Category: Maroubra

Maroubra is a local Aboriginal word meaning place of thunder. It has three suburbs named after it… Maroubra Junction, Maroubra Beach, and South Maroubra.

Kokoroya Japanese Sushi Dining

Kokoroya Japanese Sushi Dining Review:

I have been to Kokoroya a few times since my days living in Maroubra. However, I only got to write about it based on my recent visit to this Japanese restaurant.

Just like any high-end Japanese restaurants, Kokoroya utilises a touch screen menu where you can just click and order. You can also check how much you have spent so far. So far, I have always enjoyed restaurants that adopted this kind of menu system.

Crispy Zucchini – $9.8

Fried zucchini was the perfect start to our dinner.

Aburi Salmon Sushi 5pc – $16 and Tobiko Ship – $6.5

Being a ‘sushi dining’, obviously, one of your main orders were its sushi dishes. Their sushi was slightly bigger than the average sushi served in restaurants. They were also well-presented.

Large Sashimi Mix – $36

I always consider having a scampi in the sashimi platter to be a plus. Kokoroya gave two scampi and a handful of scallops for their sashimi platter!

Fisherman Hot Pot – $17.8 – Udon noodles with assorted seafood

Fisherman hot pot in Kokoroya is probably one of the most elaborate udon dishes in Sydney. They put a lot of seafood into the big bowl of udon.

Crispy Chicken Namban – $20.5 – Sauteed chicken served with sweet & sour sauce

Chicken namban is a sauteed chicken with special Japanese ‘namban’ sauce – a yellow sauce that’s quite sweet with a hint of sour taste. I’ve had a few different chicken namban in Sydney. I thought the chicken namban in Kokoroya was excellent. Just be mindful that they don’t serve rice with this dish.

Unagi Kabayaki – $24.8 – Grilled eel

Unlike chicken namban, their unagi kabayaki does come with rice. The unagi poriton was massive!

Mochi Ice Cream – $9.5 and Kids Vanilla Ice Cream – $3.5

Nothing is quite filling and satisfying than a cool ice-cream-filled mochi!

The final verdict for Kokoroya Japanese Sushi Dining

Kokoroya might be one of the more expensive restaurants in Maroubra. However, they backed it up with great service and nice food quality.

Do you think I should go?
There is one other thing that I haven’t mentioned in the review above: Kokoroya has a playground! If you have kids, this restaurant is awesome!

Rating for Kokoroya Japanese Sushi Dining:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $155 for 3 adults + 1 child

Place: 8.5 / 10

Details:

Shops 1-2, 665-667 Anzac Parade, Maroubra 2035

+61 2 8347 2226

http://kokoroya.com.au/

Aug 20, 2018
Izakaya Goma

Izakaya Goma Review:

Our colleagues and I dined at Izakaya Goma in Maroubra quite regularly for lunch. They are probably the only Japanese restaurant in the area that does lunch for under $10. The catch is you can only have at most three options a day and it varies depending on the day you visit the restaurant. It is also a simple bowl of something with miso soup.

For a more elaborate lunch, they also have other options available from their menu. If you don’t fancy any of the lunch menu, you can always go back to their regular menu.

Oden – $1.50

This is an irresistible factor when having lunch at Izakaya Goma. For only $1.50 a stick, you get to choose from a variety of Japanese Oden. I usually like to have the konyaku jelly and fish balls.

Kaisen Bara Chirashi Zen – $14.8 – assorted raw and cooked seafood on sushi rice

I always love eating chirashi (basically it’s a bowl of sushi rice with sashimi cuts)! It’s probably not the cheapest, but it has quite a variety in the bowl.

Teriyaki Salmon Yakimono – $18.8 – grilled salmon basted with teriyaki sauce

The teriyaki salmon yakimono comes from the main menu. The portion is obviously a lot bigger than the lunch menu.

Tendon – $13.8 or $9.80 – assorted tempura on Japanese rice

It is your usual tempura pieces on a bowl of rice.

Chicken Katsu – $10.80 or $9.80 – breaded chicken cutlet with egg and onion on Japanese rice

It is another of your usual chicken katsu on a bowl of rice.

Sushi

They have quite a lot of options for Sushi and Sashimi.

The final verdict for Izakaya Goma

Izakaya Goma has a good value option for a quick lunch.

Did you know?

They used to have free fairy floss for the kids.

