Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo (Japan)

Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market is the biggest wholesale fish market in the world...a surprising accomplishment for such a small country. I'm a fan of "big" things: the Big Pineapple; the Big Prawn and the Big Banana to name a few so there was NO way I was heading home from Japan without seeing The Big Fish Market!

Before we hit the market proper we get lost in a labyrinth of little laneways that we stupidly thought was "the market", or "the outer market", or "some version of the market". This area is undoubtedly attached to the market in some way (or exists because of the market at any rate), but keep burrowing in until you hit the "proper" Tsukiji Fish Market. You'll know it when you see it as it's a BIG, busy open space swarming with stallholders and scarily fast propane powered trolleys that seem to be quite happy to run over agog-mouthed tourists. Surprisingly though we saw no seagulls about...maybe it was too cold?

We spend a little while wandering about the nice "outer-outer, not-really-the-market market" which was lovely. I'm guessing this is where the locals come to shop for seafood and other items that are on offer including vegetables and fruit.  We saw a little bonito-flake factory, tried fleshly flaked bonito, bought some sake glasses, tried some proper green tea and were offered a sample of dried fish we loved, much to the delight of the stall holder.

For those that are keen you can arrive at Tsukiji Fish Market at some ungodly hour and wait in line to be accepted into the "inner-market" where the famous Tuna Auctions take place at about 5am each morning. There's little that will get me out of bed before dawn and watching endangered Tuna be auctioned off for ridiculous prices is not one of those things. It was interesting to see though, when we were waking around, that nearly all of the tuna was frozen rather than whole, fresh fish.

We arrived at about 11am and had a leisurely wander around as the stallholders were all packing up.  As we wandered around I really got a sense of how HUGE this market is. We hardly made a dent into the space after 20 minutes of wandering. It was also nice to see some "hipster light fixtures" being used for their intended purpose of industrial lighting...

I also started to get a sense of how much seafood the market must go through here each day...and I started to feel uneasy. For every fish I saw here I wondered how much "by-catch" was left dead on the docks or thrown, dead, back into the ocean. I also wondered what happened to all the fish that didn't sell...did it become "rubbish"? I was aware of our massive over-consumption of everything and I didn't feel great...but I felt hungry so we went for sushi!

There are a few very well known sushi places in the "outer-market" and they are easily recognizable for the horrendous queues forming outside. As it was about 3 degrees on the day of our visit I went straight to the restaurant with no queue. I was running with the theory that we were in Japan, at the biggest fish market in the world...surely ALL the sushi joints would be great.

And look at this fabulous old uncle dishing up sushi from behind the counter! I felt like I was in the movie "Jiro dreams of sushi". Our restaurant couldn't have been more perfect!

The restaurant is tiny, and I'm fairly most of them at the market would be about the same size.  There is *just* enough room for us to sit on our stools and for the waiter to squish past with our green tea and soup.

Unsurprisingly the majority of the sushi on offer is tuna. I'm sure there's a way to ask for "no endangered Tuna please Mr Sushi-maker-man, just line caught Slipjack for me" but lord knows how you say that in Japanese...so we just ate what we were given and I have to say it was pretty terrific. Everything was super fresh and so delicious. With the addition of the green tea and pimped out miso soup that had noodles in it we left feeling very full and happy.  This feed cost us about AUD$25 each.

For details on how to get to the markets and their opening times this Wikipedia link should help.

Sushia Izakaya, Sydney CBD

Miss Piggy dined as a guest of  Sushia Izakaya at the invitation of Horizon Communication Group.

Nestled in the back of the old Stock Exchange Building on Bond Street is Sushia Izakaya - a modern sushi restaurant offering a sushi train plus restaurant section and bar seating that overlooks the sushi masters at work.  It's the triple threat of sushi!

I don't make it up to the "big end of town" very often and I'm surprised at how much this little strip in the financial district has changed.  The office tower has been totally refurbished since my 1995 job interview in this very same building (yes, I'm THAT old). There's a cluster of good looking restaurants nestled around the side near the tiny (and no longer scary looking) Abercrombie Lane (aka the home of Establishment). It makes me miss working in the city - especially when there are such good eating options these days.

