Oshin - Brisbane CBD

With the economic downturn continuing, I am personally finding it harder and harder to justify opening the purse for decadent indulgences without cause. Thus, Dr L and I have been making a lot more effort to look for value dining options for date night. One place that has recently afforded us many enjoyable nights out is the first table booking platform, where customers can score 50% off the food bill provided a number of conditions are met (such as ordering a full priced drink and going at off peak times). 

 

Most recently we made arrangements for a return visit to Oshin, probably one of the longest standing Japanese restaurants in Brisbane.

Whilst I do go to oshin every now and again for lunch when I'm in the office, I most certainty haven't gone for dinner. Also as a point of interest, Oshin is also one of the earlier places covered off on the early days of my blog. Looking back at the post, I'm surprised that they haven't really changed much at all in 11 years.

Despite scoring a table on first table, we arrived to a moderately full restaurant. Service was efficient and friendly. The menu was provided quickly and offered quite a few assortments of sushi, sashimi, mains and bentos. My focus that night though was the course meals, particularly the bamboo course that went for $60pp at full price.

As mentioned, to score our discount required ordering one full priced drink per person. I was quite taken aback when browsing the drinks menu to see that they had a full sized bottle of umeshu, available for the price of $36. Querying the waitress, she allowed us to order this in lieu of two individual drinks. Although this was definitely a low end choya umeshu, given the bottle usually retails for $24, the mark up was very reasonable and we enjoyed the sweet fruity plum throughout our meal.

Starting off with a large sashimi platter, this didn't fall within the scope of the banquet but I couldn't resist getting an extra sashimi platter whilst we had the discount. For $60, this was definitely not good value if we paid full price and by my estimation, barely worthwhile at half price. Although the fish was fairly thickly sliced, it was nowhere near as fresh as we would have liked. Dr L noted particularly that the tuna was very fishy and we wouldn't order this platter again.

Starting off with our course menu, the chawanmushi was served steaming hot. Infused with a homely dashi, shiitake mushrooms and some chicken, it was a good start to the meal.

 

The chef's special course came soon after and was followed by the sashimi and nigiri course. I had to ask the waitress to articulate what the course was: a steamed piece of wintermelon topped with unagi and a lightly battered piece of kingfish. Both items were unique and probably represented odds and ends the chef had on hand but the taste was good, the light wintermelon complimenting the sweet soy unagi well. Our sashimi and nigiri course was surprisingly far better than the starting sashimi platter. I really enjoyed the mackeral sushi and the cuts of fish provided were somehow a bit fresher than the platter. Portion sizes for both courses were generous.

Our tempura course came next. Comprising of one prawn, a piece of fish fillet and three pieces of veggies each, they came fresh out of the fryer with a light tempura batter. Again the portion sizes were generous for the banquet and I was impressed with the quality of the prawns and fish.

Our meal peaked with the shabu shabu being set up on our table. With a traditional cast iron pot atop a gas stove, it was very authentic. The amount of meat and veggies served for the two of us was also extremely generous.

Each person was also provided two dipping sauces, a sweet sesame and a sour ponzu. I didn't like the sesame as it was way too sweet for my liking. Additionally, we had one bowl of rice each and a miso soup to wash our meal down too. 

The shabu shabu was really fantastic. I enjoyed the light delicate dashi broth that let the flavours of the veggies and meat shine. Although the beef wasn't extremely marbled, it was fresh, tender and thinly sliced. I also particularly liked the vermicelli noodle that soaked up the broth as well as the tofu that complimented the dipping sauces well. 

Just as we were about to entirely run out of stomach capacity, dessert was served. Dr L had a scoop of black sesame ice cream whilst I had matcha. I have no doubt that these were store bought and evidently not made in house, however the quality was good enough. The flavours were moderately strong enough for our liking and the texture was definitely not icy but not artisan gelato tier but we still enjoyed it.