Rating for Izakaya Goma:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $9.8 lunch specials

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

693 Anzac Parade, Maroubra 2035

+61 2 9349 1945

http://www.izakayagoma.com/

Jul 11, 2017
Maranellos

Rating:

6.5 / 10

Taste: 6.5 / 10

Price: $12 – $16 lunch

Place: 7 / 10

Review for lunch menu:

There are a few Italian restaurants, pizzeria to be exact, in Maroubra Junction. Maranellos was the clear winner from the restaurant location’s perspective since this pizza restaurant is located right at the piazza of Pacific Square shopping centre.

On this occasion, we went to Maranellos for a quick lunch. The lunch menu is divided into three categories, easily named Menu A, B, and C (each with around six dishes to choose form), that has a flat value of $12, $14, and $16 respectively.

It is only obvious that we have to try the pizza on a pizzeria. Our choice fell to Pescatore pizza ($14) with toppings of mixed seafood, fresh garlic and parsley. The pizza was quite good and had the right crunch to it.

We were quite intrigue with the name and description of the next dish, Vitello Funghi ($14) – pan seared veal with button mushrooms and parsley in a white wine sauce. I felt that the dish was pretty sour with quite a strong lemon taste and the potatoes were super hot. I actually liked how the veal was cooked as it still has that tender and juicy taste to it.

Lastly, we also ordered Spaghetti Bolognese from the kid’s menu ($10). Personally, I am not a big fan of Spaghetti bolognese, especially the classic tomato and minced beef one. However, I think that the bolognese sauce tasted just like a regular bolognese sauce.

The final verdict for Maranellos

Maranellos offered a great value for a lunch menu. However, there is really nothing sparkly about the dishes.

Did you know?

We have also tried eating in Maranellos for dinner. However, you pretty much get the same thing for around twice the price.

Details:

51/737 Anzac Parade Maroubra

02 8347 0733

http://maranellos.com.au/

Apr 1, 2014
Mie Kocok Bandung

Rating:

7 / 10 Taste: 7/10

Price: $7.50-$10.50

Place: 6.5/10

Review:

Started in 2003, Mie Kocok Bandung has served my friends and families well for as long as I can remember. It can be quite busy on Sunday afternoon in the restaurant. Other than that, you will most likely get a table. I know the restaurant name is Mie Kocok Bandung, but I have never ordered their Mie Kocok. Mie kocok if translated literally is ‘Shaken Noodles’.

With the entrée, I always ordered the first one: Pangsit Goreng. They are ten deep fried wontons with chicken fillings. The wontons worked really well with the accompanying sweet and sour sauce. I liked its crunchy texture and on top of that it was the perfect dish to build up your appetite for your noodles. Alternatively, you could also order Siomay Goreng, fried fishcake served with spicy peanut sauce. This was also a sweet dish and was actually considered a main dish in the city of Bandung.

For our first main course, in the menu listing there are a bunch of combinations that might confuse some people. To break it down quite easily, it was an egg noodle with mince chicken and chicken soup called Yamin. You can then choose if you want it sweet or savoury, I chose sweet. Lastly you choose what you want with it, you can have meatballs, wontons, tendons, or combination of them all. I always like the Combination Sweet Yamin (Yamin manis komplit).

Mie Panorama is very famous in Makassar (city where the restaurant owner came from). The description from the menu said it was egg noodle topped with BBQ Pork, steamed chicken, fried and steamed chicken wonton.

I might give you a brief description of the next dish as some people might not appreciate it. It was an Oxtail soup. The dish is very well known, especially in East Java. It was a boiled and seasoned oxtail with vegetables (carrots and potatoes) and melinjo in clear soup. The long boiled oxtail was very tender.

My personal favourite in Mie Kocok Bandung was its Lo Mie. Lo Mie is egg noodle with thick and sweet soup base. It came with the usual add-ons: meatballs, minced beef, mushrooms, bean sprouts and green veggies. This would be one of the most filling (and possibly cheapest – $10 a bowl) noodles you could find in Sydney.

The final verdict for Mie Kocok Bandung

Mie Kocok Bandung is one of the well-known Indonesian restaurants in Sydney. Personally, I love their Lo Mie and Pangsit Goreng.

Did you know?

There used to be three Indonesian restaurants in Maroubra road, however two of them shut down this year with only Mie Kocok Bandung remaining. Recently, a new Indonesian restaurant opened up, but rumour has it that it isn’t that good.

Details:

Shop 1, 108 Maroubra Road, Maroubra 2035

Phone: +61 2 8347 2322

Mie Kocok Bandung on Facebook

Dec 1, 2012