Ren - Runcorn

Within the two shopping strips in Runcorn, which are turning out to be quite the 'New Sunnybank', lies a Japanese restaurant which I had been eyeing for quite some time. One lazy friday afternoon we finally decided to go, after being highly recommended by an acquaintance.

It took us a while to be seated that evening, I couldn't say that the waiters and waitresses were rude, but they were definitely preoccupied with something else. It took quite a while to get their attention on multiple occasions.

The theme of the restaurant was decidedly dark but contemporary.

In accordance with the theme, the crockery and cutlery were dark. It would have been a nice effect, except for the part where the crockery was quite chipped.

We started off the meal with complimentary edamame.

The first to arrive was the Salmon Carpaccio. This dish seems to have only gained traction in the last several years. Apparently, Carpaccio is a dish of raw meat (in this case, Salmon), marinated with lemon and olive oil, then garnished with herbs. I found this to be a really interesting twist on my usual salmon sashimi.

That's not to say that traditional isnt always the best though! Next up was our sashimi platter. It came with Salmon, Cod, Kingfish, Tuna, Scallops and an Oyster. 

Of that dish, we found the cod to be the freshest and had the best texture. Second would probably be the salmon, with tuna and kingfish tying for third. 

I suppose it was also noteworthy to mention that the wasabi was the freshly ground type, rather than the processed type you get from supermarkets. I could definitely taste the difference.

I'm not sure whether Ren were having a soy sauce shortage that day, but they seemed to be quite reluctant in providing soy sauce. Where other restaurants would have just handed you the bottle, they only gave you a tiny little portion when asked. At first, I thought this might have been some expensive exotic soy sauce, but it tasted pretty ordinary to me.

Next to arrive was the takoyaki, which was served on a hot iron plate, which ensured that the takoyaki was piping hot for the whole night. I found Ren to be generous when it came to condiments and toppings. The takoyaki was crisp and bursting with flavour. I really liked them.

Our three rolls of sushi arrived shortly after.

This was the salmon roll. To be honest, I there wasnt much 'wow' factor to it. The salmon was nice, but it was just a regular salmon avocado roll. It didn't even have the extra crunch of the tobiko. The shallots on top gave it a bit of an extra twist, but there wasn't enough to significantly change the flavour of the roll.

This was the Karaage Chicken Roll. The chicken was nice and hot, and crispy, but like the salmon roll, it didnt set itself apart from any of the other sushi rolls I've had at other places.

The last roll we got was the Runcorn Roll. We ordered it because we were quite curious about what they would put in it. It turned out to be seafood stick, with avocado and sprinkled with tobiko. 

Lastly, we had the Nabeyaki Udon. I covered the essentials of Nabeyaki in my Oshin post, and I found the Nabeyaki at Ren to be vastly different, despite both being udon served in a pot. I found the egg to be vastly under cooked. They used beef rather than chicken, and I found that to be quite over cooked. I dont think the flavours complimented each other too well. I prefer the nabeyaki at oshin far more.

I found the food at Ren to be decent for Japanese food, it was definitely not bad, but there was nothing that made it stand out to be better than the other places I've been to.

Price Range: $20 - $35 per person

Taste: 6/10

Value: 7/10

Service: 5/10

Environment: 6/10

Mazri Kitchen - Sunnybank

At Market Square, Sunnybank, there had been a Japanese restaurant that I was strongly curious about, and yet have avoided for a long period of time. Why the conflicting feelings, you ask? Well, previously, that spot had housed one of my long term favourites, Kadoya. When it closed down, I felt a little bit of me had died with it. So when I saw the refurbishment, and subsequent opening of Mazri Kitchen, I felt strong feelings of sadness for the loss of Kadoya, and a sense of intrigue for Mazri Kitchen.

Before entering the restaurant, you can already see all the menus plastered on the window outside the shop, I guess it helps to stop people from holding up the queue and making a decision once you're at the top of the line. Anyway, I found the menus to be quite impressive in their variety. Offering bentos, ramen, udon, as well as sashimi.

Compared to Kadoya, all seating is situated in the outdoors undercover area, which was quite a let down for those who prefer indoor seating and those who thrive in air conditioned places (i.e. myself). Although, it was noteworthy that from our experience on the day, it was cooler outdoors than indoors.

