Ichiban Japanese Delight, Victoria Park

The Ichiban Japanese Delight food outlet is located inside the International Eating House in Victoria Park, WA. We were attracted to this place as we love international eating, and the food hall set-up was perfect for our family, offering a large selection of food. Unfortunately, the place has seen better days. More than half of the food outlets were empty, and the whole place had a dodgy feel about it.

A large teriyaki chicken. large serves.

chicken donburi

Location
Ichiban Japanese Delight
International Eating House
Shop 1 1020 Albany Hwy, Saint James, WA
ph: (08) 9355 3688
web: none

Cherry Blossom Cafe, Ubud

The Cherry Blossom Cafe is located on the quiet side of Jalan Goutama. The food is Japanese inspired. There is limited seating, but I have never seem more than one couple eating there at a time. The staff are young and friendly, and as you will possibly be the only one there you can get attentive service.

As you can see, it is not the usual Japanese food. The red rice sushi was better than it looked.

Pesto was OK, the pasta overcooked. Not sure why we cannot get good pasta dishes in Bali.

The chicken very dry, horrible mashed potato.

Oh, the food was pretty average. It looked good and they had tried hard. We enjoyed our icy cold beer though, and the nice and quiet location. Maybe your food choices will be better and they may have improved. It won’t cost you a lot to try it out.

Torro Sushi Ubud Review

We have had takeaway from Torro Sushi before, but today was the first time I had eaten in the restaurant. They are located along Jalan Goutama, my favourite eating street in Ubud, Bali.

The sushi was quite dry, the rice had a little crunch to it, not moist as I was expecting. The Terriaki chicken dish was small, though the chicken was not too fatty and sauce as sweet and tasty.

The food is reasonably priced, not cheap. I would pay about the same for sushi back home in Australia. The staff seemed friendly enough, but looked pretty bored with the restaurant empty except for us. I have seen the place busy in the evenings when I have passed at other times.

The whole experience was unfortunately ruined when the staff tried to overcharge me. I had noticed that they were struggling to get the right change, so when they handed me my change with no comment, I was not surprised to see that it was short. They seemed surprised -“Oh, you want the right change?”. Yes, or at least tell me you did not have any small notes, and try and work it out. Of course they found the right notes when they tried harder.

Kagemusha Japanese Restaurant Review

The Kagemusha Japanese restaurant is just down the road from where we are staying, and now that we have finally tried the food there, we will be coming back again. The restaurant is quietly hidden off the busy Nyuh Kuning main road near Ubud, overlooking some lush greenery.

There is a selection of books to read, but all in Japanese. This must be a place that Japanese come to eat, a good sign. The only other group to come in while we were eating we Japanese.

The menu was extensive, though our kids were disappointed there were no sushi dishes. There was a similar dish, rice balls wrapped with some flakes in the middle. These were pretty plain and very hard to eat!

The terriaki chicken was a good alternative to the sushi for Olive.

There was another dish that worked very well for the kids, fried rice wrapped in an omelette. It was covered in tomato sauce, not sure about that.

Clare went for a fried eggplant starter which was very tasty, then salty salmon, which true to its name was very salty.

Rob’s choice was terriaki don, the terriaki chicken on rice. It was very filling.

If you are after a Japanese food fix this place is recommended, and very reasonably priced too.

Yuzu Kaiten Sushi Review

Yuzu Kaiten Sushi, Mount Lawley

We went on a Tuesday as it is their cheap sushi night. Food always tastes better when it is cheaper. It is not an easy place to find, tucked under a stairwell behind Fresh Provisions in Mount Lawley, but worth the trouble find it. It is only a small place, so luckily we turned up early and we were able to sit in a booth, which suited our family best. There is other seating on the bench along the train. There is more than 50 kinds of sushi available on the conveyor belt, normally priced from $3.10 to $5.90. On Tuesdays they are only $3.00 each, very good value. The sushi was fresh and tasty, we will definitely be coming back for more.

Other Things You Should Know

closed on Mondays
cheap Tuesday Sushi Train Night

Location & Contact

address: 649 Beaufort St, Shop 11, Mount Lawley, WA 6050
phone: 08 9227 1880

Tao Cafe Review

Tao Cafe, Innaloo

The staff are young but always efficient and friendly. The restaurant covers three nationalities, Vietnamese, Thai and Japanese, and surprisingly seems to do all of them well. We have been to the Tao Cafe in Innaloo a couple of times. The restaurant is very family friendly, and provide regular table sitting, booths or you can sit along the sushi train. Our favourite entrees include the spicy Thai fish cakes, fresh Vietnamese rice paper rolls, and a plate or two from the sushi train. There are a few kids meals such as kung fu fried rice, but we prefer to let them choose a plate from the sushi train. All meals are of very decent size and the price is reasonable. For mains, we have not had a bad meal. You can eat around the world with the tom tum noodle soup (Thai), Pho tai (Vietnamese) and Chicken teriyaki (Japanese).

