Cross apples & Japanese food

Hold on a minute, I haven't yet covered any Jap food stalls in Perth yet have I?

Bother bother, getting a recommendation from a friend, we decided to pop by Applecross to check out a Japanese food stall. I wonder how the name Applecross originated? Like.. perhaps they had a farmer who grew very angry apples.

..or not.

Anyways, this place is fairly small, yet fully packed with a long waiting line for takeaway. It's got a good variety of dishes but the creativity is in that you could choose a main dish (eg. Katsu) and there are 5 sets which you could choose from. So you could have set A which comes with a soup and rice or set C which comes with 8 pieces of sushi or set D which is like a bento. I'm sure you get the idea.



Aah, this is the bento, which comes in a box for you to take home. Just kidding, you can't take it home, although my friend did.




What's in it? You've got fried tofu, a sesame chicken salad, sliced up vegetables with some dressing, two pieces of sushi and your main dish.

To rate what's best, I'd say the tofu; with a nice crispy outside, soft innards and tastily drenched in sauce. The sushi is surprisingly good too; of course, not Singapore-styled but more OZ-styled, that is, a little sweet overall.Sorry, didn't try this main course which was the teriyaki beef.



What I did have was the chicken katsu. It didn't come in a large chopped up chicken piece but in small nugget-like pieces, which I wasn't really enthusiastic about, and they were kinda oily. I loved the sushi though (in a sweet kind of way).



But on a lighter note, the teriyaki salmon was awesome. Soft yet tasty, a pity the portion was a little bit small.

Did I also mention that they have free flow green tea? Not something you can commonly find in OZ.

Overall, the price is a little higher than average (thinkg 14-16 for the bento set), but the food is not bad and definately worth a visit.

Some shots and what not

We gave Waraku another shot. Not much words this time round, Just enjoy the food-porn alright fellas!







Oh yeah I just have to add in that the udon was quite good. Good, chewy udon with good soup. But darn it, it made me scratch the whole night because the waitress said it doesn't contain wheat...

Alrighty, that's all for today folks, till I lay me fingers on my sexy Apple keyboard again. Adios!

Waraku

We don't usually eat at Japanese restaurants alot. And nooo, Ichiban Boshi doesn't count, it's just like a sushi chain thingy. So I was really anticipating how Waraku would taste like (not the store but the food duh) especially after reading Food Glorious Food's multiple posts on how uber fabulous the negitoro tastes like.

Verdict: It's freakin' good. Awesome. Fabulous. Yummy. Slurps slurps!



Good fatty tasty tuna belly with rice (which was pretty normal) with huge loads of heavenly spring onions which is the SUPERB sidekick to minced tuna belly. It's like robin to batman... Or kaya to toast... or issit toast to kaya (okay I've got some strange metaphors going on back there in my head). Or bananas dipped with chocolate... Jesus it's quite shitty I'm stuck in camp now and I'm hungreeeeeeeee.



Seriously, it's awesome. The spring onions added this fragrance to the otherwise (presumably) yucky raw tuna belly. I said presumably. Nah, actually I would like the tuna belly with rice alone too. But the spring onions are just so essential! Read the above paragraph again if you do not understand (or just keep reading it over and over again). And adding good grade soya sauce and a little wasabi would just hit the spot.

NEXT



This uber fabulously nice sushi. Raw chopped up tuna with a quail egg yolk. At least I think it's quail egg cause it's so teeny weeny. Omg, gobble up the whole thing and feel the awesome tuna taste combined with eggy texture so smooth it just slides down. Awesome.



We liked the pork katsu too. It was thick, and juicy... and sufficiently porky. And dipped into their AWESOME sauce meant for katsu. Ooo, genius. The best sauce I've ever tasted in my life (and I totally dig those things). It's not as sharp yet that's what brought out the flavour. Okay that explanation sucked... I can't remember much except it being the best I've ever tasted.



The udon was just pretty normal though. No hoo haa about it.



Ooo and we ordered the 5 kind sashimi. HAHA you should have seen Qin went into a state of shock for like 2 seconds when the dish was served. Actually I also went into a state of shock because the thing was SO FREAKIN HUGE we had to be shifted to another table!

