Yebisu Bar & Grill | Chinatown
Japanese Yakitori is nothing new to us, in fact it is one of our favourite treats that take us right back to the heart of Shinjuku. If you haven't already tasted yakitori then we encourage you to try it.
Yebisu Bar and Grill, located in Sydney's China Town has a wide range of Yakitori options to taste. There are well up to 50 different items on the menu, each item you might think is very simple... but the you will surprise yourself when you realise exactly how much flavour there is.
Steamed Gyoza
Gyoza was on our mind, but we really wanted to watch what we were eating. We continued scrolling through the menu and came across steamed gyoza - quite literally a healthier gyoza and all our prayers had been answered! While they had the same great taste of your standard gyoza, it is really tough to not preference a proper pan fried gyoza over these. Just missing the beautiful crunchy base!
For the health conscious who want a little bit more out of their diet then this is a really good compromise!
I've only recently appreciated raw seafood. The fresh taste, texture and balanced flavoured of the kingfish was delicious. The seaweed added that extra crunchy element to the plate. I loved every single piece however some more lemon would be perfect! This would be a great entree for those trying to watch their diet.
Pan Fried Rice Cake
We see these snacks ALL the time when watching Japanese shows/anime (yes - Matt loves anime and is proud of it). But we had always wondered exactly how a ball of rice could taste good. We just had to try it though... surprisingly it wasn't as bland as we had thought. The rice cake has been pan fried which gives it an elegant golden crunch and adds a little bit of flavour. It definitely isn't a meal to run around boasting about, but it is a simple dish with nice and simple flavours.
Yakitori
We ordered a small plate of yakitori (how could we not!) - two separate flavours were chosen, the spring onion wrapped in pork and grilled chicken with a side boiled egg to dip. The spring onion and pork really brought back memories of piss alley in Shinjuku. Bold flavours from the spring onion along with the smokey flavours of the grilled pork just work hand in hand. Highly recommend that you try this skewer! The chicken and boiled egg is a new concept that we tried, with the concept being to dip the chicken into the egg yolk. It was definitely an interesting dish, but not entirely to our liking. The chicken was seasoned and tasted great on it's own and we found the egg didn't really add anything extra.
Miso Ramen
The last dish was shared between the both of us, but it is very much a single person dish. We encourage sharing a main and taking advantage of their various sides. The ramen broth was rich but not overpowering and cluggy. There are other places where the broth is way too thick for our stomach. A perfect way to warm the belly in this weather!
We started the night with some mocktails which were very, very sweet but not sickening sweet so if you have a massive sweet tooth like Matt does, then be sure to order these drinks.
Gyoza was on our mind, but we really wanted to watch what we were eating. We continued scrolling through the menu and came across steamed gyoza - quite literally a healthier gyoza and all our prayers had been answered! While they had the same great taste of your standard gyoza, it is really tough to not preference a proper pan fried gyoza over these. Just missing the beautiful crunchy base!
For the health conscious who want a little bit more out of their diet then this is a really good compromise!
I've only recently appreciated raw seafood. The fresh taste, texture and balanced flavoured of the kingfish was delicious. The seaweed added that extra crunchy element to the plate. I loved every single piece however some more lemon would be perfect! This would be a great entree for those trying to watch their diet.
We see these snacks ALL the time when watching Japanese shows/anime (yes - Matt loves anime and is proud of it). But we had always wondered exactly how a ball of rice could taste good. We just had to try it though... surprisingly it wasn't as bland as we had thought. The rice cake has been pan fried which gives it an elegant golden crunch and adds a little bit of flavour. It definitely isn't a meal to run around boasting about, but it is a simple dish with nice and simple flavours.
Yakitori
We ordered a small plate of yakitori (how could we not!) - two separate flavours were chosen, the spring onion wrapped in pork and grilled chicken with a side boiled egg to dip. The spring onion and pork really brought back memories of piss alley in Shinjuku. Bold flavours from the spring onion along with the smokey flavours of the grilled pork just work hand in hand. Highly recommend that you try this skewer! The chicken and boiled egg is a new concept that we tried, with the concept being to dip the chicken into the egg yolk. It was definitely an interesting dish, but not entirely to our liking. The chicken was seasoned and tasted great on it's own and we found the egg didn't really add anything extra.
Miso Ramen
The last dish was shared between the both of us, but it is very much a single person dish. We encourage sharing a main and taking advantage of their various sides. The ramen broth was rich but not overpowering and cluggy. There are other places where the broth is way too thick for our stomach. A perfect way to warm the belly in this weather!