Restaurant: Soi Japanese Cuisine
Address: 596 Remuera Road, Auckland
Phone: 09-5220907
Parking: Street parking is available
Food ordered: Tempura udon ($15), organic tofu ($7), sashimi ($5.5) and sake ($14)
Soi Japanese Cuisine is a relatively new restaurant in Remuera. It is well known for its homemade Tofu and Udon. So obviously I ordered what they are famous for. The homemade Tofu is cold Japanese style Tofu which is excellent. It is tofu to die for though those who are not familiar with Tofu might find it strange. You can really taste the delicate taste of the bean and it goes perfectly with the salmon roe, scallions and sea salt. The tempura udon I ordered is also very good. The tempura is fried "the right way" (Lots of places serve tempura but they don't even know how to deep fry stuff) and the udon itself is good, though it is not as stunning as the tofu.
Soi is a small cozy restaurant with less than 30 seats. I once walk outside the restaurant at 8pm during weekend and the place is packed so make reservation before going there on Friday or Saturday night. Price wise it is sort of in between the fancy japanese restaurant and the generic ones you find anywhere.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Gion Japanese Restaurant 6-November 2009
Date: 6/11/ 2009
Name: Gion Japanese Restaurant
Address: 197 Parnell Road, Auckland
Website: http://www.gion.co.nz/
Party size: 2
Parking: You should be able to find street parking either on parnell road or on one of the side roads.
When we get seated: 8:30pm
When we left: 10:30pm
Tonight experience:
Food ordered: Omakase chef's choice ($68 per person)
The Omakase starts with 3 pre-dinner small dishes (Takuwan, Japanese plum and squid(?) wasabi), salad, miso soup, sashimi, a small dish with eel and egg. The main course consist of teriyaki chicken, tempura, salmon, oysters and rice. The dessert is ice-cream, cake and fruit. Yes, it is plenty of food and I didn't even touch the rice that come with the main course. The taste of the omakase dinner is good, but I don't see any surprises. When I ordered a omakase/ chef's choice/ tasting menu...etc, I want to taste the creativity of the chef, which unfortunately I couldn't find any in this dinner. Please don't get me wrong, the taste of everything is above average, just no surprises for me to remember. The Gion omakase dinner certainly have more food than the Ariake's omakase, but I sense more creativity and elegancy in Ariake.
Environment:
By the time we arrived there it is already 8:30pm and they have 2 tables available and most people are finishing their dinner. I can imagine they have a full house at 7pm. The environment is pretty standard, nothing stands out too much.
Biggest concern:
The biggest concern, undoubtly, is the pace they serve our set dinner. I don't know if they will be serving at the same speed if we come in at 6pm, but I feel rushed and many time they bring out new dishes before I finish the one on my table. Maybe their speed will not be such a problem if they serve smaller portions. However, with that much food I believe this dinner should be eaten in 3 hours, not 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Final comment:
Gion is definitely a top tier japanese restaurant, but compare with Ariake I found that Ariake gives more thought to their premium set dinner. If I go back to Gion, I would not order their omakase as I believe that if the chef's creativity is not there, I would prefer to pick something that tailor to my taste.
Name: Gion Japanese Restaurant
Address: 197 Parnell Road, Auckland
Website: http://www.gion.co.nz/
Party size: 2
Parking: You should be able to find street parking either on parnell road or on one of the side roads.
When we get seated: 8:30pm
When we left: 10:30pm
Tonight experience:
Food ordered: Omakase chef's choice ($68 per person)
The Omakase starts with 3 pre-dinner small dishes (Takuwan, Japanese plum and squid(?) wasabi), salad, miso soup, sashimi, a small dish with eel and egg. The main course consist of teriyaki chicken, tempura, salmon, oysters and rice. The dessert is ice-cream, cake and fruit. Yes, it is plenty of food and I didn't even touch the rice that come with the main course. The taste of the omakase dinner is good, but I don't see any surprises. When I ordered a omakase/ chef's choice/ tasting menu...etc, I want to taste the creativity of the chef, which unfortunately I couldn't find any in this dinner. Please don't get me wrong, the taste of everything is above average, just no surprises for me to remember. The Gion omakase dinner certainly have more food than the Ariake's omakase, but I sense more creativity and elegancy in Ariake.
Environment:
By the time we arrived there it is already 8:30pm and they have 2 tables available and most people are finishing their dinner. I can imagine they have a full house at 7pm. The environment is pretty standard, nothing stands out too much.
