Sapporo Japanese Restaurant (II)

What is it with places that don't hand you menus once you're seated?  We were shown to our table (which we actually booked for) then left to our devices.  This is the second time this has happened to us at Sapporo.  After finally hailing a waiter serving an adjoining table, I made ET choose between the two soft shell crab specials for entree.  He decided on the crispy soft shell crab.

I liked the crunchy bits but didn't enjoy the whole dish, specially as it had a touch of spice.  ET thought the crab too rich but either way, the dish did look impressive.

After tasting the terriyaki chicken, I got an "Oh wow" from ET.

His terriyaki beef just got a "not bad".  It wasn't as flavoursome as the chicken so we stirred the beef around the sauce a bit.

Although both dishes were terriyaki, and even had the same vegetables (which we didn't really touch) why were the two dishes not the same color?

Sapporo Japanese Restaurant

432 Mitcham Rd, Mitcham

Sakura House

Although I was craving Vietnamese cuisine, try as we might, we couldn't find any in the surrounding area.  Shame.  But seeing Sakura House as light-filled and roomy, we decided to give it a go.  ET was pleased with the tall indoor water feature but we didn't like the rude scratchings on it - it ruined the effect quite a bit.

But on to the food.  As usual I was starving so we opted for a platter for starters - the name of which escapes me.  I was pleasantly surprised with the large assortment and it was all served in twos so it was nice and easy to split.

ET enjoyed the spring rolls but it was too light in color for my liking.  You can barely just see it on the bottom left of the photo, covered in mayo.

The octopus balls had ET quite perplexed (topped in pickled ginger beside the spring rolls) but I've since realised that I just don't like octopus balls.  Full stop.  I would like to know, however, how they got the prawns so straight?  (See top of photo below)

ET was amused by how many edamame he had eaten compared to me, so we just had to take a photo of all the shells as proof:

Sashimi was Et's choice for main as he wasn't so hungry.  Although not bad, there were some tiny pieces next to ones twice as thick and a bit tough so they obviously need to work on this.

I went for the grilled salmon main.  After struggling with trying to get the noodles out from under the salmon, I was much disappointed with its rubbery texture.

One thing ET & I agreed on was how nice the miso soup was.  Lucky the mains came with this along with rice, pickled cabbage, salad and chilled tofu which I rue not trying.  But I was, after all, quite stuffed by this stage.

Staff were a bit haphazard on the night.  At one stage two approached us but neither one took our empty plates away.  I also said to another "Can we have some water please?" only to be given one glass of water even though ET & I both had empty glasses from our previous drinks.  Nor did they ask if ET would like another drink when his glass was already empty by the time the mains arrived. It wasn't until the manager came to clear our mains that he immediately bought another water for ET and asked if he would like another glass of red.

Sakura House
425 Burwood Hwy, Shop 2222 Knox O Zone, Wantirna

Suede

We seem to keep finding ourselves surprised in that at past 12:30pm we expected to have lunch at Suede only to be handed a breakfast menu.  Once we realised this, I asked if they had a lunch menu, only to be told “Not today”.  Hmmmm.  Since ET & I had already ordered coffees by this stage, we decided to stay.

There were 3 waitstaff and the place was less than half full but we still had to wait half an hour for our breakfast.  The coffees were good so ET finally decided to order another when our food was finally served.  The waitress said the chef apologises for the wait so he’s given us an extra big breakfast.  ET tasted his dish and straight away said the mushrooms were nice.

For once, I had more than enough bread for my eggs.  I’m unsure if it’s because I ordered fried eggs instead of scrambled or if the chef gave me an extra piece of bread for the looong wait.  The bread were nice thick slices but too hard to cut up with a knife and a piece of mine flew off the plate so I resorted to using my fingers.  And they mentioned hand-whipped butter on the menu but since the bread came buttered, I can’t attest whether this is true or not.

We were served nice cold water from a vodka bottle as soon as we were seated so they passed the water wellness test.  But staff were a little lax in picking up our empty coffee cups.  ET & I found it strange the waitress not only asked if we had coffee, but also if we had any breakfast!  She said she couldn’t find our ticket but we were one of only a few tables inside and were basically sitting in front of the counter and cash register with our breakfast dishes still uncleared on the table!  Plus they asked the same thing of the other 2 tables that left before us!!  (Excuse all the exclamation points, but I think they are well deserved!)

Suede

284 Smith St, Collingwood

The Firehouse (VI)

In all honesty we were hoping for brunch at Smoken Joe’s Cafe but they are still under renovation.  We then headed off to Firehouse thinking we’d be able to have the lunch menu.  Unfortunately we were an hour early :(

ET not wanting to order the same dish as last time, was swayed by the sound of  poached eggs, double smoked bacon, chive fromage and hash brown.  Both having compromised what to order the last few times we’ve been out, we decided to hell with it and ordered the same dish.

