Author: Ardi

Tetsuya’s Fresh Oysters Vinaigrette Recipe
This oysters vinaigrette recipe was first written by Tetsuya Wakuda, the owner of the infamous restaurant Tetsuya’s. If you are new to the website, please visit our review of Tetsuya’s restaurant.

The first part of this recipe is the actual recipe written by Tetsuya. I will then let you know each of the items we used to make our rendition of the Vinaigrette.

Happy Cooking!

The recipe is called Tasmanian Pacific Oysters with Rice Wine Vinaigrette

Here are the ingredients:
1. Ogonori
2. 12 large Pacific Oysters, shucked
Vinaigrette
1. 1 teaspoon finely grated ginger
2. 4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3. 1 teaspoon castor (superfine) sugar
4. 1 teaspoon soy sauce
5. 6 tablespoons grapeseed oil
6. 2 tablespoons olive oil
7. 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
Garnish
1. chives, finely chopped
2. 3 tablespoons ocean trout roe
How to make the Oysters Vinaigrette?
1. To make the vinaigrette, whisk together all the ingredients in a bowl or jar.
2. Place a little ogonori on the base of the serving plate. Put the oysters on top and spoon over the vinaigrette.
3. Sprinkle the oysters with the chives and ocean trout roe.
So, the important question here is: How do we get all of those ingredients?
1. You can pretty much grab any soy sauce you can find in your cupboard.
2. We use crushed ginger that is normally sold in supermarkets
3. Castor (or superfine) sugar should be a staple ingredient for cake makers.
4. For the rice wine vinegar, we like to use Hinode Mirin. Mirin has a sweeter taste than normal rice wine vinegar.
5. Extra Virgin Olive Oil – I don’t think you need an explanation for this.
6. Lemon Juice (you can easily squeeze it from a fresh lemon if you want).
7. Grapeseed oil might not be the thing you would normally have in your cupboard, but it should easily be available in any big supermarkets.
8. You should be able to buy freshly shucked oysters from your local fish market. They might also sell ocean trout/salmon roe.
For an added kick to your Oysters Vinaigrette Recipe:
1. Just like any other fresh seafood, please buy the fresh oysters closer to the time you want to consume it – and for the love of God, do NOT buy them a day earlier!
2. I personally haven’t tried this (because I think the vinaigrette is already awesome!), but Tetsuya advised that you infuse 10 cm of konbu in a bottle of 750 ml rice wine vinegar.
3. The vinaigrette can be made ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator.
4. Tetsuya recommend a good-quality champagne to accompany the dish.
Dec 23, 2013
Shou Sumiyaki

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7 / 10

Price: $160 or $220 set menu

Place: 7.5 / 10

Review:

This is our last review of the year and also last review in our Melbourne trip and we would like to wish you all a happy holiday!! For this festive season, I present you a grand banquet from Shou Sumiyaki Sake Bar and Grill. There was quite a few of us and we ordered two of its sets: Wagyu Sumibiyaki Set ($160) and Wagyu and Seafood Sumibiyaki Set ($220). So, did the ‘seafood’ bit worth the $60 extra value? You can be the judge by reading the review below.

Side Dishes

Let’s start with the boring stuff and the part with the least difference. You only received an additional Brocolli wrap for the more expensive one. The common dishes were: Steam Rice, Miso Soup, Lettuce Wrap and Mushroom Wrap.

Entrée

It was two very distinctive menus for the Entrée. For the regular sumibiyaki, you get Salmon Sashimi, Kani Tempura, Chilled Pickled Yuzu, and Octopus Salad with Daikon & Salmon Roe.

The seafood sumibiyaki offered more sophisticated names for the entrée: Shou Assorted Sashimi Plate, Kaisen Harumaki (Deep fried Japanese-style seafood spring roll) and Horenso no Gomeae (Cooked Spinach with sesame dressing and bonito shaving).

Strangely enough, I think that the regular sumibiyaki actually presented a better value when compared to the seafood one.

Sumibiyaki Dishes

The regular sumibiyaki was quite straight forward. The list was dominated by Wagyu beef: Rump, rib finger, scotch, oyster blade, and a Marble 8 wagyu chuck roll for a total of 650 gr and a pork scotch (substituted with Chicken for us – at 150gr)

There were definitely a lot more qualities in the Wagyu (according to the menu) than the regular sumibiyaki: rump cap, Marble 8 rib finger, Marble 8 scotch, oyster blade, harami for a total of 500 gr. From the cost point of view, a marble 8 beef can cost twice as much as a marble 6 or 5. In addition to those beef cuts, you also got Scallops (100gr), Salmon fillet (150gr), squid (4 pieces), and 4 large tiger prawns.

From the value proposition, the seafood sumibiyaki definitely came up top. However if you don’t really know how to cook marbled wagyu, it might be hard to judge what’s with all the fuss.

As my personal favourite, we have also ordered Wagyu Beef Yukke ($12.50).

The final verdict for Shou Sumiyaki Sake Bar and Grill

The price point might be a bit steep in Shou Sumiyaki, especially for a four-person sumibiyaki. For a non-seafood eater, it’s a no-brainer that they would choose the regular one.

