Ume Restaurant, Surry Hills

People always splurge on special occasions, be it Valentine's Day, Christmas Day or any other day you feel like it. For me, I splurge on my family (even if it means not using my own money hehehe) on their birthdays. I will always pick out a restaurant that could cater to all of us because we're always such a big group and we usually spend hours just eating and chatting. I haven't been able to celebrate most birthdays with my family in a couple of years now, so I'm really glad to have my brother B with me in Sydney at least for this year.

We finally decided on Ume Restaurant, hence the title of this post. This is my first time to a one hat restaurant and I was really excited how it will turn out :) We visited them at the end of May (oops, what a belated post) so they might not be serving the same menu anymore, but do check out their website (link) for more information! Also, if you're into photography like me (I'm still a noob at my newly received hand-me-down Canon EOS) or instagram like B then be sure to have more patience for the shutter because we ended up with so many blur photos that I need to apologize for them, sorry!

What's Japanese food without sake? Haha well, the paradox is we don't always order sake when we have Japanese food, especially sushi. I prefer green tea anytime because of its health benefits, but a special occasion calls for sake. Do you prefer a warm or cold sake?

We ordered two miso soups to share, the first one was scampi miso soup ($9), which was a sweet miso with shiso, shallots and of course, scampi! I'm not one who loves miso soups, I seriously dislike them for their extreme level of salt content as much as I love Japanese cuisine. To be real honest, I've never had sweet miso before and this sweet miso is the bomb! This was a favourite among all three of us, that one bowl just wasn't enough. Alas, we didn't order one more of it because we had to save our tummies for the extravagant amount of food afterwards. 

The other miso soup we ordered was their miso shiru ($7), which was koji miso with tofu and wakame. On the contrary, this miso tasted like regular miso you can get in other Japanese sushi places or restaurants. There was nothing special about it, it was just as salty as other miso soups and regrettably, it was a bad decision. 

Sorry this photo is a bad one!

Being Asians and being really greedy Asians, we could not go without rice ($5.50). There is really something nice and sweet about Japanese/sushi rice, it just makes me crave for more. But at $5.50 for a bowl of rice, I could really do without.

One of the entrees we had was their carpaccio - seared scallop ($21), which was highly raved on Urbanspoon (link). It had soy brown butter, finger limes, young sorrel and dulse, and of course scallops! I was quite excited about their scallops after reading so much about it, but maybe the anticipation got me way too excited that I thought they were a slight disappointment. Each scallop was sliced so thinly that it melts in your mouth, but they didn't have much of the flavours that were stated on the menu (the flavours in italics mentioned above). It was nothing less than fresh, but not quite a must-have in my honest opinion. 

Another entree we ordered was on their specials board outside the restaurant! Pardon me, I don't remember the exact name for it but it was pork dumplings with rice crisps. The description got us anticipating cute dumplings that don't look like the regular, so on first thoughts these dumplings fall short. I like how there was so much meat within the dumplings even though the skin was rather average. They (the skin) weren't like the melt-in-your-mouth kind, which makes this dish rather forgettable. 

The next dish we had was their butaniku no kakuni ($22), which was soy braised free range pork belly with fermented chinese cabbage, karashi and crackling. For the portion, $22 was rather expensive. There were only four pieces of pork belly and each piece was so tiny you can finish it off in a mouth. I guess this is the price to pay for a fine dining experience. 

I thought this was gonna be my favourite dish of the night, but unfortunately it's not. I'm not someone who is conscious about fats and meats, I eat almost anything unless I choose not to. Some people might dislike pork belly because of the amount of fat in it, but I absolutely love it. This pork belly wasn't to the extent that it melts in your mouth, however there was so much flavour in it that I enjoyed it very much. The charred sides of the pork was well done as much as the meat was a little too tough. Now you know why this isn't the favourite one..

The other main we had was the charcoal roasted wagyu ($42), which was David Blackmore wagyu 9+ with house made yuzukosho, zucchini, shiso ponzu and rice crisps. Again, for the price the portion was a little tiny. Nonetheless, it was recommended on Urbanspoon (link) that we had to try it for ourselves and it definitely didn't disappoint. 

I love the rice crisps! It isn't something you can buy from Asian supermarkets or find elsewhere. Ume does their crisps really well (you'll see one more below) and they're just so good. I know, I know, they are just rice crisps. But if they can do simple stuff well, I think it earns a brownie point from me :) According to K, the yuzukosho went really well with the beef, which he suspect was slow-cooked. I'm not a big fan of beef, so I wouldn't be able to differentiate the grades of beef in the market. But to me, a good dish of beef is good beef. Does it make sense? The wagyu is definitely really tasty and can be awarded the must-try!