Like Kadoya before it, water is served on a DIY basis. In my opinion, chilled water is far superior to room temperature, especially on a warm day.

The first thing to come out was the Pork Katsu Curry. We found this particularly impressive because it was clearly not the usual instant curry that many of the other Japanese restaurants sell. It was a bit more watery in texture and very very fragrant. Upon close inspection,  I could see little specks of ground up herbs,  which makes me lean towards the opinion that the curry is home made.  The pork chop was nice and crispy, and the sauce to rice ratio was quite ample and portions were generous.

Next came the pork katsu don with egg. As you can see, the portion of pork chop provided was really quite big, it was large enough to cover the top of the bowl. Other than this, the rice was quite tasty and well infused with the egg sauce and pork juices.

My order was the Salmon Bento. I ordered this so that I could get to try not only their salmon, but the deli and sides. In terms of sides, being the unoriginal person that I am, I settled for prawn and crab cream croquette (which is the same as what kadoya serves), and for deli, I got the seaweed salad and the potato salad. The seaweed salad was delicious and refreshing, but I found the potato salad a bit bland. It would have been a bit better with the addition of a bit more sauce. The salmon was fresh, but could have been cut a bit thicker, and the salad had minimal dressing, which needed a bit of improvement. The rice was the proper short grain Japanese rice, which was authentic though.

Despite sitting outside, I did enjoy my time at Mazri Kitchen. I liked the friendly service and attention to detail that staff provide, giving it a homey kind of feel to it.

Price Range: $10 - $20 per person

Taste: 7.5/10

Value: 8/10

Service: 8/10

Environment: 5/10

Kuo - Sunnybank

One of the regular haunts for our uni crew when we are going out for a catch up is K-UO, situated in Market Square, next to Malaya Corner, which is relatively popular for its inexpensive meals, long opening hours and impressive drinks menu. The thing to note about K-UO though, is that even though it sells Japanese food, the staff seem to be predominantly Taiwanese.

Whilst some of the menu was blocked by reflection, it consists of two sides, split into multiple sections.

One thing that we always get when we go to Ku-O, is their Oden (おでん) which is a traditional Japanese winter dish, which consists of a multitude of different things (such as radish, tofu, fish cake, egg) served in a light dashi broth. In this instance, we opted for our favourites, being money bags (flying fish roe bundled up in a tofu skin). We loved how the broth soaked into the tofu, but the fish roe was still crunchy on the inside.

Next came the soft shell crab. Having 2 for $10 was quite a good deal, although I found it a bit overly toasted. The accompanying sauce (being a mix of what seems to be takoyaki sauce and mayonnaise) did a lot to alleviate the situation though.

The takoyaki was served nice and hot. I found it to be a lot more crispier than other places that I've been to.

The things on the top left look like fried mozarella sticks, but they are actually crab cream croquettes. I found them pretty average to be honest. They didnt have much crab meat, and were mainly very potato-y.

In terms of mains, my usual is aways salmon don. Although salmon by itself doesn't usually have enough taste to be considered a dish on its own, Ku-o's version is quite decent, as they offer generous amounts of Japanese rice seasoning, and seaweed salad with it. I find it extra yummy when doused with light soy sauce. Whilst Ku-o serves its salmon don on cold rice as a default, I usually ask for mine to be served on warm rice.

The udon at Ku-o is also very comforting and tasty. At $4.90 it is an excellent deal, as it uses relatively high quality udon (the frozen ones, not the preserved ones that have a sour aftertaste), and a light broth.

Another good option for a cheap meal, is the Curry Don. Again, it sells for $4.90. Although there are no meats, it does come with bits of carrot, potato and is garnished with rice seasoning and egg.

Despite the food being quite delicious, the main attraction that draws us to Ku-O is actually their drinks. In particular their frappes, which are huge! I usually get the Matcha one, but on that instance, I got the chocolate one. It was cool and refreshing for summer, and delightfully garnished with grass jelly, wafers and maltesers.

What I also particularly like about Ku-o is that it opens really late. Some nights we go there after watching a late night movie, and it's still open when a lot of the other restaurants are closed. The availability of Japanese food late at night is a definite plus.