Details:

160 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne

03 9654 3933

http://www.shousumiyaki.com.au/

Dec 21, 2013
Meat Market South Wharf

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7 / 10

Price: $20++ main course

Place: 7.5 / 10

Review:

For our second Melbourne review, we went to a steakhouse called Meat Market South Wharf. As a reminder to readers, steakhouse faced quite a tough challenge in convincing me as I am very particular about my steak and I love to grill a steak at home!

Meat Market South Wharf has an interesting concept of an open kitchen. It was quite impressive that there were only three people inside the kitchen!

We were not going to order any starters, but our waiter warned us it would take around 40 minutes for the steak to arrive. Our choice fell to the House Made Dip ($16) – Olives, Feta, freshly baked buckwheat sourdough. This description omitted the most important piece (and the yummiest) of the dish, pumpkin dipping sauce.

We did quite the unthinkable in a steakhouse by doing a shared dish for our main courses. We did it because of this sole reason: Meat Sharing Platter ($90) – chef’s selection of today’s cuts to share, mixed leaf salad and a selection of sauces (we chose peppercorn jus and blue cheese butter). It was a plate of three different cuts (if I’m not mistaken) – scotch fillet, eye fillet, and dry aged beef – for a combined size of 500gr. The presentation was quite appetising and the extra sauce and butter added a nice dimension to the steak.

Another interesting point here was the absence of potatoes (and their variances) from the plates. It might not be good news for a big eater like me as you would need to fork out an extra $9 or $10 for each of the companions. There were quite a few options here, but our choices went to Crumbed Onion Rings ($9) and Hand cut chips, spicy ketcup ($10). I always loved a good plate of onion rings and this one hit the spot for me. The chips on the other hand, I wasn’t a big fan of.

We also ordered the Catch (or fish) of the day. It was grilled salmon with beetroot sauce. The salmon was perfectly grilled but the plate looked quite barren with only a handful of vegetables and well-decorated spoonful of beetroot sauce.

The final verdict for Meat Market South Wharf

It took quite a long time (that’s after the waiter’s telling us it would take a long time) for the steak to arrive at Meat Market South Wharf. The steak itself ticked many approval boxes (including presentation), but there was really nothing sparkling about our experience there.

Details:

53 South Wharf Promenade, South Wharf, Melbourne

03 9008 8953

http://www.meatmarketsouthwharf.com.au/

Dec 12, 2013
Akachochin

Rating:

8.5 / 10

Taste: 8.5/10

Price: $14 – $33 per plate

Place: 8.5/10

Review:

For the first time in our (short but eventful) history, we are reviewing a restaurant in Melbourne. To celebrate this, we will be reviewing Melbourne restaurants for the whole month of December! Since it’s such a short stay, we can rule out the three hats like Attica, Vue de Monde – we couldn’t even get into the two hats ones!

Luckily for us, Melbourne isn’t short of great food, and our first ever review goes to Akachochin Japanese Restaurant. Located strategically, just behind Melbourne Convention Centre and DFO, Akachochin is situated right by the Yarra River. In Japanese, ??? means red paper lantern. It is commonly hung outside Japanese Izakaya establishments. Being an izakaya, you are most welcome to try their sake. However, this time we will focus on their food.

Let’s start with a couple of classic Japanese cuisines: Miso Shiru ($6) and Sashimi Moriawase ($33). Two of the most common Japanese dishes that could hardly go wrong! The sashimi was quite pricey, given that there was only nine slices of fish and scallops. Although it was fresh and well-presented, I still wouldn’t order again for that price.

For half the Sashimi’s price, Hiramasa Namerou ($16) was the dish you should seriously consider. It was a Japanese-style kingfish tartare with wasabi stem and moromi miso. The interesting part of this dish was the introduction of the rice crackers. They truly balanced the strong taste of the tartare and added a crunchy dimension to the taste.

The Unagi Avodaco Roll ($14) was presented quite uniquely. Instead of the usual nori, it was wrapped with radish. The official description of the roll was: inside out roll with eel, avocado, sliced onion, masago, cucumber, and sweet soy. I wasn’t quite happy with the presentation of the Wagyu Yakimono ($18). The massive bowl of green leaves overpowered the small serving of the wagyu beef. The beef itself was perfectly grilled and was accentuated by the shimeji mushrooms.

It took a very long time for the last two dishes to arrive, but it is well worth the wait. We even ordered Unagi Dashi Chazuke ($16) – a chopped eel on rice with hot clear soup – because we thought we would need more food. It turned out that Akachochin Gourmet Chawan Mushi ($22) was quite massive for a chawan mushi. The steamed egg custard came in a large plate with generous servings of prawns, scallops, chickens, mushrooms and dressed with Kikuna leaves.

The highlight of the day came at the very end and it was actually recommended by the waitress (great job!!), Shake Miso Butter Mushiyaki ($30). It is a slow-cooked salmon steamed in miso butter and wrapped in cabbage. I was kind of hesitant when I saw my last dish of the night was wrapped in vegetables. It was quickly apparent why it was recommended in the first place. I believe I have never tasted such combinations before; it was sweet, salty, fresh, and tasty all blended into one!