The last main we had was their Cone Bay barramundi ($34), which had a poached barramundi in shiro dashi butter, with Jerusalem artichokes, crisp wakame, soy and yuzu dressing and sea herbs. This was the hottttttttttttttt favourite of the night, it was that awesome. The fish was fresh and sweet, there's nothing to doubt about that. The shiro dashi butter gave the fish a nice coat, while the soy and yuzu dressing complemented that coating really well. There was really nothing to pick about this barramundi, so it definitely is the must-try!

The last item of the night has to be desserts! We were so full after two soups, two entrees and three mains, but we just could not miss having the desserts, either desserts take up space in another stomach or for review sake. We decided on their dark chocolate 'terrine' ($15), which was Michel Cluizel 70% dark chocolate, white chocolate crumble, matcha soy ice cream, quandongs and soy milk crisp. This is the other "crisp" I was talking about earlier! There's just something amazing about the soy milk crisps that three pieces to share among three just weren't enough. I was tempted enough to order another of this just for the soy milk crisps! Otherwise, I think this dark chocolate dessert is rather forgettable. I had no idea what quandong was or the taste of it and I haven't never seen them before, apparently it is a native Australian fruit! #ilearnsomethingneweachday It was sour, which kinda went wrong with the bitter 70% dark chocolate, but something about it we just didn't like. I also reckon that the soy matcha ice cream didn't go well with the dark chocolate at all, they probably added it to give it a Japanese touch? I don't know, but I don't think it agreed with our taste buds. 

It was a good experience dining at this one hat restaurant - the service was attentive and friendly, the food was generally good and we enjoyed our dinner there. I'm currently craving for their sweet miso soup and their rice and soy milk crisps! It's always the little things that makes me wanna go back to Ume, I'm just weird as that. It costs us about $70 per pax, if anyone wants to know, and it was worth while.

I took such a long time to complete this post that I'm really glad that I've finished it #phew.



Ume Restaurant (website/urbanspoon)
478 Bourke Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010

Ippudo Sydney, Sydney

Just the other day when I was writing up the post on Ramen Zundo (link), I wrote how I wasn't keen on trying out Ippudo Sydney since I wasn't impressed with the one in Singapore. On that same night, something weird happened (or we were just mere hungry) and that night saw us speed walking to Westfield to avoid the (unimaginable) dinner queue at Ippudo Sydney. We succumbed, tried, and I'm still disappointed, but not totally. If you don't already know, Ippudo is an international chain of ramen restaurant and they have several outlets worldwide. I've read once that the best Ippudo ramen that someone ever had was in Hong Kong, hmm.. I'll be sure to check them out in Hong Kong the next time I'm there! 

Lucky for us, we arrived a little before quarter to six and the line wasn't that long. We waited for around twenty minutes for a table for two, which isn't so bad since it was dinner time. About 5 minutes after waiting in the line, I turned around and oh my, the queue was what I expected to see (they had to segment the line so it doesn't block people walking in and out of the restaurant). I was really relieved that we made in just before the crowd comes in, otherwise I would just skipped Ippudo and head somewhere else. 

I took a couple of photos of the exterior, but somehow I can't find it in my photobucket. Oh wells. 

On the outside, there is a bar with a huge variety of drinks. You can choose to sit at the bar, have a drink while waiting for seats to be ready, or just stay in the line and wait till there is table ready for you. You can't make a reservation for tables, so you have no choice but to queue anyway. The weird thing that night was that, there were so many babies and prams in that restaurant! Seems like Ippudo is a family-friendly restaurant. 

On the inside, I liked that they have both communal/sharing tables (where there is a long table and you may be sitting next to people you don't know) and separate tables for just two or more people. Well, you don't get a choice to decide which you prefer though. Oh and plus point, you don't have to rub backs with other patrons or the wait staff (thumbs up for spacious restaurants!). Clearly, I still remember my experience at Old Town Restaurant (link). 

Now, the table.. 

You have three small bottles of things - sesame, white peppercorn and black peppercorn. Okay, I'm totally guessing that bottle in the middle as white peppercorn but I seriously think it is :P

First to arrive, definitely the easiest to make, the Ippudo pork bun ($4) per bun. We were very shocked to see what the $4 brought us because the bun was really really tiny! The pork bun was cut into half on request, filled with a slice of braised pork and Ippudo original sauce. We only had one of this because we thought it'd come in a bigger size, boy were we disappointed! It also came with a slice of lettuce and mayonnaise, which wasn't stated on the menu. But I was absolutely disappointed - the mayonnaise was too sour and the it was so overwhelming that I could barely taste the Ippudo original sauce. Do I think this is a must-try? I reckon money is better spent on something else. 

