on my plate: ikura sushi @ kaiten sushi, Osaka

Go on. I dare you not to look at this sushi and drool. While most people think tuna is the only way to go, I can't go past ikura each and every time. Little orange balls of bliss pop in your mouth and slowly ooze out salty creamy goodness that spreads throughout your mouth.

on my plate: akamaru tonkotsu ramen @ Ippudo, Osaka

While waiting in line at Ippudo in Osaka, my friend confronted me with a Sophie's choice dilemma last night: If I had to get rid of one food from my life, would I choose ramen or souvlaki?

Assuming that no more souvlaki in my life also meant none of its cousins, the schwarma or the kebab, I foolishly chose ramen. My justification at the time: There were way more noodle dishes that could maybe try and fill the void of ramen, whereas meats wrapped in flat bread with garlic sauce is a much more difficult thing to substitute for.

Hmmm, yeah, about that decision. I might have to reconsider that after waiting in line  for 20 minutes for Ippudo's akamaru ramen. I didn't think you could top tonkotsu ramen: the deliciously garlicky and creamy broth made from pork bones is unsurpassable, but then again, I had never tried it with the addition of miso paste and black garlic oil. I could even dedicate another post solely to the thick tender cuts of charsiu pork and - perfectly runny egg, but that may just have to wait another day.

on my plate: ama-ebi sushi @ Nipponichi, Osaka

It's a sign of being spoiled in Japan by cheap ¥100 a plate sushi when ¥130 a plate seems a little excessive. But unlike the cheap, sushi trains I've been visiting lately, this one was manned by actual sushi chefs, not just part timers.

And damn, was it worth the extra ¥30 yen. Freshly prepared fish that just melts in your mouth. While the chu-toro had me back for seconds, it was the creaminess of the ama-ebi, or sweet prawns, that made me glad I wasn't as tight with my purse strings as I've been lately.

on my plate - una-ju @ Kissho, Osaka

What better way to beat the heat of summer than with unagi? Well, if you ask me, I would have suggested Maxibons, gelato, an ice cold bear, or just about anything other than steaming hot eel with rice. How unagi came to be associated with summer is still debatable (some say it's because the fattiness of the eel gives you more energy to last in the humidity compared to regular fish, others say it's because foods starting with the character 'u' are connected to winter, and so its winter-associations are meant to counteract the heat of summer), but being in Osaka, I felt the need to do what Romans do, and gave it a shot.

My aimless wandering around Osaka finally paid off when I stumbled upon Kissho, a restaurant famed for its Edo-style (a.k.a Ye Olde Tokyo style) unagi. Yes, eating a Tokyo style dish in Osaka is essentially the same as going to Sydney to try South Melbourne dim sims, but my previous experience with unagi involved buying the discounted stuff from convenience stores, so my ability to discern quality eel from the regular stuff is probably quite low anyway.

Not the cheapest lunch I've had in Japan (about $28), but I guess there's no use complaining when the meat is rich, juicy, and slathered with sweet soy-based kabayaki sauce. I am still highly suspicious of its reputed summer-beating qualities, however, unless the food coma that occurred on the train immediately afterwards was pure coincidence.

Kissho
8-47 Kakuda-cho, Kita-ku
Osaka city, Osaka

Yu-u and yakitori

Despite talk about it having some of the best Japanese lunch sets in Melbourne, there's a lot of mystery that surrounds Yu-u. A quick google will find some Urbanspoon reviews and a couple blog posts about it, but don't expect to find an official website or any pictures of the food. Yu-u has earned the reputation of being one of Melbourne's best kept secrets, and judging by its nondescript entrance off in a side alley in the CBD and strict no photo-taking policy, it seems intent on keeping it that way.

omurice

I don't know why Japanese people seem to be the only ones to have stumbled on the secret formula for amazing food - the addition of rice to other foods (Japanese or otherwise) will increase the awesomeness exponentially. 

