu (here called "corn rolls" what?) as you don't often see these in sushi shops in Auckland. I chose the salmon roll ($4), which was quite plain, consisting of a baton of salmon and one slice of avocado, that tried and true combination. The salmon was passable, and the avocado in prime condition - ripe, creamy and flavoursome. The rice, though, was a little stodgy, and the seaweed soft, as opposed to crispy as fresh nori should be, making the whole ensemble clumpy and sticky in the mouth.

Tempura Prawn Roll.

The prawn in this roll was actually panko crumbed as opposed to tempura battered, and reminiscent of the frozen type. However, it was large, and with the lettuce and mayo to complement, was not half bad. Unfortunately, the same story with the rice and nori was repeated here, letting it down.

Yakisoba.

These fried buckwheat noodles were served steaming and sizzling on a hot plate. The smells wafting from it were so tempting! Pieces of glistening fried pork belly lent a richness that was offset by the tiny sour pieces of pickled ginger.  I can't really say much more about this dish - it was so simple yet deeply satisfying and really brought back memories of streetside stalls in Japan.

Prawn and Pork Okonomiyaki.

Again, I was surprised to see this on the menu as its not something I've eaten in Auckland before. Okonomiyaki is a traditional Osaka dish somewhat like a savoury pancake. Okonomi means "what you like" and "yaki" means grilled or fried, but traditional fillings include cabbage, octopus, prawns and pork. The pancake is then topped with mayonnaise, okonomiyaki sauce (like a sweet thick worcestershire sauce)  seaweed bonito flakes. This one was filled with small prawns and slices of fried belly pork mmm!! The flavours and textures here were deemed delicious by all. I thought it could have been crispier and the batter was a bit floury in places, but as it's the only place I can get this right now, I can't complain too much.

Karaage Chicken.

I'm a sucker for anything deepfried and so order the karaage chicken set meal which comes with a dish of perfectly golden fried chicken pieces, a small salad, rice and miso soup. The chicken was tender and juicy, it could have been a little crunchier. The relatively tasteless batter was helped by two sauces - natto (fermented soybean paste) and sweet soya sauce. Overall, not bad though.

Teriyaki Chicken.

J had the teriyaki chicken set and again the chicken pieces were very juicy. There seems to be a myriad of ways to cook  teriyaki chicken - this one was simply wok-fried bite-sized pieces of chicken doused in sauce. The sauce was great - sweet but with enough of a salty kick to make it very moreish. A sprinkling of sesame seeds and spring onions added great texture, along with the dollop of creamy mayonnaise for dipping.

Katsu Curry.

This thick, rich curry was delicately sweet in the Japanese style - but also with a deep complex taste of tumeric and cumin. A pleasant surprise was that, in addition to the standard potatoes and onions, the curry was also chock full of soft stewed pork, falling apart from extended simmering. I didn't try the katsu but it looked great - very crispy and golden! Highly recommend this curry!

Tsuya-Meku-Jelly-Sparkling.

This small placard on the table enticed us with its Engrishy declaration: "Moisturize your stressed heart as well!" And really, who isn't in need of a good heart-moisturizing?!

We were instructed to shake the tiny can ($10) thoroughly before opening, which we did with caution - it looked like a soda! Instead, what came out was a fizzy, peach-flavoured sake jelly! The texture is hard to describe - its something like a not-quite-set jelly, or one that has been made with a higher water ratio - neither solid nor liquid and perfect for drinking! The fizz made it taste like champagne, and the peach flavours rounded off to a light summery finish on the tongue!

Though the menu was not long, I will definitely be back here to try what we missed. Pleasant service, a range of authentic Japanese dishes - and not to mention the great company - made for a relaxing evening out.


Rating:

Food: 5.5/10
Service: 6.5/10
Value for Money: 7/10
Ambience: 7.5/10


Japa Deli
1-5 Anzac Ave
CBD
Auckland
+64 9 303 3924

Kobe Jones $25 All You Can Eat Sushi Lunch, Darling Harbour, Sydney

All you can eat? ALL you can eat?? ALL you can EAT?!?! Sushi? $25??! You couldn't drag me away with wild horses!

