Not Your Ordinary Ramen

If you’re ever in need of a great, big, warm hug – but in food form, look no further than into the depths of a bowl of steaming hot ramen. And for the best bowl of ramen in town, head to Ajisen Ramen (two CBD locations in Adelaide). Despite not being a huge fan of franchised eateries, due to lack of quality control and poor consistency between stores, I have found Ajisen to be surprisingly good every time I’ve been.

My usual order of chargrilled beef ramen ($13) is more than enough to fill me up. For those who need a little extra, you can upsize for a dollar or add any extra ingredients to end up with a customised bowl.

One of the main reasons I love Ajisen is the type of noodles they use in their ramen dishes. Forget the gluten-filled, cheap 2-minute Maggi style noodles found at most other Japanese restaurants, Ajisen use a spaghetti-like white noodle similar to udon, but slightly thinner. They maintain their elasticity and texture better than the curly noodles, and complement the bean sprouts and fungi well.

The broth, which is a pork bone white soup base (with a vegetarian broth option is available), is also very tasty without the added saltiness of MSG. You can always tell how much MSG has been added by how thirsty you are 30 minutes after your meal – the more MSG, the more you’ll feel like you’re dying of thirst.

The only thing that disappoints me occasionally about this dish is the beef. It is sometimes overcooked or a bit grisly at other times. But this shouldn’t put you off trying this place because there are so many other ramen combinations worth a try. Note that all the ramen dishes come with the same noodles, broth (pork or vegetable), bean sprouts, fungi (a type of dried, Asian mushroom), egg and spring onions. Some must-try ramen combinations include:

The Gyoza Ramen: with handmade steamed pork and vegetable dumplings

The Grilled Salmon Ramen: comes with a decent serve of skinless, boneless salmon

The Volcano Ramen: it will bring tears to your eyes – strictly for chilli lovers or those looking for a challenge

A Culinary Voyage at Tetsuya’s (Part 2 of 2)

After the scrumptious signature dish of Petuna ocean trout from the waters of Tasmania (so good I have to mention it again, you can read about it here), our adventure through the cooked (as opposed to raw-ish) dishes began! It was during the second half of the degustation that I felt Tetsuya’s really lived up to its reputation. There were stronger flavours, more interesting texture combinations and of course, 3 whole courses of desserts!

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…

The signature dish was followed by another fish dish, this time a fillet of steamed blue cod on a bed of celeriac purée and wilted kale leaves (similar to spinach but higher in iron, making it the ‘it’ veggie of 2013). The fish had been cooked perfectly: firm yet falling apart and flakey in all the right places. Complementing it was the earthy flavour of the celeriac purée (like a potato mash, but with a kick of flavour), which together with the kale leaves, made for a well-rounded, healthy dish.

Next up was the breast of a quail (a tiny bird about the size of my palm) that had been tea-smoked to give off a slightly delicate smoky flavour. The process of tea smoking involves heating up a mixture of rice and tea leaves in a wok, and cooking food on a wire rack over the smoke.

The quail breast was slightly undercooked inside, which I was a bit worried about considering it is closely related to a chicken. Luckily, after some quick research, my fears abated as I learnt that wild game such as quail should be eaten slightly undercooked to retain the moisture in the flesh.

The breast was served with some parsnip chips and calamari. The parsnips were good in that they added a little bit more substance to the dish, but weren’t fabulous enough for me to want to say anything else about them. The calamari was served fresh, without having been marinated or cooked, and were quite elastic. I found the combination of quail and squid quite strange, with the juxtaposition between the warm and cold elements not quite working for my tastebuds.

The last savoury dish of the night was a tenderloin of wagyu beef topped with a round of soy braised tendon and fresh wasabi leaves. The beef was melt-in-my-mouth delicious with a shoyu sauce (Japanese soy sauce) adding just the right amount of flavour. The tendon was a gooey consistency and literally melted (almost liquified) in my mouth. Dare I say it was too soft? My tastebuds probably haven’t developed to fully appreciate the rarity or the difficulty of harvesting animal tendons just yet.

On an interesting note, the little leaves on top are fresh wasabi leaves which I have never seen or tasted before. They were not spicy at all! In fact, they were very similar to snow pea sprouts, quite refreshing and added some colour and crunch to the dish. My second favourite dish of the night!