Next to arrive was the Italian rice croquettes ($5 for 2 pieces), which was essentially arancini. This was on their monthly specials, so we decided why not? It looked way too promising before I tasted it. It is their special parmigiano rice ball deep fried until the mozzarella melts out with each bite, served with homemade tomato sauce and seasoned with parsley. 

So here's why not. From my memory (haven't had arancini in a long while), arancini has wet innards filled with tomato sauce and rice mixed together. If you can tell from the picture below, this wasn't exactly the case. The mozzarella cheese was barely melting and it solidified quicker than I could finish it, even though it was bite size. On the menu, it even says, "one bite of our croquettes will definitely leave you wanting more". Really!!? The tomato sauce that came with it was barely enough to make the croquettes less dry. Bad choice of the night. 

I don't know what got into K, but he decided he wanted to have more sides. So we also had their Ippudo Teba ($8), which was fried chicken wings glazed with Ippudo special black pepper sauce. You would seriously not have this special sauce anywhere else. The sauce is sweet, but it had hell load of black pepper in it. For three pieces, this dish is pretty decent. 

However, if you're someone who can't take too much spice, this might not be for you. There was so much black pepper that I was almost crying. Also, it's very difficult to get someone to fill up the cup with water again. The chicken wings were not dry on the inside, and we really liked the sweet sauce minus the black pepper. The salad goes really well with the sweet sauce too! 

Their Ippudo gyoza ($6 for 5 pieces) is what I would recommend, although they're the best that I've ever had (the best ones are at Daikichi Ramen, which is closed). The gyozas are bite-sized, which are smaller than usual gyoza, but they are really juicy on the inside. They are kinda expensive for small gyoza, but they are worth having since the other dishes seem... Unworthy. 

Now, onto the main dishes - RAMEN! 

We picked two of their ramens to try - I know right, 4 side dishes and 2 ramen!? Insane, but we just had to try them to persuade ourselves. First, we had Shiromaru Motoaji ($15) - original tonkotsu broth served with thin noodles, pork loin, cabbage, black mushrooms and shallots. Their ramen is of Hakata-style, which has special characteristics of a rich pork-based soup and noodles with firm texture. I'm disappointed in this ramen because the pork wasn't the melt-in-your-mouth kind and the broth was a little too thin/light. 

I've never tried Hakata-style ramen before (or if I did I never knew there was a name to that), but I liked the firm noodles. It doesn't feel like you're eating tough rubber bands, more like chewy rubber bands but not rubber bands, hahaha I don't even know if that makes sense. 

The other ramen we had was Karaka Men ($17) - original tonkotsu broth with special spicy miso and ground pork. I had a little of the broth and it totally hit me in the throat, I guess I just couldn't take the spiciness of it. 

How could we have finished a meal without desserts? Well, we could because we were just too full. But, we wouldn't allow that either. So we picked a dessert to share, also with the intention to try, and chose to have their Kurogoma Panna Cotta ($7) - black sesame custard with creamy sauce. Looking at how it's black sesame and it's also panna cotta, we thought we can't go wrong with it. But.. We should have gone somewhere else for desserts. The good points - the creamy sauce has so much black sesame taste in it! We were expecting probably condensed milk as their creamy sauce so it was a surprise that they infused black sesame in it. Also, the sauce wasn't too sweet and it was really light. The bad parts - the creamy sauce had more sesame taste than the panna cotta. We would barely taste any black sesame in it, which was soooooo disappointing since we're such fans of black sesame (I'm a huge lover of them!). The texture of the panna cotta is pretty good, but it's not gonna earn a brownie point from me. 

I would prefer to head to somewhere else for ramen if I ever need, rather than paying for over-priced ramen that isn't worth the hype. 

Ippudo Sydney (website/urbanspoon)

188 Pitt Street 
Westfield Sydney Level 5 (Shop 5021) 
Sydney NSW 2000

Ramen Zundo, Sydney

I simply take too long to talk about one of my favourites, Ramen Zundo, right in smack in the city, in World Square Shopping Mall! I've been to Ramen Zundo countless of times now and it definitely is my favourite place to have ramen. Not only is it convenient, the food is so good! It's also not as crowded and you wouldn't have to wait long for food. Why not!?