Biggest concern:
The biggest concern, undoubtly, is the pace they serve our set dinner. I don't know if they will be serving at the same speed if we come in at 6pm, but I feel rushed and many time they bring out new dishes before I finish the one on my table. Maybe their speed will not be such a problem if they serve smaller portions. However, with that much food I believe this dinner should be eaten in 3 hours, not 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Final comment:
Gion is definitely a top tier japanese restaurant, but compare with Ariake I found that Ariake gives more thought to their premium set dinner. If I go back to Gion, I would not order their omakase as I believe that if the chef's creativity is not there, I would prefer to pick something that tailor to my taste.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Didas wine lounge and tapas 5th November 2009
Restaurant: Didas wine lounge and tapas
Date: 5th November, 2009
Address: 54 Jervois Road, Herne Bay, Auckland
Website: http://www.glengarry.co.nz/didaswinelounge.jsp
Party size: 1
Parking: Didas have its own parking (around 10 parking space) but you shouldn't have trouble finding parking spaces on side streets as well.
When I get seated: 4:10pm
When I left: 5:00pm
I was just walking around in the ponsonby area and got hungry at 4pm. Most of the half decent restaurant were close between 2-6pm so I stop by Didas and have some tapas and wine. They have a huge wine list. (my estimate is probably over 300 different wines) and about 30-40 by the glass. I have the Chartron La Jaja De Jean Chardonnay ($13), which is the only french chardonnay they offer by the glass and the Geoff Merrill Mclaren Shiraz ($13). The chardonnay is excellent, exactly what I am looking - a fruity chardonnay with some dense but no oak at all. The Shiraz is also pretty good - I usually don't like Shiraz but this one is nice. The tapas I go with the chardonnay is the duck wrap in crepes ($8), which is only OK or I will say a little bit disappointing. It is shredded duck which takes away all the fun texture of ducks. The lamb ($9)I ordered to go with the Shiraz is very good though. It is roast lamb with rosemary and a special salsa. The lamb is cooked very nicely and the rosemary and the salsa compliment the lamb very well.
The bottom line is, this is a higher end wine bar. Your main purpose over there is to taste wine. Food are only secondary. They have a lunch special which allows you to pick 3 tapas and a glass of wine so I assume it will take 3 tapas to fill up a normal person for lunch and probably 4-5 on dinner. The tapas is not expensive, only around $10 per dish. However since it is a wine bar you probably will drink alot and thus order lots of food to go with your wine throughout the night. It may add up and hurt your wallet.
Date: 5th November, 2009
Address: 54 Jervois Road, Herne Bay, Auckland
Website: http://www.glengarry.co.nz/didaswinelounge.jsp
Party size: 1
Parking: Didas have its own parking (around 10 parking space) but you shouldn't have trouble finding parking spaces on side streets as well.
When I get seated: 4:10pm
When I left: 5:00pm
I was just walking around in the ponsonby area and got hungry at 4pm. Most of the half decent restaurant were close between 2-6pm so I stop by Didas and have some tapas and wine. They have a huge wine list. (my estimate is probably over 300 different wines) and about 30-40 by the glass. I have the Chartron La Jaja De Jean Chardonnay ($13), which is the only french chardonnay they offer by the glass and the Geoff Merrill Mclaren Shiraz ($13). The chardonnay is excellent, exactly what I am looking - a fruity chardonnay with some dense but no oak at all. The Shiraz is also pretty good - I usually don't like Shiraz but this one is nice. The tapas I go with the chardonnay is the duck wrap in crepes ($8), which is only OK or I will say a little bit disappointing. It is shredded duck which takes away all the fun texture of ducks. The lamb ($9)I ordered to go with the Shiraz is very good though. It is roast lamb with rosemary and a special salsa. The lamb is cooked very nicely and the rosemary and the salsa compliment the lamb very well.
The bottom line is, this is a higher end wine bar. Your main purpose over there is to taste wine. Food are only secondary. They have a lunch special which allows you to pick 3 tapas and a glass of wine so I assume it will take 3 tapas to fill up a normal person for lunch and probably 4-5 on dinner. The tapas is not expensive, only around $10 per dish. However since it is a wine bar you probably will drink alot and thus order lots of food to go with your wine throughout the night. It may add up and hurt your wallet.
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