Now to the dessert courses! By this time, half the table were falling asleep and didn’t get to fully appreciate these dishes. But that just meant more for me! 😉

The first dessert was a lychee granita with strawberries and coconut ice cream. Served in a martini glass, this was a very nice, cool, palate cleansing dish. I thoroughly enjoyed the combination of crunchy granita with the sweet softness of the strawberries (which had been preserved in a sugar syrup). Unfortunately the lychee flavour of the granita was lost in the more dominant strawberry and coconut flavours, but this didn’t dampen my enthusiasm for the dish!

The ninth dish of the evening was Tetsuya’s version of bread and butter pudding, which was a bit unexciting to be honest. It was a very forgettable dish with no wow factor. Although small in size, it was quite heavy to eat, especially at 11PM and after 8 other courses. Slightly disappointed.

 

Last but not least was the cremet d’Anjou, a specialty dessert from the province of Anjou in western France. It is made from fresh soft cheese and has the consistency of freshly churned butter or whipped cream. To an innocent bystander, the cremet would probably be mistaken as a nicely shaped dollop of fresh cream. Taste-wise, there was the telltale sourness of cheese and was very similar to eating the cheese layer of a cheesecake. The raspberry coolie and pistachio ice cream were a welcome addition to the dish, bringing both colour and a range of flavours. I would have preferred a sweeter last course but am glad I got to try this!

To finish off the night, there were a selection of petits fours but by this stage, everyone had had enough (a joke was made the degustation needing a disclaimer of “BYO pillow” which I thoroughly enjoyed and agree with).

I was also quite drained so didn’t pay attention to what was going in my mouth. We had been one of the first ones to arrive at the restaurant, and one of the last tables to finish. It was a busy Saturday night so this may have explained the delay, but I definitely recommend going in a smaller group or a less busy night if you don’t want to have a 4 and a half hour dinner like we did.

Overall the experience was lovely and definitely of a high standard. I wouldn’t say it was perfect as there some glitches (long waiting time between dishes and not being able to hear waiters explain dishes) but the quality of food, care in presentation and the range of new flavours and culinary techniques I was able to taste made it a worthy experience.

*Photo credits to my friend April. Thank you for letting me share your photos 🙂

A Culinary Voyage at Tetsuya’s (Part 1 of 2)

When a friend of mine wanted to tick an item off her bucket list, namely, to have an overly expensive fine dining experience, I was more than happy to join her. Heading to Sydney for the weekend, we decided on the much acclaimed and highly rated Tetsuya’s.

Tetsuya’s serve a 10 course degustation for $220 per person (including GST, not including drinks). The food is predominately Japanese flavours, cooked using French techniques and served using fresh Australian ingredients.

Bookings must be made in advance and a cancellation fee of $250 per person for less than a week’s notice applies. The restaurant has consistently been featured in Restaurant Magazine (London) as one of the world’s best restaurants (ranked no 76 in 2012, but having ranked as high as no 4 in 2005), with the chef and owner, Tetsuya Wakuda, being recognised as one of the most influential chefs in the world.

Armed with false eyelashes (most of us) and empty stomachs (all of us), our voyage began as we walked up the wide swept driveway to the restaurant. Inside the refurbished, heritage-listed building, we were seated in a large dining room close to the bar.

After our drinks had arrived, our waitress came over to discuss the menu with us. Luckily, none of us were allergic to seafood as all types of oceanic creatures were featured throughout the 10 courses.

Complimentary take home menu given to us at the end of the night. Probably would have been useful to have this at the beginning…

We were offered a choice between freshly baked white or multigrain bread to begin with. Not wanting to load up on too many carbs early on or miss out on anything, I split half of each type with my neighbour. So fresh and fluffy – with that freshly baked smell! 🙂

Unbeknownst to us, the breads got offered around a second time later in evening. I recommend taking up the offer, if only to use up the heavenly fluffy truffle infused butter provided as an accompaniment. I would have happily over dosed on gluten just to eat more butter!

Following this, we were offered oysters as an extra course as they were fresh from the market.

