Kushiyaki, Sydney and Adriano Zumbo, The Star

HI AGAIN! Procrastination at its best! :D I thought I'd share my Kushiyaki experience with you all, since it was pretty damn awesome~



Looking for a fine Japanese place to dine at? I would recommend Kushiyaki! Kushiyaki is a Japanese restaurant famous for its traditional kushiyaki (grilled skewers) and Otsumami. It is apparently the first Japanese bar and grill introducing all aspects of Japanese foods. The cuisines are simple, but made to perfection. We went as a group of four, so we ordered heaps to share. Food is best when it is shared :D especially with people who enjoy food as much as yourself.

We also made reservations for the 2011 Sugar Hit taking place there as there were over 1000 attendees for it the year before. The ambiance of the restaurant was of Japanese elegance which held a bit of class yet having a familial feel to it with the kimono draped on the walls and the signature paper walls. The journey was definitely worth it! Be sure to make reservations if you want to go~

So here are some of the Kushiyaki wonders:

 Seared Tuna Salad served with Azuma's soy vinaigrette ($16) 

Now this dish is one of Azuma's famous dishes and was featured on SBS Food Safari! I would definitely recommend this dish. Usually, I'm not a fan of raw tuna, but something about this dish was dangerously good. The sides were lightly cooked with the inside nice and tender. It was really fresh, and the toppings made it perfect. The sauce complimented the tuna well with the pickled radishes, ginger and shallot adorned on top. Everyone picked on every last bit of it! :D

 Unagi Yanagawa - grilled eel, spinach topped with soft cooked egg in a shallow pot. $16.80 

Mmm this dish was perfect. The eel was soft and tender and marinated well in the slightly soy based sauce, with the soft egg complimenting well with the overall taste.

 Soft shell crab tempura - $9.80 

Soft shell crab is one of my favz when I go out to eat. So if there's a chance of it being on the menu, I'd pick it! :D And this soft shell crab was done so beautifully. The batter was light and did not ooze a sickening amount of oil. There was also a nice crunch to it to.

 Chilli Gyouza - $9.00 

Have you ever seen a red gyouza before? I think this marks my first time. The red dye certainly justifies its chilli substance. Although not overly powerful, it's enough to make the light hearted chilli takers feel the impact. Nonetheless it was a dish well done.

 Spider roll - soft shell crab tempura - $11 

Once again, soft shell crab!! :D It was battered lightly and wrapped delicately. However, instead of just using a japanese mayo, they mixed it with a wasabi paste, thus we felt the impact of the wasabi more heavily.

 Wagyu Karamisu $8.80

*** I almost forgot I had this dish! Until I remembered miso - I took bad pictures of it, and ended up unknowingly deleting the only picture I had of it... D: but its the black bowl on the far right -->  **EDIT I FOUND THE PICTURE! It was unknowingly hidden amongst the stash of food porn. :D This dish was awesome~ The juicy waygu beef was simmered lightly in spicy miso. The spicy miso was done very well, and was light and fragrant. The tofu was soft and light as well, complimenting well with the flavoured miso soup and wagyu.

 Lamb chop with Sansho pepper salt ($6 ea. x2) 

This lamb chop was amazing! The pieces were soft and tender, and so easy to bite. It was marinated lightly and seasoned in proportion to its size. Best lamb chop I've had in a while~

 Asparagus dressed with soy and butter ($3 x 2) 

For those of you who know me, I'm not much of a green vege fan. But this!!! I can munch on all day! AND I wont feel guilty either. Cause asparagus is good for you :D The slightly grilled asparagus was seasoned to proportion and textured beautifully with the soft butter.

 Grain fed ox tongue with Azuma's curry salt ($4 x2) and Duck breast with Japanese Sansho pepper salt ($4.5 x2)

Both were really good. The duck breast was cooked and seasoned well. And the ox tongue was seasoned in a way that I've never experienced. It's very different to the ones you have at Thai restaurants - because of the slight curry tang to it. There wasn't a heavy tang, it was just subtle but made all the difference in the world! I love ox tongue, but my em said to me, 'How can you like ox tongue, it's like, the texture of your own tongue...' LOL ahhh now I can't help but notice the extra tongue in my mouth feeling when I chew on it D: I don't think I can rid myself of that feeling. </3

 Chicken thigh fillet with Kushiyaki sauce ($3 x2) 

This was probably the most average dish we ordered, but nonetheless, onmononmonmom.

 Wagyu beef tenderloin with Yuzu citrus pepper ($4.50 x2)

Wagyu beef like never before! I've tried Yuzu macarons at Cafe CreAsion before, but I never knew what it actually was. I can tell you now, that Yuzu in a peppery paste form triumphs greatly over its form in macaron! The yuzu added a certain zest to the food to make it seem lighter. It's like when you drink lemonade or add lemon to your water or food to make it less oily/fat! A job well done! :D yumm

 Azuma Ramen - Home-made egg noodles in mild spicy sesame and pork soup $15 

The soup base was really light and tasty, however the noodles were pretty basic. Hit and miss.

