Thursday, April 26, 2012
Jazushi
Review: Wednesday18th April 2012
The thing I like most about Jazushi is the food. It sounds like it should be obvious... after all a restaurant serving good food can hardly be ground-breaking! However in the drive to find something new and interesting often the food can be left behind, a reticent understudy, as ambience and innovation become the stars of the show.
And Jazushi certainly does provide ambience and innovation. Jazz and sushi... a seemingly unlikely mix that works so well together you wonder why all sushi doesn’t come with a trio playing in the background. The atmosphere in the front room where we are seated is modern yet cosy. It is a place to come with friends and share a meal. And at the heart of it all is a menu, simple and small, yet bursting with excitement.
“What do you want to order?”, someone asks.
“Everything” is the only possible response.
Yet everything cannot be ordered... time, our wallets, and limited stomach capacity decree it cannot be so. So everyone picks the one thing that calls out to them and we place our order. Our server that night is a spritely young man with a clear sense of humour, whom our friend VJ entertains with such remarks to her male companion as “Oh Daddy".. and "give me some more of that".
First on the list is the edamame which we order with a bottle of Cloudy Peach Sake. This unusual sake of an opaque white nature, naturally leads to a few bawdy comments by VJ. As we contemplate the tart yet sweet nature of this Sake we are greeted by an unusual combination of Camembert Tempura. It’s something that sounds infeasible and much like a heart attack on a plate but this dish is truly a delight. The crisp tempura coating leads to a soft just melted baton of camembert and is refreshingly dipped in the accompanying creamy teriyaki sauce.
A dish of scallops presented in their shell next appears on our table. The flavours of citrus-y garlic butter and textures of the fried vermicelli add excitement to the dish if perhaps overshadowing the flavours of the scallop. Still it is pleasant. A hint to the curious cats amongst you who feel an unrestrained urge to try everything on the plate, the mound of white on which the scallop rests is purely for logistics purposes and is in fact a salt slurry. Though this seemed obvious to most of my companions, myself included, we could not help poking our chopsticks into it and giving it a try. We were not rewarded for this foolish albeit courageous venture.
We cheered up however at the prospects of our next dishes, a carpaccio of kingfish and salmon and wagyu beef tataki. The carpaccio is a brilliant alternative to traditional sashimi if you are introducing someone to raw fish for the first time. Where a thick sashimi can be off-putting for those new to the concept, a carpaccio, especially this one, with its lime, olive oil and basil flavours can slowly ease them into it.
In fact, a few years ago, this was one of the first dishes of raw fish I ever ate. It certainly succeeded in overcoming my aversion to Japanese food which was created at a young age after a traumatic food experience at a Californian Japanese fast food restaurant. Such a thing should never have existed and yet it did, causing me to avoid the very cuisine that I have now come to love and on many an occasion, crave!
Raw meat is another thing I had not tried till recently with an experience at Sushi-E. At Jazushi now, we happily tucked into a dish of Wagyu Beef Tataki which both VJ and McVitties declared as “awesome”. Tender beef, thinly sliced onions and an interesting ponzu sauce created a proverbial party in one’s mouth.
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| Wagyu Beef Tataki @ Jazushi |
At this point, Nosh mentioned her happiness that the courses were not coming out in a rushed fashion. Rather they appeared one by one as we finished the previous course. The table remained happy and uncrowded.
Consistency of quality throughout the menu is apparent as eggplant, soft-shell crab and a spicy tuna roll are placed on the table. Not one dish has disappointed so far and these are no exception. The soft shell crab, cut into small pieces for easy access is crisp on the outside and soft on the inside with an interesting combination of sauces. The spicy tuna roll is fresh and lovely though not spicy as the name would suggest, though as Nosh says "did you really expect it to be spicy?". Nasu eggplant - a grilled thickly sliced stack of eggplant is a hit with VJ - and a good one for the vegetarians out there!
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| Dessert Platter @ Jazushi |
And then for dessert! Our server points us to a platter of 3 full size desserts for $25 and we're sold. One of our companions immediately spots the Green Tea Creme Brulee and we add to it a chocolate gateau and black sesame ice-cream. Some at our table have never tried black sesame ice-cream before and it is a hit all round, particularly when we discover the surprising caramelised cornflakes resting underneath the scoops. These are actually quite good... cornflakes... who would have thought! The gateau is soft and dense and quite pleasing. Unfortunately vanilla creme brulee has been sent out instead of green tea creme brulee. However as all 5 of us had quickly dug into it and the texture and flavour was so satisfying no one had the heart to send it back.
We leave Jazushi, the door kindly opened for us by our ever attentive server, exiting into the torrential and unstopping rain that has overtaken Sydney this Wednesday night, warm inside from the pleasantness of the meal and experience. Definitely one to come back to.
Jazushi is open Tuesday to Sunday 6pm to late.
Live Jazz is programmed every night.
145 Devonshire Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010
Tel : +61 2 9699 8977
Fully Licensed (no BYO)
Overall impression: Awesome place for a few friends to meet over sake and fusion Japanese cuisine. Everyone should be able to find something, if not a whole menu of options, that they will like.
Value: $$$ Not so cheap it can be a regular night out but not so expensive that you can't do it often. Smaller items are around $14 mark, mains around $22, desserts around $10. You will be sharing tapas style! We had 6 small dishes and 2 mains between 5 people plus dessert.
Vegetarian Options
We have a lot of vegetarian friends and though none were there with us that night we do like to keep an eye out for the vegetarian options on the menu. While I probably wouldn't recommend this place for vegetarians specifically, vegos who are going with their sushi-eating mates will have no problem finding good food here. Options include the vegetarian inside out roll, deep fried asparagus, sauteed lotus roots, breaded mushrooms, veg tempura and agedashi tofu (please enquire about the suitability of the tofu dish for strict vegetarians as it is in a bonito sauce). Of course there is also the stack of grilled eggplant we mentioned above and one of my favourites and a must-try if you like cheese, the Camembert Tempura!
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