Again, another opportunistic read over at NotQuiteNigella informed me of the existence of this super special uber limited time only umami fest at Kobe Jones, Darling Harbour. I'd often stumbled past this harbourside icon when browsing the eateries along King Street Wharf and wanted to give it a try - only the prices put me off. Well-heeled it-girls and business lunchers make up the majority of the clientele on a bustling Monday lunchtime - there's hardly a seat left in the place. Not being one to miss out, I made reservations, especially as the lunch dining session is only 12 - 2:30.

Sushi Platter.

Clockwise from top - Kingfish Nigiri, Salmon Nigiri, Tuna Nigiri, Prawn Tempura Roll, Salmon and Cucumber Roll, Crab and Eel Roll, Spider Roll, Volcano Roll (centre).

On that note, I'll have to first apologise for the lack of photos. We were seated at 1:30, as it was the only time B could get away from the office, so I was too busy stuffing my face to pose the food. The sushi is served platter style, with the day's variety in quantities according to how many diners there are. The selection varies from day to day, though there is always fresh Nigiri and Kobe Jones' famous Volcano Roll.

The Nigiri was merely passable, all of the fish slightly too dry and slightly too warm for my taste. It definitely could have been fresher and the rice ratio for each portion was a little too much.

Recommendation goes to the Tempura Prawn, which was crispy, warm and very fresh. The roll was fleshed out with a little crab salad as well, which created a nice creamy dressing for the prawn. However, the tempura crumbs sprinkled on top were a little stale.

Salmon in the Roll was a lot fresher than its Nigiri counterpart and married well with the crunchy cucumber sticks.

The Crab and Eel Roll contained crab salad and teriyaki eel pieces. The eel was warm and melt-in-the-mouth tender, with the sweet teriyaki sauce offset well by the salad dressing again.

Soft-Shell Crab in the Spider Roll was average, neither good nor bad. It was warm, but not particularly crunchy, and it lacked in the flavour department. Spices in the batter would have gone a long way here.

Volcano Roll.

The Volcano Roll consists of three pieces of crab-salad (are we beginning to see a trend here?) and avocado roll with baked scallops in cream sauce on top. The sauce is very creamy, thick and a little sour, almost like a bearnaise, and is topped off by crunchy spring onion slices. The combined textures of the sushi roll, the sweet, tender scallops, and the thick creamy sauce create a very comforting feeling in the mouth - almost like a homemade mac and cheese. We ended up ordering three more plates of this - aren't we pigs!


All up it was a very satisfying lunch. The Volcano Roll really hit the spot with its comfort-food mix of flavours and textures. I felt like I needed a nap afterwards! I was a little surprised that the sushi wasn't of better quality, especially after hearing how Kobe Jones made its name as a sushi icon when it first burst on to the Sydney eating scene. As one of the chic King Street Wharf bunch, it quickly gained popularity and, judging by the crowd today, that $25 deal still draws them in.

I was disconcerted by the poor service we received on this occasion. It took 20 minutes for a waitress to take our order after we had been seated and a further 20 for our food to be served. I understand that the lunchtime rush had to be catered to, but the restaurant was clearing as we received our first platter and we had to hurry to order after that before the 2.30 last-order call. Still, a restaurant of this standard and experience should be able to cope with a Monday lunch setting with a little more finesse.


Rating:

Food: 6.5/10
Service: 4/10
Value for Money: 7.5/10
Ambience: 6/10


Kobe Jones
29 Lime Street
King Street Wharf
Sydney
+61 2 9299 5290
http://kobejones.com.au/sydney 

Soto - New Style Japanese Cuisine, Ponsonby, Auckland

So here it is. The Inaugural Restaurant Review.

Let me preface this by saying that I love to eat. I will pretty much eat anything and everything that is set in front of me (some call me the rubbish bin), and though this sometimes infers a lack of taste or persuasion, I like to think my rounded palate leaves me open to experiencing as wide a variety of flavours as the world can give me. My dream is to eat my way around the world. I want to eat bat in Nepal, seal in Greenland, insects in Egypt and everything in between. Burgers in America, pizza in Italy, mutton chops in England, sausage in Germany. The world really is your oyster, delicious, fresh, slimy, and to be taken as you like.

On that rather rambling note, here goes :D

Soto was named Best Japanese Restaurant in the 2008 Metro/Audi Restaurant of the Year Awards. Though I usually don't place much stock in the outcome of restaurant reviews in the New Zealand press, I guess one has to take notice of such laudments ocassionally (Metro placed my favourite restaurant The French Cafe as Best Fine Dining last year i think)..