I may get the names of the dishes wrong or the prices or whatever. But the main point is, everything there seems to be real good. As much as the broth isn't as thick as Gumshara Ramen (I haven't tried Ippudo but I'm not exactly keen since I've had them in Singapore before and I wasn't impressed), I prefer Ramen Zundo anytime. I don't think I remember the each and exact taste of the ramen I've ever had at there but I will put some comments before the photo and write about my overall experience at the end of this post.

Why do I love Ramen Zundo so much? They always have heaps of promotions aside from the good food! They just don't get enough publicity, but that's the conflict there. Too much of it will make it real crowded and the wait will be long. Ah, how? I had this card where I had sufficient stamps to get me a free drink, and so I did! Doesn't hurt to have a free drink right? Also, when you get sufficient stamps, you'll get a free dish!! The Jap lady at the counter/cashier told me that I could order like a ramen and get it free, as opposed to a free side dish, which was what I thought initially! Two thumbs up for service!!!

Their gyoza ($4.50), though not the best I've ever had in Sydney, but they are still good. I love their dipping sauce because it's not like super salty and it goes well with the gyoza. At $4.50, I would say it's a fair price and must-try! 

The difficult part comes next - identifying the different ramen we had so far. Oh and I like that their menu shows how the dish looks so you get an idea of what you're getting. 

Tokyo soy katsu ($13.80). Their Tokyo soy is made from a clear chicken broth, which is light and refreshing. I generally wouldn't pick soy based ramen soup because of the fear of too salty soy broth, but this isn't salty at all. 

Tan tan men ($12.80)

Tokyo soy ($10.80)

Zundo white ($11.80). On the menu it says, "The pork bone broth gently boiled over twelve hours to create a richly flavoured soup". The soup is so thick (again, not as thick as those of Gumshara Ramen), but it's really light as well. I really wonder how they make such a delicious broth - love it! There are also generous servings of sprouts and cabbage.

Tokyo soy kaaage ($13.80).

Another ramen that I will definitely recommend is their double soup ($11.80). Only at $11.80, you get a real thick combination of clear chicken and pork bone soup! I enjoy their double soup very much, because you get less of the strong pork broth, like the one in Zundo white, and it's just oh-so-good!

I have yet to try their curry sets or rice dishes, so it could be time for a visit, especially in this cold winter weather. Hahaha, I seem to blame the weather a lot when I always crave to eat out. Well, it's a convenient excuse?

PS: I just visited Ramen Zundo's facebook page (link) and am pleasantly surprised that they're a running a one-year anniversary promotion! Oh my, oh my. I'm so gonna be gaining all the weight this winter with their half price ramen on every Tuesday night in July! Mark your calendars, mate!

Ramen Zundo (website/urbanspoon)
Shop 1030, 644 George Street
World Square Shopping Mall
Sydney, NSW 2000

Masaka Japanese Dining, Ultimo

Passed by Masaka Japanese Dining on Broadway so many times, the thought of dining in there sorta never crossed my mind. On first look, there was this huge advertisement board in front of the shop which has deals on it that entice me. But nevertheless, I never walked in or even thought of entering the restaurant because it always seemed closed all the time or I rarely see people in and out of that place. But finally, we tried Masaka after walking up and down Broadway countless of times, not knowing what to have for dinner. The menu offered a wide variety, we had quite a tough time trying to decide.

We decided to have gyoza for entree, which isn't the best that we've tried but it's good enough. Out of the 5 pieces we had, three were fried to perfection and the other two were a little soggy. 

Then we had two handrolls - salmon and unagi avocado. They fared average but was pretty disappointing that the unagi handroll fell apart after the first bite. 

Pork tonkatsu ramen. The ramen was also average, but the breaded pork were tasty! The thinly sliced pork pieces were crisp and juicy, only pity the black sauce that came with it was way too little. They should totally serve a bigger bowl of sauce just for the tonkatsu. 

The last we had was udon-suki, which was overflowing! This took the longest to come, surprise surprise. The veggies weren't soft, seems somewhat uncooked since they were on the top of the entire claypot. The soup stock was salty, but just enough to make the taste buds shout yum. Also, I ordered pork udon-suki but came chicken udon-suki instead. I didn't make a fuss over it (lucky I'm not allergic to chicken), was way too hungry to be picky about it so I just let it pass. 

Dining at Masaka wasn't too bad an experience, but I doubt we'll be back again soon. The wait for food was way too long even for simple dish like handrolls. On top of that, the mistake made in one of our orders even though tiny but it's still after all a mistake. 