Price Range: $7 - $25 per person

Taste: 7/10

Value: 8/10

Service: 6/10

Environment: 7.5/10

Shinbashi Yakiniku - Underwood

In line with my passion for Japanese food, the only other Japanese style BBQ in Brisbane (as far as I am aware), is Shinbashi Yakiniku. For $35, you can order anything off their menu for a duration of 90 minutes. The selection is quite broad, and offers a number of meats as well as non bbq options.

After ordering, our salad came out rather quickly. Unfortunately, we found it to be quite bland, mainly being lettuce and sauce, with very little other things.

The first plate of wagyu that came out was nicely marbled and not too fatty. But I could not say the same for the plates following, which were very very fatty. I also think that the meats could have been marinated better. As you can see, they only had sesame on top of the beef, and nothing else. 

You can see here, the fat pretty much exceeded the meat content, which we didn't really like.

Other things we ordered included prawns, calamari, pumpkin and mushrooms.

Like Nonbei, the mushrooms and corn are served on little foil trays where you can cook the veges without fear of it slipping into the gaps of the bbq rack.

 

In terms of fried foods, we tried the takoyaki and the vegetable croquet. Both of which were very generous in portion and crispy.

To me, the highlight of the meal would have been their nabeyaki udon. For such a meaty (and oily) meal, this was a definite palate cleanser. Having lettuce and enoki mushrooms in a clear broth with udon, it was homey and comforting.

We finished off the meal with a Matcha Parfait and a Black Sesame Parfait, which is NOT included in the buffet, we considered it essential to cool off after the bbq. The ice cream was smooth, but I think it could be a bit more specialised than just having corn flakes at the bottom.

Overall, it was a relatively decent offering at Shinbashi. However, my opinion would still be that for $35, I would rather pay the extra $5 (or in my case, $15) and go to Nonbei instead. The service wasnt as horrible as some of the other reviews have mentioned, but I do think that their staff could serve food a bit faster, especially because it is a time limited buffet, it is very important not to give off a bad impression that you are holding up food to so people dont eat as much. Additionally, the buffet being only available on Monday and Tuesday is really quite limiting for those who might want to go on other days of the week.

Price Range: $35 per person (for buffet)

Taste: 6.5/10
Value: 6.5/10
Service: 7/10
Environment: 7/10

Le Bon Choix (Edward St) - Brisbane CBD

Those who know me,will know without a doubt that I am a big fan of cake. Whilst I love the asian bakeries like any other HongKonger would, I am also a huge fan of Le Bon Choix.

A regular hangout of mine is their Queen Street branch, where I go to get autentic french pastries when I need the extra motivation and encouragement to cope with work. I was very excited when they opened a second branch on Edward Street, and went down there for tea one Friday afternoon.

Upon entering, we were greeted by the sound of a French 'Bonjour', and the sight of all the delectable little cakes on display. A word of warning for potential customers though, they tend to run out of cakes/bread at the end of the day so its probably best to go earlier if possible.

We ordered at the counter and found a table.

I found the decor to be very aesthetically pleasing and reminiscent of a Parisian Street. I particularly liked the added touch of the street lamp, which undoubtedly gave it an outdoor feel despite being indoors.

Our food arrived rather promptly, and we took a few minutes to take in all that was in front of us.

My friend ordered the Jocelyn, which was a coffee and chocolate mousse with ginger brulee. She ordered it because of the gold dusted sugar pieces, which she found intriguing. She said that she found the ginger brulee to be quite striking and unexpected.

I found my flat white to be quite comforting, especially in a mug. It wasnt the best coffee ever (Merlos), but it wasnt bad. The thing I really enjoy at Le Bon Choix though, are their Macarons. What stands out in their macarons, is their creme filling, which is better than any of the other ones I've had elsewhere. I highly recommend it.

In terms of my choice in cake, my usual preference is for the Miroula (chocolate macadamia mousse), but that was out of stock by the time i got there, so I ordered the Lenette, which was a white chocolate mouse with pear jelly. Usually, I avoid white chocolate, because it seems too sweet for my tastes, but the pear jelly definitely balanced it out for me. 

Price Range: $10 - $15 per person

Taste: 8.5/10

Value: 6/10

Service: 8.5/10

Environment: 8.5/10