But alas, the sashimi was a little of a let down. Not that fresh I suppose and the salmon doesn't have that milky taste. The rest were also only so-so and not the freshest I've had.

But otherwise, it was a good dinner and the bill came up to around $60 for both of us.

Did I also mention they provide two kinds of soya sauce? The one for sushi is sweet while the one for sashimi is a little more salty. But both rocked.

You can find out more here.

Soft and silky

This was what I got 2 weeks ago.

Real Japanese mochi!!!

Oh my gawd, I've been dying to eat mochi from Japan and not those from Ichiban Boshi. Courtesy of my friend Tee Guan who got them from Japan and kept some for me.

I was quite suprised by the shape of the mochi as I was expecting them to be round like those in Singapore. But rather, they were triangular.



The black ones are black sesame which I absolutely love while the other ones are banana and chocolate. Well, you can't really taste the chocolate but more of the banana which taste a little like medicine.



The skin is also super thin meaning you can taste more of the filling. Oh man, I'm drooling as I'm typing this.

Well, I hope one day I'll be able to go to Japan to eat their sashimi, ramen, red bean, black sesame, soft icecream... ... ... rambles on

Tamako Part II

Yes, after many repeated visits to Tamako, here I am again ranting and raving about their food again. These few times though, rather than being conservative and ordering the usual as I wrote in my previous post; teriyaki don, bento set etc., we went ahead and tried other kinds of sushi and dishes. Glad to say, we have found another gem!

The other time round, I chanced upon the best Inari sushi ever in this restaurant. This time, I found something even better! Please allow me to introduce you the best Unagi Tawara (or Gunkan for some of you) I have ever eaten.



I dislike unagi. Really. Whenever I have them at some other restaurants the unagi are usually filled with pricky bones and the meat is so rubbery that it's impossible to bite them into half. In addition, the impression unagi leaves me are thin, white slabs of tasteless meat due to stingy amount of sauce used. This Unagi Tawara, however, had me at the first bite. For $2.20, you get a huge, thick piece of well marinated and generously sauced unagi atop sweet, sufficiently vinegared Japanese rice. Thats not the focal point yet. Check this: When you pop the whole sushi into your mouth, just push it against the roof of your mouth and the Unagi is sooo soft that it simply smashes into a paste. No kidding, thats how soft and good it is. Combined with the sweet, juicy rice and generous amount of sauce which sometimes flow to the bottom of the sushi, it is a gastronomic climax. Not exagerating! Even Qin who was skeptical became a convert after the FIRST bite! Besides, they really took the time to remove all bones so what you get in the end is a good, tasty, fuss-free piece of sushi which I simply can't stop complimenting (and ordering!)

Just yesterday, we popped by the place again and ordered Soup Gyoza, California handroll, Ebiko special, Sake Mayo Sesami and of course, Unagi Tawara which has become a main staple in our orders.



The Gyoza soup is very tasty and have been brewed with either pork or beef as there are bit of meat in the soup. Very thickly flavoured. The gyoza was also quite good although I can't really make out what's inside. I suspect that its mashed up vegetables with shrimp as the gyoza was very soft. Soft skin and soft filling. Yes, I like soft and melt-in-your mouth stuff :)



I felt that the rice yesterday deteriorated though, it was abit drier and the vinegar added was not enough therefore not producing "sweet" rice. I realised that the amount of rice vinegar is very important. Put enough and you get moist, heavenly "sweet" tasting rice, too little and you get dry and slightly sourish rice as with most Japanese restaurants. The rice had an impact on the California roll and Ebiko special which tasted just average. The Sake Mayo Sesami still tasted very good though. Cooked salmon mayo at the center and the entire rice roll covered with sesame seeds making it slightly crunchy to chew and very flavourful.



Ah ha! Luckily the Unagi tawara saved the day. This time we were smart enough to order 4 servings at one shot rather than ordering them one by one. The dry rice did not have an impact on the Unagi because it's so moist and wet that it literally just soaked the rice! We had to agree (again) that its the best Unagi sushi ever.