Because I'm dining by myself I grab a seat at the sushi train and wait for the chefs to send out some of their most popular dishes for me to try (yes, it's a tough life I know). I know I shouldn't as I'm sure I have quite the feast heading my way but my hand just reached out and grabbed a plate of sushi from the train.  It had been tempting me for a few laps so I was helpless to its lure. I'm a sucker for anything with cooked tuna so the salmon + tuna roll ($4.50) is perfect. Compared to a recent sushi train lunch out west that nearly bankrupted me I have to say the sushi train prices here are fairly cheap.

With my single plate from the sushi train inhaled I sip on my green tea that I think has been steeped with toasted brown rice - I love the nutty flavour this gives to the tea. Whilst enjoying my green tea it's hard not to be struck by the decor here. The walls are shaped like large, wooden fins, and the wave shaped embedded into the walls make me feel like I'm dining "in" the ocean.

The first dish sent out for me to try is one of my all time favourites - agedashi tofu ($8.50 for 4 pieces). After recently trying to cook tofu at home for the first time ever I have a new found respect for people that can cook tofu well, without it falling apart at the slightest glance in its direction. I loved the sweet dashi broth that was studded with crispy almond flakes that offered a great textural counterbalance to the silky smooth tofu.

Next up was the seafood kushiyaki ($12.90 for two skewers). The slightly charred, tender pieces of salmon, calamari and prawns were topped with a sweet and spicy chilli balsamic sauce that reminded me of a sticky chilli jam in flavour.

The sushi and sashimi platter ($34.90) is the stuff that sushi lovers dream off (well, I do anyway).  This beautiful looking platter is as vibrant + colourful as a piece of art (and in a way I guess it is art).  The platter is piled with tender pieces of delicately cut fresh sashimi (15 pieces of sashimi in all!!!!), piles of nigiri sushi (raw sushi on rice) + aburi sushi (that's nigiri sushi that's had a bit of a go around with the old blowtorch = charred, smoky and delicious)! I could quite happily eat a platter like this for lunch everyday (along with some agedashi tofu of course).

 

I don't usually order anything other than seafood or veggies when I'm at a Japanese restaurant so I was interested to try the  9+ Wagyu beef steak ($29.50) with a sesame demi sauce.  Wagyu beef isn't something I'd normally eat as I generally stick to grass fed beef and I'm surprised at how cheap this dish is given how expensive some Wagyu dishes can be.  It's definitely a bargain dish for wagyu lovers - though I still do prefer the flavour of grass fed beef. What I really enjoyed on this dish (apart from the lotus root chip) was the sweet potato mash - it's the sweetest sweet potato that I've ever tasted (which I think may be partially due to the sesame demi sauce).

The food at Sushia Izakaya is beautiful and wonderfully fresh. I think this restaurant is a great addition to the dining options at the "big end of town" especially now that Sushi Choo has cleared out of The Ivy just down the road.  Even better is that Sushia Izakaya has a focus on using fresh and ethically sourced produce which I think is just fantastic. The restaurant also supports the work of Compassion (a child advocacy organization) in Burayou, Ethiopia. Nicely done Sushia Izakaya - dining with a conscious. I like it.

Sushia Izakaya can be found at Shop 4 (ground floor), 20 Bond Street, Sydney.  Phone them on 9247 9911.

Jap's Table, Darlington

My ramen confusion continues with the opening of Jap's Table in Darlington last year.  I've been told by my colleague, Lady Ruth (who has traveled and lived in Japan for years) that the food at Jap's Table is pretty authentic.  Lady Ruth thinks this is as Japanese as you're going to get outside of Japan.

My Japan-o-phile friends from Street Food nod their heads in agreement when I share Lady Ruth's declaration to them.  And it's so close to my work that it would be criminal not to head there and try their  ramen...often.

Mr Jap's Table loves cooking his Yakitori on a charcoal grill out on the sidewalk (let's see how long the council let him get away with this).