Unfortunately, my palate has not developed far enough to enjoy raw oysters yet, so I sadly declined. The consensus around the table was that they were delicious. The rice wine and ginger were a flavoursome addition to the natural oyster taste (read: sea water).

I quietly enjoyed the rest of my bread slathered in butter – at times like these, it pays to be a slow eater 🙂

My first taste of real food (if you could call it that) was a savoury custard I mistook for a soup. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this dish. My tolerance for custard normally (when sweet) is pretty low, so this savoury,fishy custard definitely did not go down well for me 😦

The tiny balls which I assumed to be some sort of roe, were actually Avruga: tiny rolled up pieces of herring dipped in squid ink (aka fake caviar). Texturally, they were similar to overcooked tapioca balls and lacked the pop and saltiness of real roe.

Next up was the Salad of the Sea which looked and tasted amazing – one of my favourite dishes of the night! All the slices of fish and squid were exceptionally fresh and firm, with all the other elements of the dish (lemon, vinegar, radish, lettuce and rice) complementing the seafood in perfect proportions. Well presented and so refreshing.

Continuing with the raw seafood dishes, the next course was a mound of marinated minced scampi with a drizzle of walnut oil and a raw egg yolk. Having just consumed a completely raw dish, I would have preferred something just a bit more cooked. The subtleness of the walnut oil was completely lost on me as I tried my hardest to focus on purely chewing and swallowing – out of politeness and the fact that I had paid $220 for the meal. It was difficult – there was almost a sluggish texture to the scampi, especially combined with the raw yolk.

By this time, we had almost exhausted all conversation at the table (approximately 90 minutes in). One of the downfalls of degustations is that it is such a sedentary activity – there needs to be active degustations, for occupational health and safety reasons, at least!

After a short break (we found that having 6 people on our table meant our food came out slower than tables of 2), we were served Tetsuya’s signature dish of confit trout. You could tell the restaurant takes great pride in this dish by the way the waiters announced it – like the Queen had entered the room. I expected the fish to be quite fatty or oily considering the cooking technique, but was pleasantly surprised at how fresh and succulent it was. The flesh of the trout was firm and non-fishy; almost salmon-like in texture. The seaweed flakes covering the fish gave a slight saltiness and crunch which was very enjoyable.

I also really enjoyed the salad – it was one of those combinations that only ever work in fine dining restaurants. The bitterness of the witlof, the tartness of the apples and the crunch of the celery was a welcome addition to the large portion of fish we received. It was easy to see why this was the signature dish (although I found the caviar an unnecessary addition). It was cooked to perfection and the flavours; though all subtle, combined seamless to make for happy taste buds and stomachs.

This dish definitely set the standard for the rest of the meal.

My Wasai Addiction

It is a rare occasion that my friends will let me take photos of food prior to devouring it, but I was lucky to catch everyone on a not-so-hungry, ‘let’s placate Amy’ type of day. 🙂 🙂

Everything I’ve ever tried at Wasai has been wonderful – it’s my fallback restaurant for a guaranteed good meal. (Disclaimer: the only night I would avoid would be Mondays – I had bad (un-fresh) tuna once and haven’t been brave enough to try eating there on a Monday again 😦 )

The night that this post is based on (a Wednesday), we shared the banquet between 4 people, which came to about $35 per person including drinks. For the amount and quality of food we got, it was totally worth it!

If you only order one thing, it has to be the sushi and sashimi boat (above)! It gives you good variety and a taste of everything (including Wasai’s famous aburi salmon). The other courses in the banquet include:

Agedashi tofu: deep fried tofu cubes in a soy based sauce

Soba salad: buckwheat noodles with baby spinach, avocado and cherry tomato

Tori mayonnaise chicken: chicken breast covered in special sauce (pictured below)

Tempura prawns and vegetables

Seafood hot pot

Wasai is hands-down the best Japanese restaurant in Adelaide. I say this without any bias. I have eaten at and been given free dishes at Kenji, eaten a banquet at Sato and have a friend who works at Matsuri. Also, Ginza also doesn’t count because they have kimchi on their menu (and fried chicken wings)- I’m not a snob, but if you mix up your countries, you can’t be the best at any one cuisine.

So enough raving from me – make sure you book yourself a table at Wasai soon and take all your friends! 🙂