So the rice in Tamako may vary which happens very, very seldomly (I actually think it's because of the huge amount of customers yesterday). Doesn't matter because I still love the Unagi and Inari there and its the only place I'm going to have sushi at :)

All things Japanese

Ohayo! Goooooooooooooood morning to everyone! Ooo, don't those mochi balls just look so tempting? Their soft, delicate skin wrapped around sweet, savoury red bean paste waiting to melt in your mouth when you bite into them. Ummmmmm... :P



Those cute little brown marbles are mochi balls I got from Ichiban Boshi Japanese Restaurant at $3 for a packet of 6. Up till now, I consider mochi balls from Ichiban one of the best you can find in Singapore. Sure, it comes from a commercial restaurant but the the mochi really has it standards quite high! Unlike other mochi balls which are usually thick and chewy outside, these mochi balls have a very thin skin. Moreover, the skin is very well made resulting in a very soft layer which blends together with the fillings very well and almost melts in your mouth. Yes, I realise that I have a thing for food that melts in the mouth :) There is also a generous portion of filling wrapped up inside unlike some mochi which look large but only 20% of which is the filling. Oh yah, the mochi is also small-sized enough to pop into your mouth and they come in three different fillings; peanut, red bean and green tea . However, I do find that quality of the mochi differs from different branches and I have so far found that those from the Wisma branch are the most well made.



Thats not the end! After having our fill, we popped by Holland Village to check out a Japanese bread shop recommended by a friend. This shop called Provence is located just opposite Holland Village's Nasi Lemak and churns out fresh, piping hot, French-style Japanese bread and French-styled sandwiches. They also serve drinks like hot chocolate and cuppachino etc. to compliment the bread. Tables are also positioned indoors and outdoors to suit your individual prefrences. First look, the variety of bread may look normal. Look closer though, and you wil realise that Japanese ingredients are used; red bean (w/ or w/o skin), mochi, Japanese curry etc.

Brown rice Anpan w/ Skin

We went quite late so most of the bread were already sold out including their best seller Wassant; mini crossaint-like bread with chocolate or custurd fillings. We did however, try their Brown rice Anpan, Cinnamon bread, Milk bread, Chocolate scones, New York Chocolate Bread, Apple bread and mini crossaint. I wouldn't go into detailed description here because there are simply too many of them but I would recommend the Milk bread and Chocolate scones.

Heres what we had:


The milk custurd filling was simply yummy! Not too sweet and very tasty. I'm sure it'll be heavenly when eaten right out of the oven when the filling is warm and soft.



This is the first time I've tried scones and I really love it! Hard as a rock on the outside but when bitten into, it simply crumbles and melt in your mouth. The chocolate bits also add to give a nice chocolatey taste.




There are simply too many types of bread to individually recommend but please do pay the place a visit and try the pastries out yourself. I'll be definately dropping by again to catch the freshly baked bread just out of the oven!

Tamako and a heavenly plate of Inari

This humble little Japanese restaurant, Tamako, was opened a few years ago by a lady called Min-chan and continues to serve true, authentic, mouth watering and reasonably priced Japanese delicacies. It was first introduced to me by my friend, Richie, and has since been one of our occasional "escapades" during lunch hour. What makes this restaurant special to us is the freshness of its food, the politeness of Min-chan and her assistant, and the homely feeling of the place. It's as if you stepped out of the busy city life into a comfortable dining place where you can eat at your own pace without waiters or waitresses bothering you. Besides, the wooden furniture and interior decor adds to the atmosphere as well.



All right, I should stop complimenting the place and get down to describing the goodies. Items that can be found on the menu include the dons, bento sets, sashimi, sushi, ramen, udon and set lunches which are available on the weekdays. During my frequent visits with my gf (yes she loves the place too), we usually order teriyaki chicken don which is served with white rice and five big chunks of chicken thigh marinated in sweet teriyaki sauce. It is one of the best teriyaki don I have tried as compared to more classy restaurants and the serving is generous while costing only $5.80.

