Taisho Japanese Restaurant | Zetland
Throwback to FCBA’s
second birthday hosted at Taisho Japanese Restaurant - this was quite some time ago now but with all the wedding planning that has been happening lately, we are well backlogged with our food reviews! Please hang in there with us :)
Taisho is located in East
Village Shopping Centre (Zetland). We love travelling to these locations by public transport as much as possible and if you are not in a rush and need some
exercise, you can catch the train to Green Square station and take a short walk. Taisho can be found on the street (don’t
actually walk into the shopping centre), where the warm and cozy décor really makes
you feel included and at home.
One
of the sponsor for FCBA’s second birthday was Nocton Vineyard. We enjoyed their
white and had a few glasses. We generally find that white wine pairs best with the freshness of Japanese food, needless to say we’re not huge fans of red wine either. The wine tasting note was very palatable, easy to drink and boy that's not a good thing!
Sashimi Omakase
We enjoyed
a selection of fresh seafood like salmon, kingfish, tuna, prawn and scallop. I
love scallop so we dived straight into that. The selection on this plate was quite vast and by the end of the evening we started throwing the remaining pieces onto the bbq to get an almost "grilled" sashimi. Can't believe no one thought of this before!
Taisho Sushi - Main
Continuing with the fresh seafood selections, we were next served a plate of fresh sushi. You can see a few favourites like scallop, prawn, salmon, tuna and a baby tuna roll. Fresh sushi with a side serving of ginger - great way to cleanse your palette before you start with the barbecue.
Chicken Karaage is one of our favourites and Taisho really lived up to our expectations. Sashimi aside, this was our favourite entree and the crispiness and juiciness of the chicken meant that it was perfect and didn't even need the mayo!
Delicious crunchy pork gyoza served with a Japanese dumpling sauce makes the perfect entrée. Gyoza tastes similar in all Japanese restaurants so it really comes down to how well it’s cooked and Taisho’s chefs cooked it perfectly. The right amount of crispy without drying out the filling!
Assorted Tempura
We were once told that perfectly cooked tempura involved deep frying it twice. We’re not sure how Taisho cooked their tempura but it left no oily after taste. The oil wasn’t soaked into the vegetables/prawn (and that’s even after we’ve taken a few photos). It was enjoyable and complimented well with the subtle dipping sauce.
Japanese BBQ
We were once told that perfectly cooked tempura involved deep frying it twice. We’re not sure how Taisho cooked their tempura but it left no oily after taste. The oil wasn’t soaked into the vegetables/prawn (and that’s even after we’ve taken a few photos). It was enjoyable and complimented well with the subtle dipping sauce.
Taisho in East
Village Shopping Centre does Japanese BBQ. We haven’t had Japanese BBQ in a
while! One key difference between Japanese BBQ and Korean BBQ is the way the
meat is served. Japanese BBQ is all about the meat and as such is not marinated.
You have a few dipping sauces to compliment the beef, one dipping condiment in particular is salt. The quality of the meat is the standout and Taisho was no exception. Korean BBQ on the
other hand is all about the marinade. We had a great time with lovely company, enjoyed the dining experience at Taisho and meeting all the new faces!