ET was much surprised at how much he liked it.  Me, on the other hand, was surprised that the hollandaise sauce was poured on top of the eggs because a lady at the adjoining table had hers served in a small bowl.  (Perhaps she’d specially requested it that way?)  Admittedly, seeing her dish while we were looking over the menu was one reason why I ordered it and why I nodded my head towards their table when telling ET what I was going to order.

The other things that surprised me was I didn’t like the double smoked bacon.  I think it was just too much for my palette.  And lastly, when I saw the fried triangle piece on the adjoining table, I presumed it was the fromage fried like saganaki & other similar cheeses.  It came quite a surprise to me that it was in fact the hash brown.  Fancy that – hash brown shaped as a triangle block!

The Firehouse

253 Maroondah Hwy, Ringwood

Bar Bosh

Bar Bosh makes decent coffee and when I asked for water later on, I noticed they dispursed it from a hot water urn.  But when served to me, it was so cold it almost made me shiver.  Specially for a chilly morning, I would have preferred the water not to have been so cold.

Anyhow, for breakfast I chose the Spanish Omelette and was surprised to find it to be as big as the plate!  I tried to take a picture of the whole thing without being conspicuous and almost succeeded.  Anyway, I felt it somehow lacking in flavour even though there were chorizos in the dish.  Usually chorizos are spicy enough to keep me reaching for a drink.  But perhaps the capsicums I asked them not to put in the dish would've made the difference in the taste?

ET ordered the Big Bosh Breakfast although he was highly indignant that it was listed as "Strictly no alterations" when no other item on the menu had such restrictions.  Once served, his comment was: it needs better plating.  Beside the eggs on top of the Turkish bread, there's bacon, hash brown then sausage on the very bottom.  Not that you can tell by looking at the photo below.

I almost forgot the best bit - when asked if we wanted pepper, both ET & I almost feel off our seats when the giganormous pepper grinder was brought over to our table.  The thing was almost as tall as our waitress!  We were in such shock & our eyes as wide as saucers that I forgot to take a photo : O




Bar Bosh 
509 Burwood Hwy, Knox O Zone, Wantirna

Red Salmon

We arrived early to find Red Salmon relatively empty.  But by the end of the evening the place was completely full.  Considering this place is within a strip of cafes & restaurants, this can only be a good sign.

We started off with the 3 dips.  When guessing the flavours, both ET & I were reluctant to name the hummus (perhaps it had a little more tahini than we were used to?).  The red dip was beetroot but we both loved the pumpkin dip.  I did find it strange that the turkish bread seemed to have a glaze on the top of it though.

I went for the Red Salmon Original which I think was closer to well done than medium, as per the menu's description.  Have a look at the photo and you be the judge...

This time ET was the one to change his order so we wouldn't be eating the same dish.  He ordered the Eye Fillet steak but again, I think he got the better dish!

Water wellness passed my test but at one stage I tried to get several waitress' attention to no avail as they were talking to one another but not looking at the dining area.  I believe a bit of improving is needed as we ordered extra turkish bread (seeing how small it was & how much dip we had left) and a different waitress came over a while later to confirm we ordered more bread before we were finally served.

And just in case you're wondering, the picture above is the view from my seat, looking up at the ceiling.  For some reason they have lamp shades attached to the walls as light fixtures.  Interesting.




Red Salmon
509 Burwood Hwy, Shop 2223 Knox O Zone, Wantirna

il Sogno

On a cold & wet night we were seated at il Sogno's 'emergency table' due to the place being otherwise fully booked.  The manager then said if we wanted alcohol, we should make our way across the road as they were licenced but BYO only.

It then took a few minutes before a waiter came to give us menus.  Water wellness then passed the test.  However when I later ordered a soft drink, I was just served the small bottle and nothing else, so ET resorted to pouring my drink into the wine glass which was luckily left on the table :S

For entree we shared calamari which, much to my delight, included the tentacles.  Not being a fan of rocket, I actually ended up eating quite a bit of it to cancel out some of the squid's saltiness.  What I found weird was that no sauce was served; just a piece of lemon.

For main ET ordered the lasagna which he said was delicious.

Except he did add pepper which he wasn't too happy about simply because the salt & pepper is on an uncovered dish at every table.  ET later said he saw a fingerprint on the salt.  Which leads us to believe that they are not replaced at every seating.  Hmmm.  We didn't like the thought of this.

I went for the barramundi special with cauliflower mash and kale.  I found the fish a little dry and lacking in flavour.  But upon trying the kale, I was surprised to find it spicy.  It wasn't until it was all that was left on my plate when I saw the pieces of chilli sprinkled around it.

Perhaps I shoud have followed my instinct and ordered the lasagna.  After all, all their pasta is made in-house; no mass production here.

