Kujin Restaurant
Creator
Creator: Jill Innamorati-Varley Date
Date Published: 2011-10-07 Fancy something Japanese for dinner? You’d be hard pressed not to end a day exploring the delights of Kings Cross (The Cross), Potts Point and Elizabeth Bay than by dining at Kujin in Elizabeth Bay Road. A stone’s throw from harbourside mansions, historic Elizabeth Bay House and the rich and ribald history of The Cross, this Japanese restaurant isn’t your usual sashimi and sushi style of cuisine but one known as Izakaya. In Japan Izakaya (ee-zah-kah-ya) is the name given to popular drinking and eating establishments serving teppanyaki, okonomiyaki, yakitori and homemade noodle dishes such as yakisoba. Traditionally they are down-to-earth eateries where men drink sake and beer after work. Today, many Izakaya cater to a more eclectic clientele and like Kujin have stylish interiors and also serve cocktails and wines. It’s been described as a substantial style of tapas or mezze as many items are designed to be shared. Unsure of what to order and not prepared to miss a mouthful we asked Kujin’s Jun Toyoda to do the choosing. Tasty, fresh and visually appealing, we crunched through the crisp Japanese spring rolls with soy and wasabi and followed this by paper thin salmon carpaccio with rice vinegar, light soy, capers and red peppers and then a delicious tofu wakame seaweed and zasi salad with Szechuan pickles. From the Teppan Yaki Grill Bar there was tasty, spicy pork and cabbage kimuchi and a divine calamari sugatayaki, char grilled with ginger soy and sesame and served with ginger soy. Delighted with the choices we tried, we blogged on Facebook and friends blogged back – “you must try the cabbage pancakes.” These are served with a choice of fillings topped with bonito flake, Japanese mayo and okonomi sauce. Sorry, but that will have to wait until next time because we were full to bursting but did manage to fit in the homemade green tea and sesame ice cream with red bean paste.
Kújin Japanese Teppanyaki & Noodle Bar. |
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