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2009-12-21
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I've tried the other two in happy valley so I thought I have to come to this one for comparison. The decor is similar to the old nanbantei and comfortable enough, with the countertop wrapping around the kitchen area whilst keeping the rest of the restaurant relatively smoke free.We ordered some eggplant (grilled with thick, mildly sweet sauce, no bonito flakes though), chicken wings (nothing special), new zealand beef (juicy, no chewy tendon bits), white eel (relatively small slices, not too fat
We ordered some eggplant (grilled with thick, mildly sweet sauce, no bonito flakes though), chicken wings (nothing special), new zealand beef (juicy, no chewy tendon bits), white eel (relatively small slices, not too fatty, but still quite succulent with an almost elastic texture to it), black cod (very nice), pork neck (OK), tofu (one piece was slightly overdone and had shrivelled up, but otherwise it was decent, not spectacular though), We had a vegetable udon and a beef udon, each bowl was a good portion for 1 person, with a clear flavourful broth and noodles cooked to just the right al dente texture. In addition, the grilled rice cakes warrant a special mention, it comes in 4 flavours (plum, salmon, eel, bonito flakes) and you get to wrap it up in seaweed yourself. The rice was grilled to a nice chewy/crunchy outside and still moist inside, the whole thing sticking together without being dense.
After a couple of prompts the waitress came over to refill our tea regularly. Plates were changed a couple of times, but what slightly bothered me was that the staff insisted on placing the skewers on your plate rather than leaving them on the serving plate, as sometimes we wanted to share the skewers amongst ourselves, or our own plate was already piled up high with food.
Out of the 3, I'll go to any one of them as they are all quite good, but none outstanding enough to tip the balance in their favour.
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