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Monday, October 09, 2006

Dinner at Musashi

Lanterns at Musashi

Beneath these mysterious lanterns
Sat 3 hungry buggers sharing a table with 8 strangers celebrating a birthday party
Thus began another gastronomic adventure...

After The Rocks, we headed back for another pitt stop at the apartment. Exhausted from a long day of travelling and eating, we parked ourselves on the couch, in front of the idiot box and flicked some channels. Before we knew it, it was 8pm and it was dinner time! Samps suggested Musashi for dinner. In the two weeks that he was in Sydney he had manage to discover a few decent restaurants around the Pitt St/Elizabeth St vicinity. (I think I got this right). After the disappointing lunch and afternoon tea we were looking forward to a good solid meal and we weren't too disappointed. :)

There was a queue at Musashi when we got there. Samps did say it was popular, even though it was 8:30pm, got a number and waited for about 20minutes or so before we were ushered in. The restaurant had an interesting number system, I suppose interesting because I've never seen it in Melbourne before. (maybe I just don't go out often enough) When you arrive, you write your name and number of guests down on a book (that sits on a stand similar to an orchestra conductor's stand), rip off a tiny number next to your entry and then you wait to be called. If you decide that you don't want to sit on the teppanyaki counter, you simply go back into the queue, not at the back of the queue.. but just where you were previously. What a cool idea!

In Melbourne, depends on where you go, you get the regular "Please wait, while we find you a table. Or you get your name down in the waiter's book and then you wait. No number.." I think a number would solve all those problems with idiots complaining loudly that they came first and supposedly registered but the waiter didn't/forgot to take their registration. "No number, no registration.. you lie" LOL

Anyway, on to the food. We ordered the following dishes from the menu:


Wagyu Yakiniku Beef

Wagyu Yakiniku Beef Teppanyaki: Served on a bed of bean sprouts, side of mashed potato, grilled onigiri and special sauce. Decent, the wagyu was melt in your mouth texture and the sauce tasted like worchestershire, but like I said "Special Sauce" I could be very wrong there. I've had better but still good. Interesting how it was served with a grilled onigiri. I love onigiri! They're so cute.


Takoyaki

Takoyaki: This takoyaki was interestingly enough served on an omelette. I think it was premade earlier because the takoyaki was kind of warm. The best takoyaki I've had is at Uzu or Cafe Uzu, located in Caulfield East right next to Caulfield Station and Monash University, Caulfield campus. It is made fresh on the premises in front of your eyes. It's cheap, fresh and delicious at $5 for 8. You have a choice of 3 types of mayo, the regular egg mayonnaise, wasabi mayonnaise or a third which I can't remember.


Beef Tataki Salad

Beef Tataki Salad: Just a regular salad with rare beef steak. The silly and hungry people that we are didn't toss the salad and only realised at the end that the salad dressing was all at the bottom of the bowl.

Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki: I love okonomiyaki and have not had a decent one in a while. This was decent. (I just realised that I have used this word a lot, but I can't think of any other word to describe it..) Best okonomiyaki I ever had used to be served at the Japanese cafe next to the old Daimaru food court in Melbourne. Daimaru is now history and so is the restaurant that served it. :( I've never found good okonomiyaki since..



Tori Karaage

Spicy Tori Karaage: So says the menu, but it wasn't that spicy. It was yummy, but I make better ones than this. Still, can't complain, fried food are all yummy to me!


Green Tea Creme Brulee

Green Tea Creme Brulee: This was my highlight of the evening. Two things I am a sucker for: Anything Green Tea and Anything to do with Creme Brulee. Anytime I see creme brulee on the menu, I order it straight away and care not about the rest of the menu. Anytime I see green tea desserts/sweets at BreadTop or Suzuran (the Japanese Grocery shop/Sushi Den), I grab one and stick it in my shopping basket. This was not disappointing I tell you that. I have since heard that Musashi boasts the best Green Tea Creme Brulee in Melbourne, having had one, I must agree.


Surprise!

Do not be fooled by the subtle taste of green tea in the first layer of the brulee. Dig in deeper and behold.. a layer of azuki beans and another layer of thick green tea creme awaits!


Dining at Musashi was probably the highlight of our trip. We even visited Musashi's sister restaurant, Makoto the next day for a taste of sushi on the sushi train. I've always associated sushi train restaurants with Sydney and that for me was a great way to finish off our gastronomic experience in Sydney.



Musashi Restaurant

Dining Bar Musashi
447 Pitt Street
(Cnr. Pitt & Campbell Street)
Sydney

Sushi Bar Makoto
119 Liverpool Street
(Cnr, Pitt & Liverpool St.)
Sydney

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It seems to be very hard to please your tastes...you're really quite picky aren't you?

ilingc said...

anon:i wouldn't say that i'm that picky, if i've had something that's "really excellent" before i tend to associate it with the same food that i'm about to eat. it's the same concept as how we thing our mums are the best cook in the world. :)

besides if i was "that" picky, i wouldn't keep eating it even if i was ferociously hungry! ;)