Masaka Japanese Dining
163 The Broadway 
Ultimo NSW 2007 
Australia

Photolog: Rengaya, North Sydney

Salmon and Avocado Salad - Chopped salmon, golden caviar, avocado, sliced onion and mixed vegetables, served with creamy sesame dressing ($15.90). The cream and citrus dressing accentuated the flavours of salmon and avo. It makes the mixed green salad light and refreshing with a tangy taste within. 

Salmon and avocado salad ($15.90)

Wagyu "Yukke" - Wagyu beef tartar served with finely chopped shallots, sesame oil, garlic and egg yolk on top ($13.90). Having a fresh supply of beef, it is no wonder that the raw beef was sweet and made a yummy dish when mixed with the egg yolk.

Wagyu "Yukke" ($13.90)

Wagyu OX-Tongue - Juicy and tenderness, served with natural salt and citrus pepper ($33.90 for 100g). Chewy and mild on taste.

Wagy OX-tongue ($33.90)

Wagyu Chateaubriand ($81.80 for 100g) or Wagyu Tenderloin ($66.90 for 200g) - Beef that melts in your mouth.

Unagi-Mabushi - Chopped eel with Japanese pepper (san-sho), salmon roe, finely chopped shalots, egg and red pickled ginger decorated nicely on top of rice. Teriyaki sauce is poured in, to complete this superb dish ($42.90 for large). The unagi is well marinated and grilled, the rice is moist, sweet and pearly goodness, the seaweed, shredded egg tamago, salmon roe, and sweet sauce. You can't not have any! This large serving was advised to serve 4 pax, but this huge portion is enough to feed double that number!

Unagi-Mabushi ($42.90)

Shiratama Cream Anmitsu - Kanten with shiratama and sweet red beans topped with vanilla and green tea ice cream served with sweet black syrup and seasonal fruits ($14.90). We requested to swop one scoop of the green tea ice cream to sesame. The sesame ice cream didn't have a strong sesame taste and smell, while the green tea flavoured was average. The red beans were really sweet on its own, and the black syrup was just.. not very useful. The kanten jelly was great accompaniment to the dessert. 

Shiratama Cream Anmitsu ($14.90)

"WA 和 (Japanese)" Plate - Green tea crème brûlée, warabimochi with sweet black syrup, shiratama zenzai served with tea ($18.90). The green tea crème brûlée is less like a custard and more like a cream. The warabimochi (mochi with soybean powder sprinkled on top) is best to have with the black sugar syrup. A unique dessert indeed. 

Will definitely visit again for the BBQ!

Disclaimer: Description and food prices are taken off the menu on Rengaya's website. Remarks are personal opinion. 

Rengaya

73 Miller Street

North Sydney NSW 2060

Tel: (02) 9929 6169

Kura Kura Japanese Casual Dining

All photos are taken with the iPhone 4S. 


Now, this isn't the Kura that I previously blogged about. This is the new Kura (a sister restaurant of the previous Kuras) and it is located just above the Kura near Market City!

I was excited to try Kura Kura because they offered more varieties than Kura (or that's what I think) and it was located the level above Kura, which meant we can overlook everyone else's heads. I enjoy doing that, I mean just people watching and allow time to pass. But anyway, my attempt at Kura Kura proves that it was worthwhile because it was equivalent to Kura. We ordered way too much for two persons because we ended up so full that we didn't even have space for desserts.

First up, we had Eel Avocado sushi. It was a nice appetizer to satisfy some sushi cravings and eels are still ever so yummy. They were generous with their avocado (I've had sushi where the avocado was only half) and there was balance, like eel : avocado = 1 : 1

We also had the tempura gyoza, which was different from the usual gyoza. While I prefer this entire fried ensemble, K preferred traditional gyoza with meat and green. 

A big fan of soft shell crab, I just had to order this! The soft shell crabs which I've tried at sushi places are average-small, but this one was slightly bigger and it came with this soy sauce which I thought wasn't helpful in taste. The crabs were good by itself.

My favourite at Kura is their yakisoba, so I had to try it at Kura Kura. If you enjoy eating pork, you should totally try their version of pork yakisoba! The grilled pork pieces was very tasteful, but be warned that they can be really oily. I think what I still dislike about their yakisoba is the flying bonito pieces! They always distract me from mixing the soba well, I have to constantly bear them in mind so they don't poof away.

It was painfully difficult to mix the noodles with this height they go. 

Karaage egg don. As with all fried chicken, it is a little dry after all that deep frying. But, I didn't have much of this to comment. 

Kura Kura Japanese Casual Dining
Shop 3, 76 Ultimo Rd
Sydney, NSW 2000
Nearest train: Central.