Nobu Perth, Burswood

Nobu Perth reviews; Nobu Japanese restaurant Perth reviews; Nobu Burswood casino

If you haven’t already noticed, I find great satisfaction in seeking out great new restaurants in Perth.  In particular, I can never say no to a great new Japanese restaurant, and especially one that has a lot of steam behind it.

After many years expanding around the world, the Nobu chain of restaurants (which has joint owners including executive chef Nobu Matsuhisa and actor Robert De Niro) has just opened its 25^th restaurant here at Burswood Entertainment Complex/Casino in good ol’ Perth.  Good news indeed, I was even happier that I managed to get a table for its booked out opening night.  So new is Nobu, many Nobu chefs from around the world have been in Perth to help bring Nobu up to the global standard expected of it.  Pity I didn’t see Matsuhisa-san himself, but I hear he and De Niro may be making it here in person over the next few weeks - exciting!

Stepping into Nobu, you are greeted by the first Nobu waiter who sees you with a welcoming and "irrashaimase" (meaning "welcome" in Japanese) followed by a chorus of waiters repeating a very audible "irrashaimase".  You talkin' to me?  You talkin' to me? Nobu Perth is smaller than its Australian sibling Nobu Melbourne, however equally as impressively decked out with a warm ambience and nice contemporary touches including a lighting decoration that looks a bit like christmas ornaments, and modern bamboo-like partitions.  This was furthered by modern music being played more reminiscent of a groovy bar than a traditional Japanese restaurant, but at a mild audible level that seemed to help it blend in.

If you haven’t dined at Nobu before, the waiter explains that Nobu isn’t just a Japanese restaurant  - it’s a fusion Japanese restaurant with South American influences with a menu designed for you to order multiple dishes to share with everyone on the table (a concept like izakaya or tapas).  It’s also designed such that you start at the beginning of the menu and order dishes to be served in line with the menu order.  The menu starts with cold dishes such as raw fish and salads, goes onto hot dishes including cooked meats and seafood as well as tempura, then sushi, and finally soup.  That’s until you finish your mains and head to the dessert menu.

Service-wise, the main waiter we had was very attentive and knowledgeable about the menu and as the various staff were quite varied and only one waitperson who served us appeared to be Japanese (which further helped give the restaurant a more modern and hip fusion feel) I thought they had varying levels of confidence.  However, apart from a couple of mistakes (the next table's order accidentally coming to our table on two occasions) I thought the service was as a whole pretty good for an opening night and food and service was served reasonably timely, keeping in with the theme of being served most share dishes one at a time.

Edamame - $7

This generous serve of edamame was lightly salted and, for those who like it, a good appetiser.  Edamame is a bit like a pea where you only eat the beans inside.  The beans are green pea like beans that are relatively light in flavour.

Yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno - $26

This specialty cold dish consisted of nicely laid out slices of yellowtail fish, each garnished with a thin slice of jalapeno, and served with yuzu.

The fresh yellowtail fish was firm and fresh; combined with the spicy jalapeno (that was hot but being sliced thinly wasn’t too fiery), the acidic yuzu, and the light parsley-like garnish, the dish was a nice combination to start that brought out the flavour and texture of the yellowtail and previewed the South American influences in the food.

 White fish (scallop) tiradito - $20

A well-presented dish of thinly sliced scallop surrounded by even thinner sliced cucumber was served in Nobu’s own version of a South American tiradito.

The tastes were a combination of a light spicy pepper sauce, as well as an acidic base mixed into the subtle scallop and extra thinly sliced cucumber to provide yet another light cold seafood dish that enhanced the freshness of the scallops.

Shiitake salad - $14

This salad of mainly gourmet lettuce and mizuna leaves was dressed with a lemon dressing and garnished with dried garlic chips and sesame seeds, as well as shiitake mushrooms.

The shiitake mushrooms, being the highlight and headliner of the salad, were small tender mushrooms that had a soft texture that were almost as soft as tofu to chew.  Tastewise, the shiitake mushrooms seemed fresh backed up with a mild shiitake taste.  The bonus is shiitake mushrooms are good for you!

