Izakaya Den $38 lunch special

A quick catch up lunch with a friend brought us to Izakaya Den. We take a look at the a la carte menu but end up settling on the 'Den Classics' lunch special - $38 per person, two choices for each of the four courses plus a drink.

We order different dishes and share, so end up with one serve of everything.

green tea

The green tea is served in a cute little glass teacup with a round bottom. It doesn't hold much, but with an individual pot each, it's fine to just pour as you go.

First out are the fried crunchy bites. Two of Izakaya Den's must-try dishes - the den fried chicken and the sweet corn kaki-age (fritters).

den fried chicken

The den fried chicken is coated in a light batter and deep fried, served with a wedge of lemon and some mayo on the side. Crispy on the outside, still moist and tender on the inside.

sweet corn kaki-age w/ green tea salt

The kaki-age is as good as ever. I first tried this dish as the Taste of Melbourne 2010 and again when I visited the restaurant on one of my Melbourne trips. It's the perfect combination of juicy corn kernels suspended in a light batter and served simply with some green tea salt. I must say, there really is something special about the green tea infused salt that really lifts the flavours of this dish.

Up next are the cold dishes - a tuna tataki and kingfish sashimi.

tuna tataki w/ garlic soy & wasabi cream

kingfish sashimi w/ asian dressing

The fish is super fresh, and the dressings are light and simple, but work well with each type of fish.

ocean trout

Perfectly cooked so that it flakes away at a slight touch. Good seasoning with a side of pickles.

kurobuta pork belly

Pork belly is always a fun one for reviewers. The crackling was crispy, the meat tender. The only downside was that the fat hadn't been rendered properly and so was a little too oily for my liking.

Then it was dessert time.

apple mille feuille

This dessert was brilliant - like a mini apple pie stack. Light crispy filo parcels of stewed apples, drizzled with a light syrup and served with a some fresh strawberries.

black sesame brulee

And creme brulee. Nice hard toffee crunch on the top, creamy brulee filling.

For $38, there's definitely plenty of food. Perhaps a little pricey for a 'quick lunch', but definitely value for money if you have the time to sit back and enjoy it!

Fukuryu Ramen

Fukuryu Ramen is a new addition to the Melbourne ramen scene. It's only been around for three weeks so  totally worth a visit while they're running some cool promotions.

Located at the corner of Corrs Lane and Little Bourke Street and up some fire stairs, Fukuryu is a trendy modern eatery. The menu is pretty simply - four classic ramens (tonkotsu, miso, shoyu and shio) and three 'modern' varieties (vegetarian, dry oil and 'tam tam'). There's also a couple of izakaya style snacks like karaage and gyoza for those snack-inclined. Order at the counter then pick a table and wait for your food to arrive.

It's still early in the life of this new spot so they're having a smackdown of nori chips and nori tofu. Complimentary samples of both for customers to vote on. It's a little like being on an episode of MasterChef or MKR!

nori tofu vs nori chips 'smackdown'

Both are tasty - the nori really adds a pleasant sublte seaweed flavour to both deep fried snacks. The tofu is slightly crispy on the outside and airy on the inside. Little puffs of tofu-goodness! Not quite crisp enough and there isn't enough seasoning. The chips on the other hand, are crunchy, well-seasoned and a delight to eat. No guesses which one I voted for.

miso ramen

My miso ramen is really good. Nice springy ramen noodles and slices of pork are drowned in a salty miso broth. The half boiled egg still has it's gooey yolk. And my favourite part - the corn tastes like it's been cooked in butter...yum!

tonkotsu ramen

The tonkotsu ramen is also a hit, but lacks the corn. Too bad for H.

As soon as our dishes are cleared away, our complimentary ice cream is brought out.

green tea ice cream

The ice cream is soft and creamy - more like soft serve than ice cream or gelato. There's a strong matcha flavour through it and we're told it's made on site. Such a good way to end a meal! The ice cream promotion ends 7 April, so get in while it's free!

Basically a three course meal at just $9.80 each - it is a very good Friday night feed indeed.

Overall impression: 9/10

KoKo @ Crown - MFWF Restaurant Express Menu

I don't generally eat out on my own, and definitely not when it's fine dining. But a culmination of having a day off, being too lazy to organise anything with anyone and the fact that the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival has Restaurant Express menus at some of the city's top restaurants changed all that. So I headed down to KoKo's for a leisurely lunch.

The interior of the restaurant is classically Japanese. Polished wooden floorboards surround a shallow pond in the center of the room. And wait for it...there are smooth flat stepping stones so you can walk across the pond!

interior and the miniature pool

As an extrovert, I must confess I actually really enjoyed the experience. I was seated a table by the window, with a view of the Yarra and the Melbourne Aquarium, on a day where it was sunny and the sky was a pretty blue colour. Just sitting there with some amazing food, an endless supply of green tea and calming music while watching the water glistening and rippling, trains going past and the occasional water taxi cruising by.

just look at that view!

chicken meatball in teriyaki sauce

A small appetizer is brought out. Not expected, as it wasn't on the menu. And it's an interesting one. A single chicken meatball with teriyaki sauce served cold. Yes, cold. I've never eaten a cold meatball like that and I'm still trying to decide if I like it.

