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: 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

on my plate - pintxos @ Naked for Satan

It might be an obvious statement, but tapas sure isn't the same in Melbourne as it is in Spain. Don't get me wrong, Portello Rosso, and from what I hear, the Mo Vidas offer quality food, but if you're looking for food that compares to Barcelona or Madrid, expect to pay a pretty penny for that privilege.

With Naked for Satan's weekday 80 cents per pintxo, at least I know now that I don't have to break the bank every time I get a hankering for some tapas. Maybe it was just the shock of food being that cheap, or the sheer amount of food that I kept piling onto my plate, but I forgot to take note of what exactly I was eating. I vaguely remember some tasty garlicky prawn pintxo and the croquettas. Did I like the jamon one more, or the second one? Then again, does it really matter when each bite costs 80 cents?

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 - linguine with baby octopus, chilli and garlic

Has baby octopus always been this cheap? Had I known I could find it for $6 a kilo, as opposed to $25/kg calamari I would probably be more inclined to cook seafood more often. I was searching for tuna to try out Gary Mehigan's linguine with fresh tuna, chilli & garlic recipe, but I at that price, I'd be stupid not to buy octopus, right?.  Linguine tossed in a garlic and chilli-infused olive oil sauce, topped with rocket and pangrattato. I've tried making olive oil-based pasta sauces without much success, but this one has converted me - full of flavour without tasting too oily. That, coupled with the subtle kick of chilli, the crunchy texture of the thyme pangrattato breadcrumbs, and the tender octopus is seriously amazing.

Questionable Asian buffet experiences aside, it has once again confirmed my theory that you should never really pass up on cheap seafood.

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)

on my plate - school prawns @ zest89

Fried school prawns served with shoestring fries and garlic mayonnaise. Crunchy with an rich prawn flavour - kind of like prawn crackers. I don't know how that huge hit of seafood flavour fits into one tiny little package, but I'm a fan indeed. Plus, a meal seems to always be satisfying when the vegetable component of the dish is starchy, thinly cut, and deep fried.

Zest 89
89 Kingsway, Glen Waverley