The remaining leafy salad seemed relatively simple in terms of flavour but nonetheless it was well made and a good salad.

Black cod miso - $46

Perhaps my highlight for the night was this black cod with miso signature dish.

The black cod was cooked perfectly – only just cooked so the fish was super-tender, and cut through effortlessly whilst still being firm.  Underneath the black cod was the black cod’s skin which was black in colour and carried some of the dish’s flavour through along with a light charcoal taste.

The miso based sauce that the black cod was cooked in was sweet and thick, almost like a perfect blend of miso with soy and sweetness and similar to that used to poach salmon by some of the better Japanese restaurants.  I really enjoyed the miso component that perfectly complemented the black cod.

The black cod was also served with a thinly sliced lotus root chip, a cylinder of pickled ginger that brought a good contrasting flavour to the otherwise sweetness of the dish, and a further sweet sauce that tasted like a light sweet plum sauce.

Scallops with wasabi pepper - $24

The scallops were grilled so that they were rare on the inside - making them tender and moist on the inside, yet on the outside they were cooked enough so that they were firm.  Mixed in with the scallops were a decent serve of very thin young asparagus and sliced shiitaki mushrooms.

The sauce was exactly as its name suggested – wasabi pepper – a savoury sauce with a good wasabi taste but yet mild on spiciness.

This dish was also served with a bowl of rice.

Beef toban-yaki - $32

This beef dish was served sizzling hot in a clay dish (that looked a bit like a tagine), and as the waiter served it, he slowly removed the lid revealing the still boiling sauce that continued to bubble away for about a minute.

The beef in this dish was cooked rare with the outer layers seared through but with the larger inner parts still red (without oozing blood) making it tender for beef that isn’t a very marbelised cut of beef.  This made the beef dish tender and just nice.

The beef was served on caramelised onions with a shiitake mushroom, enoki mushrooms, asparagus, and a light savoury sauce that made the beef well flavoured and enjoyable to eat.

Slow braised pork belly (wood oven) - $27

The pork belly was cooked so that it pretty much melted as you cut and bit into it – a great way to have pork belly.  However, the skin was largely removed giving away any hopes of a crackling (I really need to stop that obsession) though there was a very slight crunch on the top.

The pork belly was served with a sweet sauce as well as a not-so-spicy jalapeno salsa.

House special maki sushi roll - $20

This sushi roll was filled with a combination of salmon, tuna, a white fish, flying fish roe (tobiko), and avocado.  On the outside, the sushi roll was wrapped with a layer of what seemed like daikon (a white radish).

The sushi itself was well made, held together quite well, and the proportions of ingredients meant you could taste each ingredient without having a massive wrist sized sushi roll.  The outer layer added a crunch but was very mild in flavour (i.e. had no strong radish or daikon tastes which could have overpowered the sushi).

The sushi was served with fresh wasabi (I say fresh as it was grainy as I expect horseradish to be), and pickled ginger.

Bento box with green tea ice cream and goma tuille - $15

This mini dessert bento box (which comes highly recommended) has a warm chocolate cake with a gooey chocolate centre (a lot like a chocolate fondant).  The rich chocolate cake, when you cut into it, reveals a generous gooey chocolate which combined gives a good chocolate fix without overdoing it.  Not so Japanese, but still very good.

The green tea ice cream, which was served on top of a crisp goma tuille, was very smooth for a green tea ice cream.  It also didn’t have any green tea bitterness and contained a good level of sweetness that complemented the chocolate cake.

Overall, this dessert was a very nice, smooth and creamy green tea ice cream excellently matched to a gooey chocolate cake dessert.

Miso Cappuccino - $15

This dessert came served in a deceptive coffee cup - deceptive as it almost looked like a cappuccino with over-anxious froth that had the look and glaze of a creamy set mousse.

Inside this dessert were layers of coffee cream and crumble with a coffee flavour, vanilla ice cream, and the topping of the cappuccino “froth”.

The textures in this dessert helped it from being a boring dessert, from crunchy to smooth and creamy.  It also provided a mild sweet coffee hit – though not enough to rival a real coffee beverage.

