Category: Kingsford

This suburb was known as South Kensington and changed in honour of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith

Niji Sushi Bar

Rating:

8 / 10 Taste: 8/10

Total Price: $75.5 for two

Place: 8.5/10

Review:

Niji sushi bar is the newest restaurant in kingsford. Being a sushi train restaurant, it was a bit tricky to write the review, especially with the overwhelming number of dishes available. As usual, the plates are colour coded according to their price.

However, as I will share a bit later in the review, Niji sushi bar is not all about sushi. In their menu, they also referred to themselves as Japanese Izakaya. Izakaya is normally a drinking establishment that translates to ‘to stay at a sake shop’.

Sushi

We skipped on the usual suspects, like Salmon or Scallops, and opted for a more adventurous Beef tataki sushi. We also had a trio of easy-to-digest dishes for my son: tamago sushi, seaweed, cooked tuna mini roll. It ticked all boxes for ‘sushi the way it should be’.

Sushi rolls

They had a generous serving of sushi rolls in a plate (four pieces to be exact). We tried quite a number of rolls with different price range. Tofu roll would be the obvious vegetarian dish with its nice and sweet tofu skin. We then have Salmon sesame with avocado and cheese. On the higher end, we had Aburi salmon roll with avocado and cucumber and Prawn and Avocado roll.

Hot dishes

One of the two unusual items in the menu was placed right on the first page. As soon as I saw Scampi Miso on the menu, I knew I had to have it. Its presentation might be a bit intimidating to some people but the miso soup really sure packed a punch. I would rather enjoy fresh scampi on a sushi, since I think I couldn’t differentiate the cooked scampi’s texture. My son wanted to grab the Takoyaki and they were pretty decent.

There were three different kinds of Soft Shell Crab in the menu and we chose the plate menu. The crab was both soft and crispy with additional seaweed flakes. The combination of flakes and wasabi mayonnaise created an extra dimension of taste in the crab. We also enjoyed the Salt and pepper Squid.

Robatayaki

Wagyu beef robatayaki was the second item that caught my eyes. Seriously, wagyu beef for $6.50, who wouldn’t want that? I was even happier when the plate was finally delivered: there were two skewers of wagyu! The beef was perfectly grilled and seriously mouth-watering. I actually had to order a second plate because they were just too good (and good value for money too!). They were delightfully tender and incredibly yummy.

Dessert

I must admit I was surprised when the waitress suggested us Crème Brulee. It was very well presented and had the correct elements. I felt that it was just lacking a bit of the red bean filling.

The final verdict for Niji Sushi Bar

Niji Sushi Bar was the one thing Kingsford has been missing all this time, a nice sushi bar. Niji has a large assortment of dishes on its arsenal and still managed to deliver quality sushi. You should seriously consider ordering Scampi Miso or Wagyu Beef Robatayaki.

Details:

333 Anzac Parade, Kingsford

+61 2 8068 4849

http://www.nijisushi.com.au/

Sep 19, 2012
Indo Rasa Restaurant

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7 /10

Price: $12 – $17

Place: 7/10

Review:

This will be my first review of Indonesian restaurant in Sydney and I decided to go to one of the newest, Indo Rasa Restaurant. They face a daunting task of competing with well-established Indonesian restaurants in Kingsford.

Upon entering the restaurant, you felt the décor was more thoughtfully done than the others’. There was a sense of blandness in the middle of the restaurant. There are plenty of foods to choose from the menu. You can either choose the set rice menu or share plates.

In the order of appearance, the first one to arrive was the Lamb Satay with peanut and sweet soy sauce. It’s a rich lamb satay with a nice grilled taste. There’s an optional fresh lime if you want a little taste of sourness. Then came Sambal Eggplants. Though sambal translated directly to chilli, this dish was not hot at all. I think the bright red came mainly from the tomato sauce. The dish was also rather sweet.

The next one was probably one of the better dishes of the night. It was Grilled Squid. This was the only way I like my squid to be grilled. Basted with sweet soy sauce, the squid left no hint of soggy-ness. It was perfectly dry and yummy.

We also had Ca Kangkung (Stir fry water spinach). This and the next one are more like Indonesian-Chinese dish. I particularly like this one because it was half-soupy dish. Then, the very last dish served was Ayam Goreng Mentega (Butter Chicken). I must stress out that this was NOT Indian’s butter chicken. The Indonesian adaptation of butter chicken was actually more like a sweet soy and chopped-onion fried chicken. The highlight for this dish was the chicken. It was mighty tender, yet tasty.

There were a side dish and a dessert that can only be enjoyed with an acquired taste. Fried gizzards dish was basically the complement of chicken’s liver. They had a chewy texture and were usually served plainly on a side plate. Then, there was also Iced Durian. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Durian had this unique smell that was fantastic (to me). This particular dessert was a combination of fresh Durian fruit and Durian ice cream.

The final verdict for Indo Rasa Restaurant

Indo Rasa is just another Indonesian restaurant. The dishes are all decent and the portions are slightly bigger than other Indonesian restaurants in the area, but nothing really stands out. If I have to choose, my favourite would be the Grilled Squid.

Did you know?

As I mentioned on the first paragraph, there are a lot of Indonesian restaurants in Kingsford area that you can try. I am indifferent towards any of them, since I think nothing stands out and I tend to choose whichever has less people.

Location:

Shop 1, 309 Anzac Parade, Kingsford NSW 2032

Website:

https://www.facebook.com/indorasa.sydney/

May 5, 2011