With exception of the sashimi platter at the start, I had no complaints with our meal at Oshin. In the current climate you see quite a few restaurants pushing out "value" banquets at the $50 - $60pp price point where each course consists of a tiny morsel of food and the main sized steak needs to be shared. In comparison even at the regular price of $60pp, I consider the Bamboo banquet to be excellent value with a few pieces of higher value items and enough food that we were entirely stuffed. Once you discount it further by 50%, this becomes an exceptional meal which I couldn't make at home on that cost price. Needless to say we had a fantastic time and will make an effort to revisit.

Price Range: $50- $60pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 9.5/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 6/10 

Kuon Sushi Noosa - Noosa

How far would you drive for a delicious meal? For us, it seems that the answer is more than 2.5 hours. Since Dr L and I decided to drive up to Noosa to try out Kuon Sushi up in the Sunshine Coast. In all honesty it would probably have been better for us to have stayed overnight, but neither of us are particularly interested in the beach, so we drove up for the meal and drove back down, making it roughly a 7 hour return trip just for a dinner.  The reason was a belated Valentines day dinner and the allure of a more traditional style of omakase.

 

Without a doubt my favourite place to be in the world is behind a sushi counter. That is where we spent our evening, enjoying the food of sushi master Jiro. The space was intimate, probably seating a maximum of 10 people but including us there was only 4 people that evening, making it particularly cozy.

 

For $200, you can indulge in the full 20 course dinner. This is notably cheaper than some of the options you can get in Brisbane where the going rate for full course omakase is roughly at the $300 mark.

Upon seating we were asked as a matter of course if we wanted still or sparkling water. My usual response to this is to query whether sparkling is complimentary. In this instance I had heard that it was but perhaps there was some miscommunication but by the time we paid, there was a charge for sparkling and Dr L's still water on our bill.

There were a few sake options and we opted for a flight each to accompany us through the meal. I don't have too much to add on the sake other than the fact that by the time we had reached the third glass, it was fairly room temperature after having been on the counter for a little bit. 

The first four courses of our set meal was served together. This included the pumpkin tofu with bonito broth, yellowfin tuna with japanese yam potato, squid tentacles and mozuku seaweed vinegar soup, deep fried eggplant in dashi. The layout actually reminded me a lot of my experience at Kuon in Sydney. I enjoyed the variety of textures and flavours found across the starters. My favourite of the four would have been the yellowfin with japanese yam.

 

Unlike other omakase, the nigiri wasn't grouped but rather spread through the course with cooked food throughout. Starting off we had the red snapper nigiri and the big fin reef squid. Both were expertly made and had the perfect ratio of rice to fish. The fish itself was fresh but not to the point of being sweet. I did particularly enjoy the ika though, which had the perfect texture.

Next up was Horse Mackerel nigiri, not usually a favourite of mine but I appreciated the firm flakey flesh with buttery umami taste. 

 

Interluding with two cooked courses we had a steamed abalone and a braised octopus sweet soy sauce. I've had both renditions of these at various Japanese restaurants lately and the execution at Kuon was on par with others that I have sampled but it wasn't particularly outstanding. The abalone was tender and infused well with the sauce, as was the octopus. The portions were just enough to leave me wanting a little more.

Following up with a piece of sweet miso marinated grilled kingfish, this was served nicely charred without being overly burnt. Again the kingfish had great texture to it, but it wasn't outstanding.

 

Our nigiri course continued with three pieces, salt and vinegar cured herring nigiri and the cured blue mackeral nigiri. Both pieces being cured gave it a particularly sharp and tangy flavour also ensuring that the flesh was firm. Although I'm a huge fan of the dry aged sashimi at Katsuya which accentuates the flavours of the fish, I am generally not a fan of cured fish nigiri as it detracts from the freshness and original tastes of the fish. 

The highlight of our meal in my opinion was the cured lean southern bluefin tuna nigiri. Despite my previous rant about curing, I am just a fan of tuna and this was still expertly made. I would probably have enjoyed it better if it was less seasoned but the soy glaze was still enjoyable.