We liked:  The food is excellently prepared and there are some very well-conceived dishes with an unsurprising emphasis on seafood; the service is generally friendly, helpful, and well trained (even for the official opening night); fusion Japanese/South American at its best.

We didn’t like: Although the restaurant has been nicely furnished, it provides for a bit of noise to carry in the restaurant; an opening night photographer who felt compelled to try and make everyone epileptic (though I’m sure this isn’t Nobu’s fault).

Other things to note: The menu has a lot of seafood options, however contains a very healthy selection of meat options as well as a few vegetarian options (including tofu); unless you chose the degustation menu, expect to order multiple dishes to share with your dining companions; book ahead.

Nobu Perth

Burswood Entertainment Complex

Great Eastern Highway

BURSWOOD WA 6100

(08) 9362 7551

http://www.noburestaurants.com/perth

Trading Hours

Lunch and Dinner - Daily

Boulevard Restaurant, Hillarys

Boulevard Restaurant reviews; Boulevard Restaurant Hillarys reviews

As spring approaches, it's time to get out and about and enjoy some of that sun.  Or alternatively, time to go out and eat lots of food whilst soaking up sun or at least go and eat somewhere with a view.

I went up Hillarys Boat Habour way one weekend, where many restaurants and pubs including The Boulevard Restaurant are located.  Hillarys Boat Harbour has many open areas, nice brick and planked flooring, and views of the ocean (at some locations) and boats - making Hillarys a popular location for tourists and locals alike.  Boulevard restaurant fits into this with its own modern casual atmosphere and large windowed walls overlooking part of Hillarys.

At lunch/dinner Boulevard Restaurant offers an upmarket cafe menu, complete with a modest alcohol list.  There are many cafe style meat and veg type dishes but with a slightly more upmarket feel.  However, vegetarians may struggle to find much worth eating.

Seafood platter - $54

The seafood platter was a plate of tempura prawns, crayfish, salt and pepper squid, wedges, barramundi, and a bit of salad and creamy tartare sauce.

Perhaps the centrepiece of the dish, the half cray was a tad on the dry side but nonetheless it was still a tasty cray that was helped out by the light but welcome garlic butter.

The tempura prawns were crunchy prawns coated by a crunchy and tastily seasoned batter, but perhaps a bit heavy for a "real" tempura batter.  The salt and pepper squid were lightly dusted and again well seasoned with prominent salt and pepper tastes, making a good addition to the plate.

The barramundi was lightly coated and grilled, and also a bit on the dry and flakey side.

The wedges were pretty standard - that is good and nicely done, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Thinking about the different elements of the plate, this didn't seem like a bad seafood platter - just a bit on the pricy side.

Moroccan spiced chicken breast - $40

The chicken breast was seasoned with Moroccan spices giving it a nice Moroccan spiced flavour, and overall the chicken breast was cooked well and not that dry - and thus I thought it was well prepared.

The chicken breast was served on top of a preserved lemon cous cous, pomegranate and extra virgin olive oil.  The pomegranate sweet and lemon sour flavours were both prominent and at times seemed quite intense in competing with the Moroccan chicken flavour but otherwise I did enjoy the refreshing nature of the cous cous and the fact that it wasn't just plain cous cous.

On top of the chicken was a pistachio nut butter, adding yet another layer of slightly nutty buttery flavour to the chicken.

All up, a different but good dish, but yet again $40 did seem a bit steep.

Drunken strawberries drowned in Contreau - $13.50

This dessert was a cocktail glass of some pretty standard creamy vanilla ice cream, topped with strawberry halves that had been soaked in Contreau.

The strawberries themselves were good, being nice looking and nice tasting.  The contreau added its citrusy flavour to the strawberries with a nice mild kick.

Green tea - $4

I didn't actually taste this tea, but the usual green tea drinker on the table said it was pretty bitter and not that pleasant.  Maybe this was a combination of too many "standard" grade green tea leaves soaked in boiling water a little too long?