Today, however, I ordered the Okinawa set lunch ($7.80) which consisted of nine, fresh, thick slices of salmon sashimi, Japanese rice, eda-mame, a small portion of pork stew, miso soup and a huge slice of watermelon. First of all, the sashimi is extremely fresh and is really firm to the bite with the "sweet" salmon taste. The pork stew with potato, carrots and onions also tastes exceptionally good with the vegetables being sufficiently softened and complimented with a thick and rich stew. Lastly, the miso soup they serve is also authentic (not those packaged kind) and is very, very nice.





Other bento sets we had were Teishuko bento ($10.80) which came in the same setting but with two extra gyoza pieces and an ebi tempura. Oh, did I mention that you can also choose sanma, saba or salmon shio for the main choice of meat? Yeap, its quite a versatile selection of orders :)



The bento and set lunches may be fantastic, but what sets this place apart from others is the exceptional taste of one of Japan's finest cuisine, the sushi. I can still remember the first time I sank my tooth into the salmon sushi ($2.20). The sweetness of its rice simply blew me apart! I have never tasted such sweet tasting and well made Japanese rice in my life, ever. Its as if the rice was dry yet wet at the same time and the sweetness just made the dish excellent.



Chancing upon this visit, I ordered the inari sushi ($1.20) which is my favourite sushi because of the sweet beancurd and to seriously test the standard of their sushi, I had to try it. The inari sushi was filled with the sweet Japanese rice mixed with white and black sesame seeds.



Looks pretty normal but when I took a bite, it was almost like an explosion of senses took place in my mouth. It was an absolutely extraordinary sensation; I closed my eyes and kept chewing, slowly releasing the sweetness and moisture in both the beancurd and rice and the fragrance of the sesame seeds, and felt like I was taken to heaven. Then I looked at Richie and said, "Richie, the inari is really, really, really good." The sushi was so moist I swear that there must be a hidden reservoir of sauces inside it! The beancurd was very soft, sweet and smooth and doesn't have the dry crumpled feeling as the ones I have tried so far. The rice was good as usual and the sesame seeds really added something special to the dish, making it very flavourful and fragrant. It was so good that we ordered six pieces!

*I've removed the photo because I figured it isn't very polite posting it without the person's consent*

Okay okay, I think I should end this overly long post. If you happen to give Tamako a visit (which I think you should!), you can bypass the other dishes, but please please please please please order the inari!

Tamako Meal
128 Casuarina Road
Tel: 65534128

Tampopo!

Tampopo stands for dandelion in Japanese and it's the name of a reaaaally old movie back in 1985 (when I was born!) about a widowed noodle chef and her "food adventures". I haven't seen the movie so I can't really tell you much about it. What I can tell you about Tampopo, though, is that it's a Japanese restaurant located at the basement of Liang Court which sells a variety of delicacies including katsu, sushi and bento sets with the ramen being their main selling point.

The restaurant claims to boil their Jangara ramen soup base over the course of two days in order to bring out the flavour of the pig bones used and the pork used is also different. Kurobuta, or black pig in Japanese, is used because there's more marbling resulting in a meat that is plump, juicy and rich with a deep pink colour (isn't this starting to sound like a good rump of beef?!).



The soup was indeed much thicker and stronger in flavour than other ramen soup bases and the taste of pork is quite distinctive. The long boiling time produced a soup base so thick that it looked milky. Actually, it tasted a little milky as well, Hrmm, maybe they added carnation milk? Although the Kyushu Jangara Ramen, with cod roe and pork loin, was the thing to go for, Qin opted for another version which comes with additional chilli powder. Good option eh? The only bad thing is the pork loin became pork slices which, with a surrounding layer of fat, still taste good! The difference in quality of the meat can also be noticed easily as it is soft, bouncy and juicy without the usual rough fibres in pork.



How it looks like after adding the chilli powder.

We also had Wafu beef which was served on a hot plate with bean sprouts. As this is my first time trying Wafu beef, I can't make any comparisons. However, I do feel that the beef was cooked quite well being "crisp" yet tender at the same time with a slight buttery taste.



All in all, visit the place if you like a good bowl of ramen sold at a reasonable price. You can also check out Meidi-ya for it's Japanese products you may never find them in our local supermarket!

Address:

Basement of Liang Court
Tampopo (beside Meidi-ya)