Shyun is my usual go to place when I'm after good, local Japanese food. So naturally when I learnt they opened a sister raman bar on the same stripe in Koornang road, I was excited and keen to try it. The place had a modern rustic decor and fitted out to be a casual eatery. When we arrived it was buzzing already and shortly after we were seated (on a communual share table) a line formed outside.
Bobo, K and I decided to give it a visit for one of our girls night. We got 2 ramen, 1 udon and a few sides to share.
First up was the takoyaki octopus balls. These were small and came with a generous pieces of octopus inside. The outside was crunchy with just the right bite.
Adegashi tofu was lightly fried and simply disappointing. It was deep fried enough, you can see the outer coating being very light yellow in colour. The starch coating was all gelatin like and not crispy.
Gyoza, was again pan fried with a gelatin like coating on top. The base wasn't crispy enough and the filling was salty.
As mains we got the tori gara udon. This came with a tasty soup base and the udon were perfectly al dente.
The next was the tonkontsu kenkigara which was spicy pork broth ramen with mince meat. This was packed a punch and the soup base was very salty.
Their signature ramen was tonkotsu charsiu. This was a rich broth with a shoyou base. Sadly it failed to hit the mark. It tasted like it was full on MSG, I felt very thirty after a few mouthfuls.
Overall 11/20 I found it extremely disappointing. Most of the food was too salty. I am hoping that this is purely because it's newly opened and they will iron out the problems later.
After I posted the New Shanghai review last time, a few of my Shanghai friends suggested a few more places to try for pan fried pork buns. One of the few suggestions were Eastern Dumpling House located in Carnegie.
As a local store on the busy Koornang road, it is easy to find and not too much of a wait.
D and I only came here to grab a quick dinner. D was in the mood for some XLB so what the hell, might as well. This came steaming hot with 8 delicate soupy dumplings. I was quite surprise, I wasn't expecting much but it was soupy and tasty for the filling. Skin wasn't too thick and just right to pick it up by the tip with chopsticks and it won't collapse. Thumbs up here.
To make my give a bit of balance we also got oyster sauce broccoli. These didn't come out oily and wet like most other dumpling places. They tasted like they were steam and the veges retained the natural sweetness.
Lastly, the pan fried pork buns. These looked like any other pan fried pork buns on the plate but when I flipped them slightly I noticed sesame on the base. The buns has soft, crisp and slightly sweet casing. The filling had just the right amount of soup and the meat stuffing was cooked perfectly. They were really delicious and weren't too heavy. The sesame on the based gave it the extra texture which I really enjoyed.
Overall 14.5/20 I found all 3 dishes to be impressive and I think they set the standard high for pan fried pork buns!
Based on Ktown (Koonang Rd) in Carnegie, Mrs Kim's BBQ is as the name suggest, it's a Korean BBQ restaurant. With a bright yellow sign and big open spaces, this one where you walk out slightly less stinky/smoky.
We got a few sets to share. The Moo set came with galbi beef ribs and skirt steak. The ribs had a beautiful marinate and when it was cooked it fell off the bone. This was my favorite set of the night.
The Oink set came with a choice of chilli/soy pork belly and pork neck fillet. The soy pork belly had a sweet marinate and wasn't too fatty.
The Cluck Cluck set came with chilli/soy marinated chicken. Given it's chicken, it's quite easily overcooked. Chilli marinate wasn't too spicy. Chicken just wasn't very exciting so the one set was more than enough.
We also got salads with the sets and ordered a few extra beef ribs and ox tongue. They have 3 salads to choose from: tomato and avocado salsa; smoked salmon and onion; Ssam greens. Nothing exciting there but it's good to see a salad option at a BBQ place.
All the sets come with soup of the day (ours was miso beef), corn and potato. Corn is always a winner in BBQ but with the potato make sure you take it out of the container and leave it on the BBQ for some time. Each set also comes with 2 servings of rice.
Overall 13.5/20. I really liked the beef ribs and ox tongue. I will definitely come back, it was great service and atmosphere. I like the open plan where there is more ventilation. There was 6 of us and it cost us just under $200 all up. We all got drinks and left feeling full.
Lucky for me, this place is not too far from where I live so I pop in every so often.
Unlike a lot of Japanese places in Melbourne, this place is actally run by actual Japanese people and not just your usual Chinese people running a sushi shop. Based on the busy shopping strip of Koornang road, this place can be hard to get a table on the weekend and friday nights. Recently rennovated, they have an ipad ordering system in place that allows you to see pictures of what you are ordering.
I love their nasu dengaku (miso eggplant) so I always get that as an entree to start. Full of robust flavour and that mince meat just adds to the texture.
I recently have an obsession with Chirashi so I just had to try it here. Lots of fresh tuna, salmon, kingfish topped onto sushi rice. Nice and fresh and relatively healthy. This was a good change to the usual sashimi platter we get. Though I think in comparison to Koko, I still prefer Koko. Koko has better seasoning on the rice.
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Soft shell crab roll is a MUST try here if you love soft shell crap. The spicy sauce on the side with wasabi, just takes it over the edge. YUM!
Tempura udon (the boy's favourite). Soft udon noodles which are cooked just right. Well covered tempura prawns and vegetables. If you like tempura udon, then it would appeal. However to me (never have liked tempura in soup), it just taste like a big bowl of soggy battered prawns and vegetables with silky udon noodles.
Overall 13/20. Good local joint to pick up a bite and still get quality Japanese food.
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