We liked: Some of the flavours were surprisingly ok if not necessarily complimentary (eg the cous cous) and generally well cooked; the location at Hillary's can be a good outing especially on a nice sunny day; the service is friendly and helpful.

We didn't like: The prices seemed a little on the high side for the food.

Other things to note: Vegetarians may struggle to find much worth eating.

Boulevard Restaurant

Shop 64, 58 Sorrento Quay

Southside Drive

HILLARYS WA

(08) 9203 7722

http://www.boulevardrestaurant.com.au

Memories from Marque, Surry Hills

I always find it exciting to read up on those annual top restaurant lists.  Not only do they offer some inspiration into what restaurants to aspire to some day dine at, but I like to see what the "experts" have to say and it's always exciting to see Australian restaurants do well in the lists.

As I'm sure many of you know, Marque in Surry Hills has been making some good impressions on the national and international levels having entered into the San Pellegrino's top 100 list, and topped a few Australian and Sydney restaurant award lists.

Last year, I managed to get myself a booking for a Friday night at Marque to try out their ever evolving degustation dinner.  Although Marque is situated in the suburbs, is not a large restaurant, and it doesn't have the spectacular view of say Quay; the food, service experience generally (including a very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable wine sommelier) were impeccable and we left there raving about our experience.

Of course, I managed to get some photos to share of our meal that night and here they are.

Chaud-Froid Free Range Egg

Almond Jelly with Blue Swimmer Crab, Almond Gazpacho, Sweet Corn & Avruga

2004, Markus Molitor, Riesling Spätlese, Zeltinger Himmelreich, Mosel, Germany

Ike Jime Squid with Smoked Goat's Curt, Young Coconut & Black Radish

2008, G&J-H Goiso, Aligoté, Bourgogne Aligoté, Burgundy, France

Roast St Helen's Oyster with Mustard & Ham Vinaigrette

2008, Gulfi 'Valcanzjria' Carricante/Chardonnay/Albanello, Siciliy, Italy

Veal Sweetbread with White Asparagus, Rosemary, Celriac & Onion

2005, D. Ostertag, 'Barriques' Pinot Gris, Alsace, France

Roast Muscovy Duck with Steamed Eggplant, Yoghurt and Dried Scallop

2007 Quinta de la Rosa, Touriga Nacional & Franca, Tinta Barroca & Roriz, Douro, Portugal

Wagyu Sirloin with Beetroot, Radicchio, Cocoa, Peanuts and Vanilla

2009, Jamsheed, 'The Garden Gully' Syrah, Great Western, Victoria

Sauternes Custard

Chocolate Mousse 'écrasé', Eucalyptus & Coconut

'Provencal Musketeer'

Salted Caramel Chocolates & Bitter Bon Bons

A great experience, maybe next time I'll do a narrative too!

Izakaya Sakura Japanese Restaurant, Northbridge

Izakaya Sakura Japanese Restaurant Northbridge reviews; Izakaya Sakura reviews

For me, when it comes to Japanese food it's hard for me to go past traditional food with traditional service.  I find that the flavour combinations (which are also present at good modern Japanese restaurants) are often subtle and enhance the flavours of the core ingredients.

Izakaya Sakura has taken over the former Ayami restaurant situated across from Russell Square in Northbridge - much to my disappointment as I thought Ayami offered the best sushi and sashimi in Perth.  However, I'm pleased that Izayaka Sakura has been a good successor with good traditional food and a great Izakaya experience.  The restaurant has been decorated with Japanese decor (see their website for more photos) and is complete with friendly and helpful Japanese service.

Izakaya Sakura's name says it all - izakaya meaning Japanese small dishes designed to be shared.  Most of the dishes are of that izakaya size - smallish and designed so you can order multiple dishes to sample and share, however there are a few set meals for one such as bento boxes.

The menu of these izakaya dishes offers quite a large choice of options with many traditional Japanese offerings as well as a few other exciting ones.  What's more, the menu doesn't heavily rely on deep fried food or unhealthy rich creamy sauces making it a more pleasant experience for those who like variety and moderation.  Instead, there is a decent choice including cold dishes, sashimi, hot dishes, teppanyaki, deep fried food, noodles, and salad.

