For me every good Japanese meal should start with a bowl of warm Edamame ($4.80), rather than a visit to the neighbouring adult shop! The Nazimi edamame is served hot with a sprinkle of sea salt, and we make good work of the bowl before any of our other food arrives!
I also decide that such a cold night calls for Miso Soup ($2.00) whilst the BFF opts for a bottomless cup of Green Tea ($2.00). I do wish that my tasty Miso Soup was bottomless too as it was so lovely.
The BFF had been to Nazimi the week before for dinner and liked it so much he was keen to go back and try a few more things off the menu. He was so taken with the Buta Ebi Maki however ($9.80 for four pieces) that he orders it again. I can see why he is so taken with this dish - thin slices of pork fillets wrapped lovingly around a prawn, crumbed then deep fried and topped with a sweet teriyaki sauce. Delicious - but not so good for me as I'm trying to be on a health kick.
Our next dish, the Creamy Eggplant ($12.80) blows my diet right out of the water - though looks as pretty as a picture. Underneath the mountain of creamy sauce lies a meaty slice of deep-fried eggplant topped with prawn and scallop.
It wouldn't be a Japanese meal for me without the consumption of some sort of sushi. Another diet misstep sees us order the Sun Monblang Roll ($16.50) that comes topped with a mound of tempura crumble and Monblang Sauce. The "deep fried king prawn" mentioned on the menu should have stopped me in my diet tracks, but the promise of Japanese pickle, cucumber, crab meat and flying fish roe were all too tempting to resist. Neither of us are sure what Monblang Sauce is, but it was a tasty addition to the roll.
Our final dish of the evening, Yakiniku Beef ($15.80), is about as healthy as you can find - grilled marinated BBQ beef served with shallots. The menu says this dish is served with renkon chips, but I don't recall them being on the plate. Instead we have a lovely little pile of meaty Enoki Mushrooms. This dish tasted divine! The aroma of smokey grilled-meat was mouthwatering, and was tender and as flavoursome as it smelt.
Nazimi can be found at the basement level of 141 York Street, Sydney. It's a small, but very popular restaurant so get in early to avoid waiting too long for a table.