 Wagyu steak with soy garlic sauce $25 

When we asked the waiter how big the steak was, he did a tiny circle with his index fingers and thumbs. And yes, it was miniature! Haha, a perfectly miniature cooked steak - medium rare. The steak was readily cut and cooked to perfection. There were no painful chews or swallows as the beef was super tender and juicy. The soy garlic sauce was also a beautiful addition with the steak.

Now onto the almighty Sugar Hit - east meets west! Menu:

 Brown Brothers dessert wine 

Our dessert wine tasted really sweet after our savoury meal, however after all the sugary stuff. It wasn't as sweet anymore. CHEERS TO GOOD FOOD ERRBODY! :D

 Anmitsu 

Assorted seasonal fruits, tapioka pearls, shiratama rice dumplings covered in kinaki power served with Japanese brown sugar syrup with home made white sesame ice cream. OMG Our sugar hits were in two mini bento boxes. Aren't they just gorgeous?! The fruit combo went nicely with the sweet rice dumplings and red bean. And the white sesame icecream was one that I've never tried before; only have tried black sesame. White sesame is a tad lighter and sweeter I suppose~ :D

 Sake sample, Japanese green tea tiramisu, handcraft chocolate and sake sponge bites 

Our sake sample for the day was a cloudy one. CHEERS! More clinks of glass were made for the shots~ I found it pretty strong; with the sedimentation of cloud of who knows what. The Japanese green tea tiramisu was composed of shochu soaked sponge fingers layered with mascarpone, fresh cream and matcha powder. This is undoubtedly the best tiramisu I've ever had! So I scraped every last bit of it~ :D The mascarpone and fresh cream were light and complimented well with the bitter matcha powder. The handcraft chocolates had some sort of pop rocks in them. Sadly, I couldn't feel any pop rocks in my mouth, and left abandoned whilst the party happened in my friend's mouth instead D: </3 oh well. The sake sponge bites were pretty average. Nothing that special. haha

 Cheers to good food and good company~

 Demolished!

 Gogogogogo!

After our ridiculously good meal, we went on an epic walk from Kushiyaki to The Star to see Adriano Zumbo's new macaron place! The mentality was, eat lots, work it off by walking :D Also took the chance to take in Sydney's beautiful iconic landmarks - The harbour bridge and the opera house. 

The novelty of the place is amazing! The way they display their macarons and cakes makes it seem as though we are in a museum of macaron art. There's also a salesperson who walks around taking our order as we navigate our way through the sweets. 

 Displays of cakes 

Yes...yes I shall...

 Macarons at $2.50 

Our conquests! They had really interesting flavours that day; from the bottom: 

•  Raspberry caramel: ooooo the perfect balance between sweet and tangy! Love it.
• Caramelised pumpkin seed: ehhh, a bit of a hit and miss, quite interesting though - a bit bland
• Cola Zumboron: This macaron tastes like a creamy flat coke lolly! Pretty interesting! If only there was a way to add the fizz into the combo, then it'd be the bomb.
• Lemon verbena zumbaro: just like a lemonade! For the friend that loves lemons hahaha
• Lime and mint moji (in the packet on the side): limey and minty, like a lemonade.
• Passionfruit and Tonka bean: Fruity! Idk what tonka beans are, but they made the macaron textured
• Coconut, green chili and lavender zumboron: now this was certainly an interesting macaron, as Po described it as, 'it tastes like lavender when you put it in your mouth, coconut when you chew it, and you can taste the chili when you swallow it!' Three in one, what a genius. 

The three in one

 Lemon Carpet Crush ($10)  vs Root Caramel ($9)

Citron creme, flourless lemon cake, lemon crush liquid, vanilla chantily, lemon crush jelly, lime marshmallow and sable. As you can tell, the first one would be super sour and perfect for lemon lovers~ It provided a nice refreshing summer taste, and just gives you goosebumps with the sourness. Passionfruit creme, ginger and vanilla bavaroise, tonka bean caramel, ginger sable Breton, caramel chantilly, caramel sponge. This combo was beautiful. You can taste everything in the layered cake from the sweet ginger to the subtle soft caramel mousse.

 Inside

 The funny one told the sales person she had a dream about eating a caramelised palm sugar macaron in hope that they'd magically have it in stock just cause she said it hahaha (Y) too funny.

This is what came out of the money machine as change for a $20 for parking. Trolls these days! haha 

And we went to Darling Park to work off all the food we ate. If you guys haven't been, I say go! The place is so much better~~~ So many things to do! Feeling like kids again :D Oh, yeah, we wanted to go to Mamak for their rotti, but sadly, they close early on weekdays </3 next time, next time...

Kushiyaki - Bar & Grill

Regent Place, 501 George Street
Sydney
NSW 2000

The Star

80 Pyrmont St, 

Pyrmont

NSW