Beef tataki - $12

Thinly sliced beef that had been lightly seared was served with spring onion, dried garlic slices, a spicy garnish (possibly chilli ground daikon), and ponzu sauce (the ponzu sauce was quite vinegary and sour, but also had light hints of sweetness and a stock taste).

The beef was noticeably marbelised and nearly melted in the mouth, and the garlic when eaten alone was very strong.  Quite a typical Japanese dish, this dish met my expectations for a good virtually raw been dish.

Wafuu beef steak - $10

The beef steak in this dish was sliced at about a centimetre thickness, cooked pretty much well done so that it didn't melt in the mouth, and served with a "special sauce".

The chunks of meat were welcome in my mouth, and despite being cooked more than I would have liked the sauce made this a moderately tasty dish that wasn't dry nor tough.

Maguro ponzu - $14

This dish was on the specials menu for the night and was lightly seared tuna with ponzu sauce on a bed of daikon.

In searing the tuna the outer crust was light brown with darker specks and had an almost smokey flavour and harder texture.  The inside of the tuna was cooked (or rather uncooked) perfectly.  The ponzu flavour was light around the tuna but definitely added its flavour to each slice of the tuna.

The dish was quite simple and perhaps a bit like a variation of tuna sashimi.

Sashimi moriawase (medium) - $22

This mixed sashimi dish was a combination of raw salmon, tuna, scallop, squid, and a white fish.   Served with wasabi, this dish was quite standard fare though noticeably the tuna looked pale compared to other tuna sashimi I have seen.  The scallop was sliced very thinly (seemed to be like 1 scallop sliced into 4 slices) and it melted in the mouth.

The variety was decent and the fish was fresh, but the serving wasn't huge for the price and the cut was quite simple.

Tuna sashimi - $12.50

This dish was similar to the sashimi moriawase above.  Again not the biggest serve, but there aren't many authentic Japanese restaurants that give you good servings these days.

Kisu fry - $8

Four whiting fillet strips were coated in panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), deep fried, and served with Japanese Worcestershire sauce and alongside some deep fried rice noodles.

The whiting fillet was firm and seemed fresh, and the panko was noteably crunchy.

All up, a good Japanese "fish fingers" style of dish - only better.

Takoyaki - $7

These takoyaki, being six octopus dumplings, were balls of pan fried stock flavoured dough balls mixed with octopus and spring onion.  They were served garnished with bonito (fish flakes which to me don't really taste that fishy), pickled ginger, and Japanese mayonnaise and Japanese Worcestershire sauce.

For me, this was a pretty average tasting takoyaki with perhaps a tad too much sauce.  I always enjoy watching the bonito "move" when placed on top of hot food though.

Tori ball - $8

Four crumbed chicken balls filled with cheese and garlic were served with Japanese Worcestershire sauce and deep fried rice noodles.

The chicken balls were slightly crunchy on the outside, and inside the cheese was melted and gooey and the garlic flavour was noticeable but not overpowering.

Agedashi tofu - $7

This deep fried tofu had a starchy outside coating (a bit like a golden stretchable jelly that had absorbed some of the stock based soup) and was silky smooth inside.  The fish stock soup surrounding the tofu had a good depth of flavour, well seasoned and having a mild nice fish flavour running through it.

With the coating on the tofu and the fish stock, I found this to be a tasty-for-tofu dish.

Renkon chips - $5

Forget potato chips, try lotus root chips.  Surely lotus root is healthy for you?

These renkon chips were very crisp and crunchy, and seasoned well to make a great alternative to potato crisps.

Salmon teriyaki bento - $19.50 (lunch: $13)

The bento boxes come standard with steamed rice, salad, edamame (beans where you only eat the inside peas), miso soup and pickled ginger.  All of these were quite standard, but well prepared.

The salmon teriyaki was pieces of skinless salmon cooked in a moderately thick, golden sweet and soy sauce flavoured teriyaki sauce.  The salmon seemed like it had been infused with the teriyaki sauce as it was quite flavoured with the taste throughout which also helped to reduce the otherwise strong salmon flavour.

