Mr Samurai

This Japanese fast food restaurant is located in the centre of Perth city, and popular among people of all ages.  They have been one of the cheapest place to eat around Perth, and it’s always crowded with students and office workers during lunch time.  Their signature dish is Fried Chicken: deep-fried chicken pieces with bone, served with steamed rice.  Considering the price, there is no question about the fact that people keep coming back to this place.  (Before: $4.00~$5.00, Now: $6.00.  still cheap )

They have special chili sauce and chili powder on each table, and my fiance is crazy about this sauce.  We don’t have this type of chili sauce in Japan and it’s obviously not a Japanese thing, but it goes well with this fried chicken

I also recommend Katsu Curry, Oyako Donburi, and Special Combo.  They have Special Combo A, B and C, and A seems to be the popular one.  I believe that the price range around $6 ~ &7.

There is another reason why this place is always full of people.  They have a notice board near the entreace, and this notice board is used for classified advertising.  (mostly for Japanese people)  Most of the information are in Japanese, and Japanese people in Perth go to this place to get some information for share house, job, community activity and more.  If you are looking for Japanese sharemate, it’s probably a good idea to put the ad in Mr Samurai.

They are closed in the Weedends and that’s been a big disappointment, but Good News!  Mr Samurai will open on Saturdays from 31/Jan/09

As I mentioned above, this restaurant is kind of fast food, takeaway type of place.  The best place to get quick lunch.

83 Barrack St. Perth

Cold Soba Noodle + Japanese Chicken Salad

It’s a soba season for Japanese people here.  Eating this buckwheat noodle with refreshing ginger dipping sauce can make you forget the hot air outside.

<Dipping Sauce> for two

• 4 cups water
• 2 tsp Dashi powder (Japanese fish stock)
• 2 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 3 tbs soy sauce

Enjoy with cooked soba noodle

This is just an easy side dish

<Japanese Chicken Salad>

Toilets

I’ve already mentioned on my last post that I had a huge culture shock in Jakarta, and I want to talk about “toilet” here.

All public toilets in Jakarta were so dirty and unhygienic   Even in a modern-looking huge shopping centre, I didn’t want to use the toilet there.  Cleaning staffs were wiping the toilet sheets with dirty cloth over and over: it seemed that they were just spreading the bacteria.  And there was no toilet paper in any public toilets.  I was told that people just use water to clean instead of toilet paper.  The toilet floor was flooded with water, and I was wearing sandals!!  It was a nightmare :*(

I just had to compare it with Japanese toilets.  In Japan, you can almost eat food in the toilets.  I mean, public toilets in Japan are so clean! 

Lots of public toilets in Japan have automatic functions, such as…

-lid opens automatically when somebody enter the toilet … hygienic

-”disposable toilet sheet covers” and “toilet sheet cleaner” are provided in each toilet room … hygienic

-the toilet sheet is warmed for your bottom … so that your bottom doesn’t get surprised

-washlet function (water jet, dryer, massage, and you can control the strength of water, temperature and the position etc ) … relaxing!

-auto flash … hygienic

Water, soap and dryer are all automatic too. (sensor)

By the way, bathroom in my house (Japan) is also automatic.  You can control and keep the temperature of the water, refill the hot water with one button, auto cleaning…  And there is inter-phone function so you can talk to the person in the bathroom while you are preparing meal in the kitchen.  You can heat up the entire bathroom (built-up heater) too, and it was a great thing for bath time in the cold winter.

Jakarta Trip 2008 -Food-

Now I finally have time to look back my trip to Jakarta and write about it on Umeboss  I was staying in Jakarta for 6 days before flying to Japan (for my Japan trip posts, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. or see photos.)

That was my second visit to Jakarta.  The first time was one year ago (2007): I stayed there in Christmas and New Year’s day.  I have to admit that I experienced a huge culture shock in the country :p  Indonesia (Jakarta) was quite different from what I was imagining in my head.  There were actually lots of shopping malls, lots of restaurants (many cuisines: Japanese, Korean, American, Chinese, Indonesian etc) and more!  And everything was inexpensive.

Most of the famous franchises (like Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Burger King, Starbucks, etc etc….) were there.  I could even find Beard Papa\’s ! (cream puff franchise started from Osaka Japan)  You could get almost anything in Jakarta.  That was a surprise!

Since I was in Indonesia, I wanted to try original Indonesian food.  Nasi Lemak? Gado Gado? (are they Indonesian?)  Unfortunately, however, I was taken to Chinese restaurants most of the time.  I’m actually sick of Chinese:(  I eat it in Perth all the time!  I wanted to try something exotic.  So I asked them (in laws) to go to an Indonesian restaurant.  Then, they took me to this place called “Java Kitchen”.

It’s a franchise restaurant and this place serves Java food.  Nutty peanuts sauce Satay, Tahu Kacang, Sop Buntut (oxtail soup), mixed plates with a few dishes…  I had a mixed plate of coconut rice, Ayam Goreng (deep-fried chicken), Kacang (peanuts), Sambal (chili), boiled egg etc.  The sambal was really really spicy!!  I love spicy food and usually eat sambal at home in Perth too, but chili sauce in Indonesia was much spicier.  Do they use different type of chili or something? Anyway, even though I couldn’t finish those sambal, I enjoyed whole dish   Hot climate, hot food.  I love the combination!

Talking about chili sauce, I want to mention about KFC in Indonesia again.  (my previous post for KFC is here)  Yes we went to KFC again to enjoy those chicken with steamed rice.  There were 2 huge bottles of chili sauce at the counter so that customers can pour on their plates as much as they want.  According to my observations, the avarage amount of chili sauce people got on their plate was 1/2cup (125ml):1 piece of chicken + chips + steamed rice. :p

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There was a place where I really wanted to go back to on this trip.  This cafe sells special coffee, called Kopi Luwak : coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Indonesian Civet.  This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago.  It sounds little gross to drink something came from animal’s droppings, but this coffee is actually very expensive product. (few hundreds buck per pound (450g)!)

When I went to this cafe last time I didn’t try “pure” Kopi Luwak, so I went there again to try one this time.  One cup of Kopi Luwak was about AUS$7.00, I think.  It had nutty rich flavor.  Whilst drinking I was thinking “who came up with this idea??” :p  So curious…

You can browse more photos of my trip in Jakarta here

Tea

I just read an interesting article about tea

- History-

「The delicious qualities of tea were first discovered by an early Chinese Emperor.  He and his court stopped to rest whilst visiting a remote region one summer day.  As his servants began boiling water to drink, dried leaves from a nearby Camellia Sinensis plant fell into the boiling water and a brown liquid with a tempting scent began to infuse.  With both his scientific curiosity and his taste buds immediately aroused, the Emperor tasted the liquid.  He declared it to give “vigour of body, contentment of mind and determination of purpose.”」

Whilst there are so many kinds of tea in the world, people seem to think that Japanese tea = green tea only.  However there are more varieties, actually.  Ryoku-cha (green tea), Genmai-cha, Mugi-cha, Hato-mugi-cha, Houji-cha, Sen-cha, Maccha, etc etc…  They all taste different and the scent is so individual.

By the way, did you know that both English tea and Japanese Green tea all come from the same plant?  They taste different because of the manufacturing process!  And, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world after water.  Considering the numerous kinds of tea in the world, it’s not a surprising fact at all.

Among the variety of tea, I like Genmai-cha and Houji-cha. Those roasted tea give me an energy and calm my nerves down.  For English teas, I love Earl Grey the most.  I usually enjoy drinking it with milk, or use it for cooking (such as tea cookies, cakes and ice-cream).