Other Things You Should Know

BYO beer and wine. Corkage $4 a bottle, but not sure about beer bottles!
open for lunch and dinner every day
entertainment book 25% off (up to $25)

Location & Contact

address: 381B SCARBOROUGH BEACH RD, INNALOO 6018
phone: 92044774
web: www.taocafe.com.au

Harvest, Kyoto Review

Harvest, Kyoto

An amazing buffet format restaurant in Kyoto station area that offers a large variety of Japanese food, with the aim of being healthy and natural using seasonal ingredients. A sign out the front says their philosophy is the “beauty comes from a healthy body”. And best of all it is all you can eat! We used the opportunity to sample a wide range of foods that we would not normally try, knowing that if we did not like it we could always try something else. There were a few surprises and overall a very good experience. It is not the cheapest place to eat, but worth a splurge if you want to try something different.

Other Things You Should Know

the restaurant is all you can eat buffet style
limit to 90 minutes per sitting

Location & Contact

address: among the other restaurant in the basement level of Porta, the Kyoto Station underground shopping center

Ninniku Jip Review

Ninniku Jip, Victoria Park

We heard about Ninniku Jip because of the children’s playground inside, a reason to go there with my kids in itself. We have also recently been to Japan, so were interested in eating more of that cuisine back home. The large sushi selection was a great place to start for our kids meal (we tried the Torimaki), though there was a specific kids meal menu too (nuggets and streamed rice!).

Another favourite of ours is japanese gyoza which we were glad to see on the entree menu. We always look for something new and different on the menu, so some kimchi was in order (a traditional fermented Korean dish made of cabbage or other vegetables with varied seasonings). We tried the Kimchi & Pork Rice (Kimchi and pork stirred with rice and served with a sunny side up egg), and Kimchi Nabe (soupy kimchi with pork served in a hot pot). Very tasty and enjoyable. Next time (yes, we will go back) I’ll be trying the Yakisoba.

Other Things You Should Know

open Mon,Fri-Sun 11:30am-3pm, 5pm-11pm; Tue,Thu 5pm-11pm
Ninniku means garlic in Japanese, and Jip means house in Korean
BYO wine (corkage $5)
If you have the Entertainment Card, you can get 25% off total bill

Location & Contact

address: 867 Albany Highway, East Victoria Park WA 6101
phone: (08) 9355 1988

Jaws Sushi Train Review

Jaws Sushi Restuarant, Perth City

This place is always busy, so the sushi keeps coming freshly made. This Jaws Sushi Restaurant is located in the Hay Street Mall in Perth, Western Australia, and has been around for a long time. It can get very busy with the lunch time work crowd, so avoid the rush hour if you can. There are not a lot of sushi train restaurants around Perth so if you want that experience it is a good place to go. The mostly Japanese staff are happy and friendly. They offer what you expect for such a restaurant, with plates ranging from $3.10 to $6.80. There are a couple of other places in the Jaws chain around town that you should also check out – East Perth, Forrest Chase and London Court.

Other Things You Should Know

open Mon-Thurs 11:30-19:30, Fri 11:30 – 21:00, Sat & Sun 11:30 – 18:00
the first sushi bar in Perth
if you don’t want sushi, there is a range of other menu items to choose from
BYO wine only

Location & Contact

address: Shop 1, 726 Hay St, Perth
phone: 08 9481 8280
web: www.jawssushi.com.au

Wagamama Noodle Bar

When I first went to Wagamamas it was a bit disconcerting sitting side by side with your fellow diners. This is now commonplace, and it does have it’s advantages, and is part of the experience. They serve Japanese and other Asian cuisine inspired food, mostly noodle and rice dishes, at reasonable prices. Wagamama is a successful international restaurant chain, with more than 90 restaurants around the world. We have been to several, the latest was in Subiaco, WA.

Food & Drinks

The restaurants are kid friendly, which is part of the attraction for us. Not only do they provide crayons and paper for the kids to play with, but all children under 12 eat for free. The children’s menu is not the standard chicken nuggets and chips, though the majority of their choices did have chicken. The rest of the menu is mostly noodle as expected, but a good choice of flavours and regional specialties.

Our Meals

I had Yaki Soba – teppan-fried soba noodles with egg, chicken, shrimps, onions, green and red capsicum, beansprouts and spring onions. garnished with mixed sesame seeds, fried shallots and pickled ginger. It was a good as it sounds. My partner did not have such a great experience. She ordered a vietnamese beef salad from the specials menu. It came out bland with the noodles undercooked. She is not one to send back food, but she had no choice this time as it was unedible. They happily took it back and returned with the same dish cooked as it shoudl have – cooked noodles and lots more flavour. The chef apparently cooked it this time! For the kids meal, we chose chicken skewers (Yakitori), which came on a fun serve of long noodles.

Service

The staff were great, even though we moved tables to get a better view, and sent back one of the mains. Young and cheerful, they were efficient and there when needed.

Ambiance

It was a windy evening, and we were not too sure about our choice to sit on the balcony exposed to the elements a bit. The space to ourselves and the comfy lounges made it worthwhile. It is probably easier to eat your meals seated at the long tables.

Price

Reasonably priced meals, which you would expect for a mostly rice and noodle menu. Drinks were a bit pricey, I never like paying over $7 for a local beer.

Overall

It is a nice casual place to go out, and not too expensive. We will go back.

Contact

Wagamama Subiaco
Shop 1 / 3 Roberts Rd
Subiaco 6008
phone (08) 9388 6055

web: www.wagamama.com.au