Eventually my Shokado bento arrives and the waitress carefully sets it down in front of me, and arranges the miso soup, pickles and tempura dipping sauce around it before taking the lid off the box and revealing four impeccably presented dishes.

from top left: grilled Wagyu with onion sauce, tempura
whitebait and vegetables, trio of sashimi, steamed rice

I start with the sashimi. Thinly sliced salmon, tuna and a white flesh fish I'm guessing to be swordfish. Fresh, delicate and just the right portion size. Can't ask for more.

The Wagyu is slightly chewier than I had anticipated but that is partly my fault - in retrospect I probably should have ordered it medium rare instead of medium. But the beef is nicely charred on the outside, tender on the inside. It's served with a fancy type of mushroom in a generous pool of onion sauce. Well seasoned, and the strong flavours of the sauce worked perfectly with the rice.

The tempura comes in a light crispy batter. The whitebait is soft and flakey, the zucchini and sweet potato are both as they should be. The standout for me is the eggplant, which has been cut to resemble a bit of a fan and then battered and fried. Perfectly soft and creamy on the inside and crispy on the outside. Creative and tasty!

 

miso soup | Japanese pickles

The accompanying miso soup is also a favorite. Not your typical $2 miso (actually, do they even exist anymore?). This one has a good earthy miso flavour, and is generously loaded with seaweed and tofu. Delicious! The pickles are a refreshing palate cleanser.

All this for $40 and I get to tick off yet another top restaurant in my Good Food Guide. A good way to spend a random mid-week day off!

Overall impression: 8.5/10

Izakaya Den

Location: 114 Russell Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
Phone: (03) 9654 2977
Link: www.izakayaden.com.au
Cuisine: Japanese

Another blast from the past. We went to Izakaya Den over Easter this year, still mentally salivating over the sweet corn kaki-age we had tried at the Taste of Melbourne 2010.

The place itself is pretty hard to find, tucked away inside an office building of sorts. Inside, there is a long bar with seats, and table seating running parallel to that. 

Japanese izakaya is like a Japanese pub. Drinks and small plates of shared food form the basis of the menu. I see it as a cross between tapas and yum cha, with a Japanese twist. And why not? The Japanese are famous for their bite sized snacks, which are perfect for sharing. Surprisingly, no sushi on this menu, possibly not quite pub-food like enough.

Sakata coated prawns, citrus mayonnaise

The prawns were nicely cooked, and the sakata crumbs formed a nice light crispy coating. The citrus mayonnaise provided a nice counterbalance to the deep fried goodness. 

Crispy cocktail potato, anchovy butter

A pretty average potato, jazzed up with an amazing anchovy butter. Forget all that salt-reduced or unsalted butter. This is the god of all butters. Even if you don't like anchovies, this simply tastes like a intense saltiness immersed in the butter - nothing offensive, but definitely brought an otherwise boring (not even that crispy) potato to life.

sweet corn 'kaki-age'

After Taste of Melbourne 2010, there was no hesitation when it came to ordering this dish. Sounds really simple and possibly boring. But reality was nothing as expected. Crispy handfuls of sweet corn kernels coated in a light and seasoned tempura battered, then deep fried just a medley of flavours and textures. The popping juiciness of the corn against the crispy light batter, paired with green tea salt, was just a party in the mouth. I could eat an entire meal of these.

Steamed snapper with rice in bamboo leaf

 Pretty small serve, with delicate pieces of snapper and some rice. Nothing special.

Wagyu tataki, wasabi cream

At the time of this feasting episode, I wasn't the hugest fan of raw beef. The tataki tasted fresh, but lacked seasoning. And when you don't like wasabi, there wasn't much of a choice.

Grilled squid with sea urchin sauce

From memory, this was one of the specials for the night. Curious about sea urchin sauce, we thought we'd give it a go. I wasn't impressed. The squid was chewy, and coated in a strange tasting sauce (whether it was the sea urchin or not, I couldn't really tell).

Special daikon salad

A simple salad to cleanse the palate. The daikon was refreshingly crunchy. But again, nothing special.

lamb ribs, red miso

The lamb ribs were nicely grilled, but could have had a little more meat on them (or the serving could have contained more than six skinny pieces of bone). We had been curious about the 'red miso' sauce, but it ended up tasting like a saltier version of hoisin sauce.

Den fried chicken

This was the second best dish of the night. Fried chicken? This was no ordinary fried chicken. We couldn't work out what exactly made this chicken taste so good, but it was just brilliant. Light tempura batter, soft pieces well marinated (or seasoned?) chicken. Nothing fancy, but it just worked.