The first ramen I try at Jap's Table is the Yokohama Ramen ($9.50), a pork based stock that is much less thick than the Tonkotsu Ramen (pork bone broth) that I've tried at other places. I like this a lot as it's flavoursome but not too rich.  I often find the flavour of Tonkotsu broth a bit too porky (yes, there is such a thing) and too thick with collagen from pork bones used to make the broths.  This ramen is quite "thin" and the addition of a perfect soft yolked egg and thick, fatty pieces of pork belly add a touch of decadence.  I also grab an Ocean Trout + Avocado Roll ($2.80) which is freshly made and absolutely perfect.

On my next visit I try the Su Udon ($9.50) made with Bonito Stock.  The menu says this is a vegetarian dish but just in case you don't know - Bonito is a fish, and a fish is not a vegetable...no matter the cuisine. My vego friend Tara was recently told that seafood eating "vegetarians" are "fish-o-crites". Take note Jap's Table! This is a wonderful soup either way - light, simple and it feels like a healthy dish to eat on a day when you want to eater on the lighter side. Not a dish for Meat Free Monday however.

I'm b-a-c-k! I'm starting to feel a bit like a Jap's Table stalker but when you're on to a good thing just go with it. This time try the raw salmon don ($9.50) and it is another fresh and healthy tasting dish.  There's not much to this really - just sushi rice topped with stripes of raw salmon, sesame seeds and sliced shallots. I add a bit of soy sauce to the bowl to give the rice a bit of moisture.

Of course we've all had a salmon + avocado roll ($2.80) before but Mackerel Sushi ($4 for 3 pieces) is something I've never seen on offer in Australia (or anywhere else for that matter). The fish is less oily and less "strong" in flavour than I had though, overall a nice mild flavoured fish. 

After so many visits it seems about time to try Mr Jap's Table yakatori skewers. I can never pass up chicken skin when I see it on a menu - this is a bit less crunchy (and also more fatty) than the chicken skin I've had at Japanese restaurants, but it's still delicious.  I also try the salmon yakatori and the beef skewer - both are tender and have that beautiful charred flavour of being cooked over charcoal. Lovely.

Jap's Table is a great little place. The food is delicious, simple and flavoursome (and reasonably priced too). I'm glad I have this so close to my work - a little bit of Jap's Table helps break up the dreary work week in the cubicle farm.

Jap's Table is at Shop 6/ 245-249 Abercrombie Street, Darlington.

Sushi Train, Adelaide

Back when I lived in Broken Hill we'd occasionally make the five hour drive to Adelaide in order to soak up some big-city-living. Apart from Mildura, a three hour drive south, Adelaide is the closest thing to the "big smoke" that Broken Hill has.  Truth be told my main reason for wanting to visit Adelaide was Sushi Train. I wouldn't even check into the hotel on these Adelaide visits - I HAD to go straight to Sushi Train and stuff my face - the hotel could wait. When you live in a town with no sushi train you get a little...desperate.

As soon as I saw Adelaide's Sushi Train on our drive in from the airport to Eat.Drink.Blog headquarters I knew had to get my fix...for old times sake.  It was a Pavlovian response - I saw Sushi Train and started to drool.  This time though I dropped my bags off at the hotel before taking my place at the train.

Everything was just as fabulous as I remember - all my old favourites were still doing their lap on the conveyor belt. The crisp tempura prawn nigiri drizzled with lashings of sweet teriyaki sauce was as scrumptious as ever and the creamy tuna ship was still perfection on a plate.

I think Salmon Aburi is always a good choice, the salmon being scorched by the deft touch of a blow-torched which gives it a lovely smokey flavour and a creamy texture. I also could not pass up one of my favourite sushi dishes - Dragon Roll, a firmly wrapped roll of cucumber and cream cheese that is topped with eel, sesame seeds and a sweet sauce.

I had to limit sushi intake on this visit as I was off to meet some other bloggers for a sweet afternoon tea but I thought four plates wasn't too piggy.

Sushi Train is at  36 City Central Market Arcade (Gouger Street), Adelaide.