Don't trust me? Then you have to try their taco rice. Or if you're looking for a more 'Italian' influence, maybe, some doria, which is essentially a gratin with rice in place of the pasta. And people in Nagasaki swear by their Toruko rice (Turkish rice). 

on my plate - sakata coated prawns @ izakaya den

To say Japanese is a difficult language to learn is a bit of an understatement. After this amount of studying, I still don't really understand the subtle nuances. Take some words to describe crunchy foods: paripari for thin crispy things like chips,  sakusaku for crumbly foods like cookies, and karikari for foods that are harder. Yeah, I still have no idea how they all work exactly.

And I've been trying to wrap my head around the concept of puripuri. I've heard it being used to describe ikura or caviar - the way that the bubbles pop in your mouth and release the liquidy centres when you bite into them. I can understand if its used in that context, but how do people use that word to describe prawns?

My moment of clarity came last night while sampling these at Izakaya Den last night. Prawns in a rice cracker coating deep fried and served with a citrus mayonnaise. The prawns were plump and firm to bite,  but once you bite through the crunchy coating and the flesh, the juiciness and sweet seafood flavour explodes in your mouth. It was a puripuri moment indeed.

Izakaya Den
114 Russell St
Melbourne

on my plate - hiyashi chuka @ ramen-ya

"Really? Ramen-ya again after a second trip to Earl Canteen?" What can I say? I'm a creature of habit. Especially when it comes quality cheap food.

While steaming hot bowls of ramen remind me of dark, cold, dimly lit alleyways in Tokyo, hiyashi chuuka (lit. chilled Chinese food) takes me back to humid summer nights in the middle of the country with constant buzz of cicadas filling the air.

Noodles topped with slices of omelette, ham, cucumber and tomato, topped with crispy nori seaweed, and served with just a touch of soy-based broth. While it lacked the Japanese mayonnaise and mustard I'm familiar with, it was still a welcome change on a fairly warm day. It almost makes me miss the muggy August nights in Japan, stepping outside for just a moment and almost immediately being drenched in sweat. Well, almost.

on my plate - tonkotsu ramen @ ramen-ya

Is it wrong that one of the reasons why I'm thinking about moving back to Japan is because of the food? Melbourne certainly has its fair share of quality restaurants, and a fair proportion of them offer some near-comparable Japanese food, like Ramen-ya's tonkotsu ramen. Bamboo shoots, spring onions, tender chashu pork and slightly chewy noodles served in a a rich, creamy pork broth. Sure, it was good, and at $6.50, definitely hard to beat, it felt like something wasn't quite right. Maybe it was that the egg yolk could've been a little softer and more runny. Or maybe it just needs to be ordered with a ticket-dispensing vending machine and eaten in a narrow, dimly lit alleyway in Tokyo.

Ramen-ya

Shop 25G Melbourne's GPO

350 Bourke St

Melbourne

sushi - Shira Nui

It was a warm summer night, and I was hungry. I had no craving for KFC, pizza, or one of the other cheap Chinese places around the corner. Just as my dad and I were about to give up our search for somewhere good, we saw the "Now Open" sign on the new restaurant. It was small, and nestled between a real estate agent and other small shops, you wouldn't expect to find a restaurant there. But it was brand new, and glancing in the window and spying the simple, minimalist decor, it seemed more than your standard, run-of-the-mill take away restaurant. Interests piqued, we stepped inside, and have not looked back ever since.

Hard to believe that that night was eight years ago. But once you've tried their sushi at Shira Nui, it's not hard to believe that I still remember that night so vividly, or why the tiny restaurant has still managed to stay around and be successful.

on my plate - dory and yuzu fish roe sushi

Dory sushi seasoned with lemon and salt, topped with yuzu-infused tobiko (flying fish roe). The refreshing tartness of the lemon and salt, along with the almost crunchy texture of the yuzu tobiko didn't fail in whetting my appetite and getting me excited for all the other sushi that followed.

Shira Nui
247 Springvale Rd
Glen Waverley (map)

kobe beef - Mouriya

Royal Moriya Restaurant

What's the most you would pay for a good meal? $50? $100? As you can probably guess by the fact I keep a blog dedicated to food, I don't know where I would draw the line for a meal. I still have difficulties understanding how one of my friends was seriously contemplating either buying a new used car or a new handbag for the same price, but I have no qualms in putting down a fair chunk of money for a quality steak. In fact, I'd even plan and budget for a weekend trip solely for the purpose of eating one in Kobe.