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One of twenty new restaurants in CanberraImage 10

My friend Jane’s husband has arrived back home from overseas so instead of the usual two of us, this time three of us went out to dinner a couple of weeks ago to this new restaurant in Canberra which has received great reviews.  The theme of the restaurant is Japan meets Korea and is great for casual dining.  It has a pretty big menu with several vegetarian and vegan options.

I walked into the city from my home which is just under an hour and was fortunate to see the sun setting; a lovely sight on this evening.

Image 2And then through the streets of Braddon which is now where all the new restaurants in the city are located.  It’s become a very trendy street also with cafes, trinket shops, bars and of course restaurants.Image 4Image 3I arrived at the restaurant and met Paul and Jane who were already seated with a glass of wine in hand and one ready for me – great friends!!  We were in a booth which unfortunately had very slim seats and the table was unmovable and did not allow much space between the seat and table.  A little uncomfortable!

But lots of positives, the restaurant is filled with contrasting quirks – from a traditional Japanese waves mural to the Harajuku-themed ladies bathroom, ’80s Japanese pop culture ads covering the bar fridges, and a mesmerising wall of lucky cats when you first walk in.Image 9The bar itself is also pretty impressive although my photos don’t really show how impressive – the lights have names of what spirits are on offer.Image 8And then there are the lucky cats…Image 20The restaurant has dishes that are meant to be shared; I think this is a trend with a lot of new restaurants now.  I ordered the miso & honey baked sweet potato with garlic kumara chips and blackbean with sesame and lime.  We all tasted this and each of us said it was exceptional.Image 13Jane and Paul ordered the Szechuan peper squid with salted black bean, lime, coriander and aioli.Image 18Followed by the pork and shrimp wontons with black vinegar…Image 12Also Mum’s chicken which is a boneless poached chicken, Singapore sauce, cabbage with sesame and soya sauce.Image 19

And last dish they ordered was the steamed fillets of barramundi fish topped with samba, pickles and crispy eschallot.  They enjoyed them all apart from one dish but now i can’t recall if that was the squid or the chicken…Image 14

I also ordered the kimchi fried rice with egg and sesame; wow this was huge and too much for me to eat; Jane and Paul took it home for their son Harry to have at school the next day.  But it was delicious; very tasty!Image 17

My other dish was the Tasty Tofu Bao which I thought was going to be very small but like the rice dish was quite large and way too much to eat.  It came with shitake salsa, coleslaw and a teriyaki and kimchi mayo.  Again very tasty I must say but just too big to finish.Image 16

It was a lovely evening with my friends and I would return for the food but not for the small seats and tables.