Sapporo Japanese Restaurant (III)

Because we’ve been to Sapporo a couple of times, we decided to try the Matsuya Set Banquet for a bit of variety.  Firstly we were served the nice, traditional strong-flavoured miso soup.

The Sushi and California Rolls were ok.

Gyozas also passed the test.

The next dish up was the chicken skewers.  This was the first time I tried lemon on my Yakitori, and I must say it does make a difference.  From now the lemon will no longer just be a garnish to me.

Tempura was served with a funny fan-shaped piece.  I wasn’t game enough to try it until I had eaten the other so it was cold and unappealing to me.  I’m still unsure what it is but I think it’s just noodles.  Someone correct me if I’m wrong.

Beef Teppanyaki arrived on a sizzling plate.  The dish had nice big chunks of meat and some of it was still slightly pink if taken off the plate early enough.

Neither ET nor I being huge fans of ice cream, the green tea ice cream was given an ok vote.

Lastly, my Japanese tea arrived in a huge teapot - enough to quench the thirst of 2 other people even though I was the only one drinking it.  (You can just see the spout in the photo below, next to the carafe of half a litre of water).

Sapporo Japanese Restaurant
432 Mitcham Rd, Mitcham

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

Sapporo Japanese Restaurant

Having just watched at tv show about Japanese food, it was no wonder ET & I had a hankering for getting some of our own.

Sapporo was booked out when we arrived so they offered us seats by the ‘bar’ in front of the preparation area.  Having seen the giant boat (known as the House Special) be assembled, ET & I were quite happy to stay where we were even when they offered us a table later on in the night.

The first dish we tried was Salmon Sashimi that ET thought quite nice.

We both then had Miso Shiru which we both quite liked.

For mains the Teriyaki Chicken got a good rating from ET.  Although I noticed that the chicken on one half of the plate was a different color from the other half.  Or perhaps that was just a trick of the light?  Have a look at the photo below and let me know what you think.

My Tatsuta Age received a not bad from ET.  I thought it a little oily.  I realise it’s deep fried marinated chicken, but at one stage I’m quite sure I spurted oil when I bit into one piece!!

After all these dishes, we were too full for dessert.  I had managed to keep up with ET step by step so it wasn’t much of a surprise :p  And here's another shot of our mains - just for the hell of it! 

Staff was quite good but they forgot to give us menus so ET had to steal from the table behind us.  And although we didn’t ask for water, I saw them take out a bottle from the fridge so I can only guess it would be nice and cold and pass my water wellness test.

Sapporo Japanese Restaurant

432 Mitcham Rd, Mitcham

Bucatini Restaurant and Bar (II)

We managed to get a table due to our early-ish arrival for dinner; but we had to wait a few minutes until menus were handed over.  At this stage the waiter went thru the specials, took our drinks order and poured us water from a bottle which was left on the table.  Water was nice and cool and ET managed to polish off the whole bottle before the end of the meal so they offered to refill it.  For this, they get a thumbs up from me for water wellness.

To start off, ET ordered the T-bone steak rare.  He thought it was spot on, unlike his previous steak order at Bucatini which was below par.

My Barramundi special was fine.  But nothing too special, I must admit.

Bucatini doesn’t have large serves so we decided to go on to dessert.  I ordered the orange and almond flourless cake.  Again, I thought it nothing special.

ET enjoyed his sticky date pudding.  Even though the angle of the photo may be a little deceptive, you can tell the pudding wasn't a very big server either.

On the night it was not always easy to get staff attention.  Although both the waiter and manager asked how our meals were within minutes of each other.  But I’m not really a fan of this.  I think asking for feedback once per meal is enough.

And finally, as we drove off ET noticed their sign and said quizically "Restaurant and bar"?  Although there's a big display of assorted bottles of alcohol, we have yet to see an area where people enjoy drinks by a counter.  And after all, isn't that the definition of a bar?

Bucatini Restaurant and Bar

454 Whitehorse Rd, Mitcham

Bucatini Restaurant and Bar

Yet another busy restaurant in the suburbs Bucatini is attached to a pizza takeaway so ET was a bit reluctant to order a pizza.  Not being able to recall seeing a particular pizza on the takeaway menu, ET was not disappointed with his choice.  He thought it was delicious!

I went for the Atlantic salmon special.  I was worried about the mention of onions and capsicums.  However, I was able to pick out the onions and was surprised how sweet and soft the capsicum was, so it was only the onions that was left on my plate.

Being a fan of capers, I was disappointed to count only 2 on top of my salmon.  And I'm not sure if I was just real hungry or it was a small serving, but not only did I polish off my meal but ET (surprisingly not being able to finish his meal before me for the first time ever), gave me a slice of his pizza which I also managed to polish off!  After picking out the capsicums and onions first, of course. ;)

Staff seems to always be good here.  I'm just not sure it's a good idea to announce specials after you've already read thru the menu and decided on a meal.  As the wait staff said, "Just to confuse you even more"...

Bucatini Restaurant and Bar

454 Whitehorse Rd, Mitcham

7/10 Update - Embarrassingly this restaurant's name was originally misspelt on this post.  Woops!  All fixed now though. :s

Juniper Cafe

ET is somewhat of a regular here because of the coffee, so he was looking forward to having some when we got there.  His first coffee was quite good but his second, a short black, fell below the cappuccino standards.  For the record, I had no complaints about my soy latte.

Being close to lunchtime, we both went the sandwich route.  I chose the chicken, avocado and lettuce.  The chicken may have been a little on the dry side, but being shredded, I guess it can be forgiven.

Smoked salmon with cream cheese was ET's choice.  He gave it a "quite nice" rating. 

When we ordered at the counter, we were given and shown the different bread options which I thought was a nice touch.  Usually the varieties are just reeled off and I would only ever remember the first few choices.  It was nice to be able to see the choices for a change. 

What I did find a bit weird was they served the toasted sandwiches with only one side buttered on the outside.  I don't think I've ever seen that before.  And to be honest, I'm not quite sure I liked it..

Juniper Cafe

26 Britannia Mall, Mitcham