For dessert I chose poached pear which I thought was meant to come with a nut crumble (I can't recall which nut was written on the menu).  But to me, the crumble tasted like raw sugar.  Eaten separately, each component of the dessert was nothing spectacular.  However when all elements of the dish were eaten in one bite, I was quite satisfied and left nothing but the stem on the plate.

The place is quite small & rather intimate but with a huge group celebrating something on the night, it was extremely loud, ET & I gave up trying to converse and even the waitress could not hear me order.  And that was when we could finally get the staff's attention.

il Sogno 
512 Whitehorse Rd, Surrey Hills

The Firehouse (V)

Before you shake your head and say 'Not again!', in our defence at least this time we went for breakfast.

The breakfast menu lists 12 items, some of which were a tad unusual like the breakfast bruschetta or the baked rice and buttermilk.  Partly because of the fact everything I had my eye on had too much dairy for my liking, I had to order scrambled eggs. Luckily the scrambled eggs were nice & fluffy. However the piece of turkish bread underneath the eggs was not large enough for me. Since I forgot to order extra bread, and service was quite slow, I just went with it. Thankfully the serve was not too big so I left nothing on my plate. ;)

ET chose the Huevos Rancheros with a side of sausage. Although the dish wasn't quite what he expected, he did say it was delicious.

Coffee also got a very good rating from ET so Firehouse gets a thumbs up for breakfast. Now we'll just have to visit for lunch to complete the picture!

The Firehouse

253 Maroondah Hwy, Ringwood

Kublai Mongolian Barbeque

Kublai Mongolian Barbeque caught our eye when we drove by on the way to Sofia's in Croydon. So as we were driving down the road one night, it caught our eye again and we decided to try our luck. I thought it may have been a bad move when we were given a "Naughty, naughty" when we said we had no booking. But we got one of the last few tables.

The same man came over a few minutes later & explained to us the concept of the restaurant. Basically, he said, there's Asian food that you can get anywhere or you order the Mongolian BBQ. It's a buffet where you choose your meat, vegetables and sauce and hand over your bowl to the chef who then cooks your dish on a huge flat hot plate (sorry but I forgot to take a photo of the most important thing in the restaurant! Just image somewhere that you can cook a huge crepe on & you get the gist). Did I mention the chef uses basically a set of huge chopsticks to cook with?? It's all about the flair & flick of the hands as the cooking area is enclosed in glass so you watch as your dish is cooked for probably less than a minute.

Now we're told what most people get wrong is the sauce. There are about 11 types so to make things easier, there are about 6 recipes on the wall that you simply follow. Of course ET would have none of this. He tried his own & was very impressed with the outcome. And even though we were warned about the chilli, ET wasn't at all put off by it.

Now this all sounds well & good but did I mention the meat comes as shaved frozen pieces?? You get taken aback when you first see it, but obviously you need to keep the meat fresh and stop it from going off quickly. Plus having it thinly shaved means it also cooks quicker. There's actually an explanation for all this - including the reason for the frozen meat. I can explain it to you, or you could just go visit & read the menu for yourself  : p

You get four choices of meat.  There's a seafood and vegetarian/tofu version, which I would guess is served separately if you choose to order it.   The vegies on offer  include carrots, tomatoes, capsicum, cabbage, bean shoots, something I don't know the English word for, and one or two others.

Apparently the record is 8 bowls for women (sadly I could only do 2 1/2. But in my defence I was coming down with the flu) and 13 bowls for men. If you can beat it, you get a free dessert!

Most people went up at least a few times. After all you gotta try a few different sauces. And everyone seemed to order the unlimited steamed rice.  For $2 per person, how can you go wrong?

I noticed throughout the night that two different waitstaff would come up to us to take an order within minutes of each other. It wasn't until after we left that ET explained when, for instance, we turned down dessert the waitress looked to the manager and shook her head. The manager then grabbed the attention of a waiter and sent him directly over to us. We still said no to dessert and the waiter also shook his head at the manager when he walked off. Considering the manager worked the floor so well, chatting to all the customers and even offering ET his own special chilli sauce when ET made mention he was handling the chilli quite well, we can only guess he's invested in this place.

This place is entertaining and would make a fun night out with a group of people who have never been before.  (I actually found another review with the heading "Bizarre Experience")  But it's certainly not a place we would visit often. The showmanship of the chef makes a difference, the hard upsell is not for us, and quite frankly, how much meat, veg and sauce can one have? 

Lastly, while trying to find info on this restaurant for this here blog, I came across the fact that Alex, the owner, was actually on Australia's Biggest Loser a few years ago.  So, if like me, you thought his face familiar, that's probably the reason why!

Kublai Mongolian Barbeque & Asian Cuisine

434 Maroondah Hwy, Croydon West