Service was slow, and aside from the two or three keynote dishes of the night, there was nothing to cry home about. I would gladly go again for the corn and the fried chicken, but I'd probably be looking at trying the other dishes on the menu. From discussions with other friends, it seems we may have ordered the wrong dishes.

Overall Impression: 8/10

Coo Izakaya

Location: 15 East Row, Sydney Building, Canberra
Phone: (02) 6257 2233
Link: www.iori.com.au/coo/index.htm
Cuisine: Japanese

I've had Iori, and its sister restaurant Coo, recommended to me a few times, so when my parents came up to visit me, I decided to try out Coo.

Coo had a nice set up and sported an almost-tapas like menu with an extensive range of smaller dishes and a few larger ones. We decided to go tapas-style and ordered an assortment of the smaller dishes.

renkon chips - deep fried lotus root

First to arrive was the renkon chips, essentially deep fried thinly sliced lotus root. The crunchy slivers of lotus root had an interesting texture. and were lightly seasoned. 

spider roll - inside-out sushi roll filled with tempura soft shell crab,
lettuce, avocado, cucumber and seafood stick, wrapped with
special Aburi salmon

This was one of the most interesting items on the menu, and there were no regrets in trying it out. The spider roll was a beautiful combination of flavours and textures. 

Shio Saba - grilled mackerel

This dish was a bit of a disappointment for me, both in size and in quality. The serving size was rather small and the sauce was rather lacking. The mackerel was a tad overcooked and had a dry and brittle texture.

Coo ramen

The ramen was a bit of a gimmick - served in a stone pot over a flame. The broth was light and flavoursome, the noodles 'al dente' and the vegies plentiful. However, the ramen was nothing like the ramen I've had at Ramen Ya and Meshiya, it was missing the menya (picked bamboo) and would have tasted a significantly better if it had some meat in it.

Teri chicken

The highlight of the night was the teri chicken. The tender juicy pieces of chicken were smothered in a beautiful teriyaki sauce and the salad was light and refreshing.

We finished off the meal with a scoop of green tea ice-cream. The ice-cream was unlike normal ice-cream and had a slightly chewy texture, as though tapioca powder had been added to the mix. The result was a scoop of ice-cream that did not melt and collapse into a puddle as easily as normal ice-cream would, in fact, it managed to hold its shape until the very last bite.

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The service was varied, The main waitress who took our orders and looked after our table was rather rude and dismissive, something I would not have expected at a restaurant of Coo's standing. The other waiter who brought us some of our dishes, on the other hand, was quite friendly and eager to help.

Food-wise, the experience was great, but I won't be rushing back for the service. Might give it's sister restaurant, Iori, a shot first.

Overall Impression: 7.5/10

Teppansan

Location: 179 Russell St, Melbourne
Cuisine: Japanese

Entree: Miso Soup

Main: Zaru Soba

A cold noodle dish served with sauce and thinly sliced cooked beef

This dish was served with soba tsuyu, which is a dipping sauce. The tsuyu had very strong kaeshi flavours (a sweeter version of the chinese soy sauce) and a hint of mirin. The way to eat this dish is to take some of the soba using chopsticks and dip it in tsuyu before eating it. It is also a good idea to mix wasabi into the sauce for added spice! I love cold soba on a hot day. Its incredibly refreshing and you can really taste the texture of the soba when it is chilled (the texture is quite different when you cook soba in soup because the noodle absorbs the soup). Teppansan does this dish quite well.

Main: Beef in Wafu sauce served with rice and vegetables

Overall Impression: 5.5/10
Casual dining. Friendly and quick service, very good value. Oh, and they make a delicious Okonomiyaki!

"The prices here make you think the restaurant has made a bill error in your favour."- Matt Preston, 5 February 2007

Kitchen Workshop

Location: Ground Floor, Clarendon Street Entrance, Crown
Link: http://www.crowncasino.com.au/kitchen-workshop
Cuisine: International

I hate buffets. But due to several factors including undue influence, I went to Kitchen Workshop last night. There was a pretty decent selection of mains and entrees like roast, lots of random deep fried things, beef bourginon, calamari, fish, roasts, antipastos, salads, pasta, biriyani rice, an interactive teppanyaki station (where you get to choose what you want in your stir-fry). I was waiting in line at the teppanyaki station and saw them pour a ridiculous amount of oil on and chickened out, quickly leaving my position. My friends tried it though and they said there were nice flavours but nothing to shout about. There was also a generous selection of desserts (that included a chocolate fountain).

The mango pudding in particular was a winner. Simple and pleasant.

Overall Impression: 5/10
Delivers everything it promises but goes no further. Great value for money. An all you can eat dinner that cost us 23.50AUD per head. Relaxed ambience. Helpful staff.