The final verdict for Akachochin Restaurant

The combination of great food and great location merits Akachochin a very high score according to my standards. From the price point of view, it was pretty expensive from the average Japanese restaurant. Everything we had at the restaurant was masterfully prepared.

Details:

33 Dukes Walk, South Wharf, Melbourne

03 9245 9900

http://akachochin.com.au/

Dec 3, 2013
Tizi Restaurant

Rating:

7.5 / 10 Taste: 7.5/10

Price: $5 – $10

Place: 7.5/10

Review:

This week we will flashback to a legendary German-influenced restaurant in Bandung, Indonesia. Tizi’s restaurant has been there even (I’m pretty sure) before I was born! Unlike other restaurants that underwent menu changes or any other changes, Tizi still sticks to its core! From back in the days till now, they still have their legendary Schaschlik – more about schaschlik as we went through the review.

The unique trait of this restaurant is its integration of Western dish with Indonesian flavour that would suit Indonesian tongue back in the days. Oh, and looking at the price, you can find that they are so affordable and you can have great value for your money, when compared to those over-hyped mall restaurants. Without further ado, I present you three of our favourite dishes when we were at the restaurant.

Beef and Egg (Rp 49,000) is more like a breakfast menu than dinner. It is a simple dish of roast beef with cheese and a sunny side up egg. Beef and egg also came with a side of fries (or mashed potato) and tomato ketchup. If you are looking for a dish that simply can do no wrong, Beef and Egg is the absolute choice. However, you might look into an extended run at the gym given the calories intake for this dish.

My personal favourite is its Schaschlik. Being a German restaurant, it has quite a different feature than middle-eastern shashlik. Just a quick overview, schaschlik is like an Indonesian satay on a steroid with a mixture of vegetables (namely capsicum, onion, and tomato). Tizi offered an option of having one, two, or three skewers. Two skewers would be enough for an average Aussie bloke. They grilled the schaschlik with a homemade BBQ sauce that might be quite sweet for non-Indonesians. Nonetheless, the meat was grilled to perfection and personally, the bite size was just perfect.

Last but not least is a dish that I guarantee won’t likely be in any restaurants but Indonesian steak houses (especially here in Australia!), Oxtongue Steak. Oxtongue is actually quite a common ingredient found in quite a few Indonesian dishes. Although it’s called steak, the method of cooking it was actually pressure cooked, not grilled (as it would alter the texture of the tongue). The dish came with quite runny mushroom sauce and the usual sides of mashed potatoes and vegetables.

There are quite a few other dishes in the restaurant, such as the old-school Potato Salad and their rendition of Bratwurst. But it’s quite a stark contrast when compared to the real German sausages.

The final verdict for Tizi’s Restaurant

There is no better restaurant to bring back such nostalgia as Tizi Restaurant. Tizi offers great value for money dishes and cosy backyard-setting restaurant. Tizi is well-known for its Schaschlik.

Details:

Jl Kidang Pananjung No 3, Bandung, Indonesia

+62 22 250 4963

Nov 19, 2013
KoFoo Korean Food

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message color=”alert-info”]

Unfortunately, KoFoo has closed its doors for good.

[/vc_message][vc_column_text]

Rating:

6.5 / 10 Taste: 6.5/10

Price: $7 – $33

Place: 7.5/10

Review:

We were actually quite interested in coming to KoFoo Korean Food restaurant because of the ad they put up outside. They have a massive $6.99 number in front of the restaurant… and for a Korean restaurant, it’s cheap! So, how did it turn out?

The restaurant has a nice industrial feeling to it and the usual Korean stainless cutleries and plates… oh and a gigantic stainless cup. KoFoo also had nice assortments of Kimchi. Our first dish was Seafood Shallot Pancake ($18). The picture didn’t do justice here, but the pancake was massive and it was overflowing with fillings.

The next two dishes were my favourites of the day, Honey Crispy Bulgogi ($20) and Cheese Tteokbokki. The bulgogi was undoubtedly the best dish of the day. It was quite a generous portion with heaps of beef. I quite liked the Cheese Topokki. There was an abundance of melted and chewy cheese and an extra chewy rice cake. The sauce was sweet and spicy.

I had a high hope for the chickens (Sweet and Spicy Boneless Chicken and Soy Chicken). However, they failed quite miserably on the taste department when compared to the other Korean restaurant I reviewed. If I had to pick, the sweet and spicy had more punch than the soy but it was still a mile away. The interesting part here is that you can opt to have half a portion for $18 or the whole portion for $33.

We also ordered Kimchi fried rice but we had to cancel because it wasn’t ready half way through our lunch.

The final verdict for KoFoo Korean Food

KoFoo Korean Food restaurant might have been slightly cheaper than most Korean restaurants in Sydney, but it did have a massive deficiency in taste. From the ones we ordered, its Honey Crispy Bulgogi was the only one to stand out against the rest.

Details:

Shop G02 / 35 – 39 Liverpool Street, Sydney NSW 2000

02 9690 1611

http://www.kofoo.co.kr/

Nov 4, 2013