 

Interluding again with cooked food, this was the deep fried prawn dumpling and red miso soup with fresh aosa seaweed. I didn't particularly like the prawn dumpling too much, it was a minced prawn paste that had been lightly battered and fried, reminding me a bit of Taiwanese tempura which seemed a little out of place in an omakase course. As someone who prefers white miso to red by a wide margin, I didn't mind the red miso with its sharp aftertaste.

The crescendo of our meal was the miniature sea urchin and salmon roe bowl. This was super cute and topped with a few pieces of okra that looked like stars. I've definitely had fresher uni in various restaurants across Brisbane, but this was also an enjoyable rendition. I wish that the portion was a bit bigger though, as it could easily have been finished in three moderate bites.

Our final nigiri of the night was the simmered japanese sea eel nigiri. I always enjoy sea eel which is a lot less commonly served than the standard unagi. The taste was light and delicate, complimenting the sushi rice well.

 

Rounding off the savoury courses was the thin tuna roll and the egg omelette with bonito broth. I've had both of these items across various restaurants now, they were decidedly superior to your local sushi train variant but not as elevated as the Brisbane or Gold Coast omakase options.

Dessert was a Matcha Warabi mochi, served with hot tea. The mochi was soft and chewy whilst the matcha sauce erred on the sweeter side. It was an overall satisfying dessert to our meal.

It is somewhat hard to critique Kuon Sushi. On one hand, I really appreciate Chef Jiro's dedication to a traditional cooking style and not going for modern fusion like lots of other places. The price is reasonable for what you get, insofar as it is significantly cheaper than Takashiya, Sushi Room or Fumikis, but we didn't leave completely stuffed and it was evident that at least compared to Takashiya or Sushi Room, the ingredients weren't as premium. Factoring in price, I would say a good point of comparison is Black Door by Wagyu ya, who currently offers a far superior (albeit more modern) course for the same price. I wouldn't say that I wouldn't be back, if we were in Noosa again, I wouldn't hesitate for a return trip, but for now I wouldn't be making a 5 hour return trip for it.

Price Range: $200 - $250pp

Taste: 7.5/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 9/10 

Banh Mi Station - Murarrie

Murrarie isn't a suburb you would think to go for Banh Mi. In fact it's not a suburb I've really gone to for anything in the past. However, seeing what looked like the most attractive Banh Mi I've ever seen online, Brisvegustation and I decided to make the trip out East on a Saturday for lunch. We were the only customers that day and managed to catch the owner on prep day. 

Although we had showed up for the banh mi, the shop itself was actually a bakery that had a great deal more other options other than banh mi. There were an assortment of pies, sausage rolls, cakes, slices and cookies.

Brisvegustation and I were mainly there for the banh mi, so that's what we ordered. As alluded to, we had the crispy pork belly and also a lemongrass chicken. We had read some google reviews beforehand and had noted that other customers took issue with the salad being pre-filled into the bun, thereby making it soggy. We couldn't comment on this as we had freshly made buns, however I did also spy some pre filled buns on the counter. Our banh mi were quite delicious, both were completely loaded with generous amounts of fillings. The pork belly was thick, crispy and well seasoned. The lemongrass chicken was also likewise a flavour bomb. Coriander and chilli added fragrance and spice. Although on the more expensive side of banh mi, these were huge and filling, making it a worthy trip out east. 

 

Although we paid for the banh mi and only intended to get that, the owner graciously gifted us a drink and cookie each. I had the Vietnamese Iced Coffee. This was a tad sweeter than I would have liked, but probably because of the constraints of condensed milk. The loaded cookies were also delicious once reheated. With a lava centre, it was decadent without being overly sweet, making it a very enjoyable dessert.

We had a great time at Banh Mi Station and would definitely come back to try more banh mi and maybe even their noodle soups!

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 8/10

Value: 8/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 7/10