Misuzu's - Umami

 Image courtesy of http://www.misuzus.com.au

Misuzu's (in Albert Park) is where I had dinner on Saturday night. The establishment actually consists of two different dining styles. In the building on the right, you have Misuzu's, which offers traditionally innovative cuisine. What that means, I am not entirely sure (I just copied what it said on the website) but it seems a tad oxymoron'ish to use traditional and innovative in the same sentence no? Moving on... The left side building is Umami, which is Izakaya dining aka Japanese tapas style dining and that's where RT and I were situated.

We had a cosy table by the window with a nice view of the empty street. It was a pretty cold evening so not many people were out and about. Dim lighting and dark wood furniture, with quirky/mellow music playing in the background make up the ambience. 

I'd have to say that the staff were pretty accommodating, we took eons (aka a long-arse time) to decide on our menu and we had to ask for a few more minutes at least three times. It also didn't help matters that we didn't order everything in one go. We ordered course by course, which is what izakaya dining is all about ;)

 

The first course was a no brainer, as I had been craving sashimi all week - so we started of with the sushi and sashimi platter, which had a selection of salmon, tuna and kingfish. It was nicely presented, tasted pretty fresh and probably my favourite dish of the night.

 

After MUCH deliberation, we decided upon baked scallops topped with Hakkaido white sauce, which suspiciously was very similar to an Italian béchamel. RT said he wanted to try something a little more exotic, so he ordered the wagyu meatballs. Exotic meatballs?! =D Both dishes were nice, but personally I felt they lost the Japanese essence in translation.

 

For mains we ordered bbq unagi-don (grilled eel over rice) and chilli tofu and vegetable stir fry. You really need rice with the latter dish, otherwise it could be a tad salty on its own.

 

I felt we ended up eating a lot of our dishes cold, which probably affected the quality/taste. When there's only two people dining, I find it difficult to juggle eating and conversing at the same time. Talking with your mouth full isn't that attractive.

 

We were the last patrons in the establishment and I'm pretty sure the staff were cursing us for staying so long, but they were very gracious nonetheless.

 

I'd probably stick to the more traditional Japanese style dishes rather than the fusion inspired ones if I were to return. Hrm... Yes, I think I would return.