Karaage bento - $17 (lunch: $12)

The karaage bento had chunks of chicken lightly coated in flour and deep fried.  The skin was only very slightly crunchy, the chicken seemed moderately tasty from seasoning/marinade, but the seemed a tad on the dry side.  Also lacking was any Japanese mayonnaise and/or Japanese Worcestershire sauce which would have helped it.

However, all up the karaage bento was an ok meal.

Chicken teriyaki bento - $19.50 (lunch: $12.50)

The chicken teriyaki was a fillet of chicken with skin on that had been cooked with the same teriyaki sauce as the salmon above.  The skin seemed like it had been rendered out of a lot of the fat, and again the chicken seemed like it had been well infused with the teriyaki flavour.  Though it seemed like it was cooked for longer than I would have liked, the chicken fell apart easily and wasn't dry when with the sauce.

In summary, Izakaya Sakura brings to Perth another traditional Japanese food experience.  The food is of a good standard and the style of eating allows everyone to taste a lot of different dishes whilst enjoying each other's company (not to mention some Japanese alcohol).

We liked:  The authenticity of the dishes; the variety of dishes; Japanese patrons actually eat here; a reasonable selection of shochu and some sake and plum wine too.

We didn't like: Whilst it's cheaper than some other izakaya out there, the more simple nature of the dishes can make this not a cheap eat out if you are very hungry.

Other things to note: Whilst the full menu is available at dinner, at lunch they only serve a limited menu consisting of bento boxes as well as some noodle and rice bowl meals.  Vegetarians may also be quite limited in what they can eat so check out the menu on their website beforehand.

Izakaya Sakura

Shop 2, 182 James Street

Northbridge WA 6003

(08) 9328 2525

www.izakayasakura.com.au

Trading Hours

Lunch - Wednesday to Sunday - 12noon to 2pm

Dinner - Wednesday to Sunday - 6pm to 10pm

Sinabro, Northbridge

Sinabro Korean Restaurant Northbridge reviews

Winter nights are the perfect time to have spicy and hot food.  In Perth, alongside a good warming Korean barbecue, the Koreans are known for their warm-you-from-the-inside spicy and hot food.  Just be prepared for the chilli!

Sinabro on Francis Street in Northbridge (closer to Russell Square) is a Korean restaurant I got recommended by a Korean expat to try a year ago and did.  When I went the first time (last year), the first thing I noticed was there were definitely Korean customers - a good sign.

Sinabro consists of two separate dining experiences - there is the indoor restaurant at the front which I understand serves buffet, and an outdoor area out the back (go through the driveway) which serves a la carte.  I haven't yet tried the buffet but have had the a la carte a couple of times.

The menu at Sinabro has a good selection of Korean food - the chilli dishes through to non-spicy dishes in precooked, cook at your table and barbecue at your table form.  Most dishes have meat or seafood in them but there's the odd vegetarian dish.

Kimchi jungol - $35

A soup based dish that suits winter nights is this Kimchi jungol.  The soup, which is meant to serve 2-3 people (I would suggest three unless you are very hungry or don’t order anything else), was hot in two ways – being served on a portable gas stove, and having kimchi and gochuchang (a chilli based paste) that you mix into it.  For those of you wondering how spicy the dish was, it was quite spicy though if you didn’t add all the gochuchang it wasn’t impossible to eat if you are used to some chilli.  However, chilli novices might do best to avoid this (or ensure they have lots of water on hand).

Mixed into the soup was a range of ingredients including clear vermicelli noodles, dumplings, pork belly slices, tofu, onion, Chinese cabbage, mushrooms, and of course kimchi.  Of the ingredients, I enjoyed the dumplings with their outer pastry filled with a well marinated pork based stuffing.  Despite the layers of fat, the pork belly slices added even more (very welcome) meat to the dish but I felt the dish could have had more meat in it.

The rest of the ingredients blended together to form a relatively chilli hot dish with lots of clear vermicelli noodles and Chinese cabbage.  Just be careful of red staining splatter and be prepared to smell a little like kimchi when you get caught in the wafts of cooking smoke.