The restaurant is buzzing and warm at 7 on a rainy Friday night, welcome respite from Auckland's wind and cold. The place looks to be almost full from the front of house. We are seated in a modified tatami room, the style that many of the more upper-class Japanese restaurants reserve for larger groups - no shoes, cushions on the floor, a low table with a space underneath to place your feet. The room is minimally decorated with some light box bamboo displays on the walls, paper lantern-style lights and corner tables. A column oil heater somewhat distracts from this elegance - it kept the room warm, but perhaps they could try something less.. in the way... hmm.

Settings on unadorned wooden table are sparse - chopsticks with holder, napkin and two wine glasses.

We are presented with menus and the drinks menu.

There are a variety of Japanese and local beers, a well-chosen wine-list encompassing classics and a few boutique wines, and a selection of sakes and cocktails. I go for a tap Sapporo nom nom.

After a little hmm and haa we settle on the Soto Share Selections - one of four Tenshin Japanese Style Set Menus. Though the menu says this is for 8 people to share, chef says no problem to us sharing it between 6 people ^.^

I'll now run through the menu dish by dish.

Left to right: Edamame Beans, Japanese Omelette, Spinach Ohitashi.

These were the first 3 of 6 'Japanese Tapas' selections.

The beans were slightly too warm for my taste, though the texture was just right, and extra points for using flaked sea salt to add flavour.

The omelette was sweet and puffy, well done but not particularly special.

The spinach was small condensed blocks of baby spinach covered in a sesame sauce. The sauce, nutty and gritty, and spotted with sesame seeds, added a nice contrast to the crunchy spinach, and was slightly warm to the spinach's fridge cold.

Left to right: Tempura Calamari Nanban, Karaage Beef, Fish Panko Crumb Katsu.

The next three starters were hot.

The calamari rings were tender all the way through, but the tempura batter had become a little soggy because of the saucethat coated them. I could taste garlic, ginger, chives, cayenne pepper, ponzu sauce and Japanese mayonnaise, a heady mix almost like a thousand island - very moreish and complimented the calamari perfectly.

Karaage is a deep-fried snack, usually of chicken. This beef was amazing, very tender, and coated with a crunchy batter. The sauce was a thickened ponzu, tangy and flavoursome though there was a little too much of it.

The fish bites were a little dense for my liking, a white fish in this style should be flaky and light. The panko coating provided a nice crisp and was perfectly fried, the accompanying katsu sauce was also good.

Yellow Fin Tuna, Snapper & Aoraki Salmon 'New Style' Sashimi. Dressed with a citrus soy sauce and spicy sesame finish. Accompanied with a julienne of Japanese vegetables & baby fresh salad leaves.

This dish epitomised the 'New Style' cuisine Soto so boldy purveys. It was presented more as a carpaccio than as sashimi is traditionally, and without the regular soy/wasabi/ginger accompaniment. Instead, a ring of cucmber slices in citrus soy dressing framed thick slices of fish which centred on a tower of radish and micro-cress.

The fish was so fresh it might have just been caught, firm and tender and fleshy. The soy sauce was reminiscent of a citrus reduction, though without the stickiness. Topping each piece of fish was a spicy, oily, ginger and sesame finish. This dab really made the dish. The combination of flavours was sublime, the oiliness of the finish balanced against the acidic soy sauce and met by the fatty fish. Overall, my favourite dish of the night! Really impressive.

Seared Crusted Tuna Tataki Sashimi. Crusted with southern ocean giant kelp pepper then seared. Garnished with momiji-oroshi, miniature salad leaves & a ponzu dipping sauce.

There was a LOT of tuna in this dish. Huge ass chunky pieces of seared fresh tuna. Topping each piece was a small dab of grated daikon radish with chilli, and a flake of fried garlic. As the tuna was in such thick slices, it was a bit hard to get enough of the ponzu sauce to adequately coat. This allowed the pepper crust flavour to dominate. If you managed to mix the sauces on top of the slice together with a bit of manoeuvring, they balanced better, though it was a bit hard with the tuna being in such large pieces. Nevertheless, I'm a sucker for big portions, and this was BIG!

Crispy Juicy Teriyaki Chicken. Infused with manuka honey. Served with Tawara rice rolls sprinkled with a wasabi furikake seasoning.