Overall, this dish was quite spicy but otherwise a decent feed - though I could have done with more meat and dumplings as opposed to noodles and veggies.

Hot Seafood Soup - $25

The hot seafood soup came in a pot meant for sharing.  In the soup were king prawns, calamari, mussels, onion and egg.

The soup was of a watery consistency and filled with seafood flavours and spices such as chilli.  The soup was quite spicy, just bearable for my tastebuds - though I find that with that level of chilli I struggle with noticing a lot of the other flavours.  Definitely not for the non-adventurous.

The prawns were de-shelled and through the cooking process seemed well overcooked, but it also helped it absorb some of the soup flavour.  The calamari was very soft and not at all chewy, whilst the egg was mixed in and cooked to form small clumps soup flavour.  All components, being cooked in the strong spicy soup, had the distinct soup flavour.

Not a bad dish, but not quite as exciting as the kimchi jungol.

Seafood pancake jeon - $13

Pancakes for many of us are sweet and often consumed at breakfast.  Turning that upside down, you get this seafood pancake dish that consisted of a single savoury pancake – not something I would ordinary think of eating for breakfast.

The pancake's dough had a light flavour through it (perhaps it was made with a stock similar to okonomiyaki – a savoury Japanese pancake dish), but still had a doughy taste and a heavier but slightly aerated doughy texture.  As “filling”, the pancake was cooked with octopus and vegetables such as zucchini and spring onion.  All up, this pancake was a meal in itself.

A sauce would have been nice.

Kimchi Bosam - $25/$35 (small/large)

To me, this dish looked pretty interesting and I couldn’t wait to try it.  This dish came as separate ingredients that you were to assemble yourself.  The ingredients were a cooked pork belly, kimchi, garlic, chilli, and a couple of sauces.

The pork belly was the best part of this dish - it had its skin removed though, but was cooked with a mild seasoning, and was soft and moist.  The kimchi was long pieces of kimchi cabbage that you were meant to take and eat with the pork in a single mouthful.  Garlic, chilli, and sauces were provided as condiments to the dish, however the sauce really just added much of the sale flavours already present (i.e. the chilli flavours of the kimchi).

I enjoyed this dish despite the obvious question mark over how healthy it isn't.

Sides

Common with many Korean restaurants that I have been to, Sinabro provides some side dishes that come "free" with every meal.  Sinabro serves kimchi, along with a salad and a rice vermicelli dish.

The kimchi was quite normal in that it had kimchi cabbage marinated in the chilli based sauce.

The vermicelli dish was lightly oiled, and had small bits of spring onion, garlic, and carrot throughout.  The vermicelli was comparatively mild, cooked till it was soft but not fragile, and had a distinct garlic aftertaste.

The salad consisted of apple, onion, chilli, red capsicum, cucumber and cabbage seasoned with a light and slightly sweet vinegar.  The salad was quite refreshing (especially with the apple and vinegar) but the chilli and raw onion stood out quite a bit.

Steamed Rice

Steamed rice is served in a stainless steel made bowl - again something that I've seen in other Korean restaurants.  The rice was cooked so that it was quite soft but still reasonably firm.

In summary, Sinabro is a Korean restaurant that given its Korean patrons makes me think it's quite authentic.  The flavours are strong, and chilli is very apparent in its menu.

We liked:  Some of the dishes were full of flavour; the authenticity; menu had a decent range of dishes available.

We didn't like: The set-up is quite basic with one of the toilets being in a near state of disrepair when I went; the smells from the barbecuing but the outdoor area has good ventilation (and sometimes cigarette smoke).

Other things to note: Many dishes are spicy - so be warned and be prepared to ask if you are not sure whether you can stomach a dish.  The restaurant is licensed and has shoju, and has an indoor area up front (a buffet - book ahead) as well as an outdoor area out back which is a la carte.

Sinabro

100 Francis Street

NORTHBRIDGE WA

(08) 9227 1222

Trading Hours

Tuesday to Sunday – 6pm to 10pm