I would not hesitate to say that this is one of THE best teriyaki chicken I have ever eaten. Usually teriyaki chicken doesn't really appeal to me; its over-commercialised, boring and more often than not the sauce is just out of a bottle and the chicken is cooked by someone who doesn't care about chicken. This chef obviously cared about his chicken.

It was incredibly tender and soft - thigh cutlets (skin on!!) browned both sides with plenty of fat keeping it moist. The skin wasn't as juicy as it could have been because of the sauce, but the sauce was divine. You could really taste the honey, and it wasn't too sweet or too thick or salty, just right!! The taste was heightened further by strings of fried shallots mmm shallots....

Teppanyaki Angus Beef Fillet Steak - Premium, grain fed, grilled beef, accompanied by sesame marinated mung beans. Served with poached shiitake mushroom, snow peas & a citrus garlic jus.

A good-sized piece of fillet steak, but it was cooked a bit past the medium-rare I usually prefer. I guess you could ask the chef to cook it to your liking, but you might get a stony stare back T_T.. Though tasty, this dish was unremarkable. The beef had a really tasty beefy flavour, as one would expect from this premium cut, and it was enhanced by the earthy garlicky sauce. The vegetables on the dish were merely decoration and added nothing to the flavour.

Paradise Prawn Filo Tempura - Spun in shredded filo topped with tartare & wasabi caviar and a Japanese Worcestershire styled sauce.

Visually, this was a particularly interesting dish. The technique involved in spinning the prawns in the shredded filo pastry would have been intensely difficult!!

The prawns themselves were huge and tender, and the coating fried til crispy - perfect execution. Two things prevented this dish from being outstanding. The pastry layer was too thick. This reduced the ratio of prawn in every bite and was a little dry in the middle. Secondly, the prawns were shell on. I don't mind this, cos I'll eat anything, and I'm usually too lazy to shell prawns anyway so I'll eat the shell - and I did, tail, head, everything. However, this might make it a bit tricky to eat for some who want to avoid those crunchy sharp bits.

The tartare / wasabi combination worked well but the Worcestershire sauce was a little too much clash in flavours. It would have been better without it. The abundance of sauce helped prevent it from being tooo dry.

Chef's Dessert tasting plate, Left to Right - Vodka poached mixed berry 'ima shochu' with coconut Kanten jelly; Black Sesame Ice-cream, Ginger and white miso Creme Brulee.

The dessert menu at Soto actually consists of a whole lot of different and interesting 'themed' classics. Things like pannacotta and millefeuille with a twist. Also interesting is that when dining a-la-carte, you choose any three desserts to create your own tasting plate - for $14! Bargain!!!

The poached berries were tender and saucy, though not much of a hint of shochu flavour was left. The little cubes of kanten jelly were a little strange, like cubes of Jello, but with a slightly creamy, coconuty flavour to them.

The ice-cream was DREAMY!!! God, I can't really say how much I love the flavour of black sesame ice-cream. I've never eaten a bad one! Ever!! Perfectly sweet, smooth and moreish with a delicious slightly burnt sesame flavour. I could go on about this for ages. I licked that little box clean.

The brulee, too, was excellent. A really strong hit of ginger in the burnt sugar top, with a silky smooth brulee underneath. I didn't actually realise that this was 'white miso' brulee.. though I've only ever had white miso in soups and have no idea how it would taste sweet. Regardless, while I didn't catch any of that flavour, this was a top notch brulee with a lovely ginger finish.

We left Soto feeling fuuuuullll after this heavenly dinner. Portions were perfect size for sharing, and the price ($58 pp) was absolutely reasonable considering the quality produce and thoughtful preparation. This is far from your average in Auckland, each dish has had time and effort, as well as some creativity put into it. The service, as with Japanese restaurants of this high a standard, is attentive and always obliging, the waitresses always hovering at just the right distance to refill your drink, bring you another menu, or even crush your lime into your drink for you (as we found)!! Soto has to be one of the leading Japanese dining experiences in Auckland. Trendy, sophisticated, and creative, the food really does highlight a 'new style' of Japanese cuisine.


Rating:

Food: 7.5/10
Service: 8/10
Value for Money: 8.5/10
Ambience: 6.5/10


Soto
13 St Mary's Rd
Ponsonby
Auckland
+64 9 360 0021
www.soto.co.nz