Pancakes and Grill

The other day I went to Pancakes & Grill in Northbridge.  I noticed that this place isn’t getting enough customers as they hope … but I personally like this place.  The atmosphere is like a family restaurant in Japan.  The only difference is, their high pricing.  I guess these prices are normal in Perth.  Everything here is over-priced to me :p

My friend and I shared Raspberry+Cheese+Cream Crape.  The crape was chewy and I liked it.  The raspberry coulis and cheese cream tasted good too.

I believe lots of Japanese people would like this type of place.  In Japan there are lots of cafes specializing on only sweets, like “parfait cafe”, “crape house” “dango (skewered, round sticky cakes) cafes” etc, and these places are filled with girls and couples.  (apparently this type of sweet places are not for guys :p)

I don’t wonder why this Pancakes & Grill has savory menus (like steaks) along with sweets, even though their main items are sweet pancakes and crapes.  Australian people loves meat, so I think they can’t attract many customers with just sweet items…

If their prices were little more reasonable, I would go there very often!

Indonesian/Malay Food

I’m so lucky to have a chance to eat many kinds of Asian food. While I was in Japan I didn’t get to eat any Middle Eastern/Eastern/Sough Asian food, except for satay and Nasi Goreng at Izakaya. Of course, they didn’t taste like how they should taste, as they changed the recipe to suit Japanese people’s mouth. Since I came to Perth I’ve had so many food that I’d never eaten.

One of them is Chinese food. There are many Chinese people in Perth so I could try eating more real Chinese food here. In Japan we have lots of Chinese restaurants too, but those food are made for Japanese people, I think. When I asked my friend (Chinese) about some Chinese dish I know, she had no clue what I was talking about. In Japan, typical Chinese dish is “Happo-sai (八宝菜)”, “Hoi-Ko-lo(回鍋肉)”, “Chin-jao-lo-su(青椒肉絲)”, “Ebi Chili (chili prawn), “gyoza (dumplings) etc. For instance, if you order Hoi-Ko-lo(回鍋肉) you will get exact same dish from any restaurants in Japan, it’s always a thinly-sliced pork and cabbage dish stir-fried with some miso paste and other sauces. But, I believe that this Hoi-Ko-lo(回鍋肉) means just “stir-fried meat dish” in Chinese.(according to these Chinese characters) We just call this dish as Hoi-Ko-lo(回鍋肉) and believe this is the name of this dish, but I think it can be any meat dish and with any sauces. If you go to China and order “Hoi-Ko-lo(回鍋肉)” in a restaurant I don’t think I can get the exact Hoi-Ko-lo(回鍋肉) dish as I know. (or maybe they don’t even understand it)

I’d never eaten “san choi bow”, “Japanese tofu”, “Peking ribs” etc before, and now they are my favorites.

Now, about Indonesian food. My mother-in-law (to be in one month) cooks lots of Indonesian/Chinese food for us, and I love them! Some people think Japanese can not eat spicy food, but I do. I always keep fresh chili in my garden!

Every time she fly to Perth, she cooks beef rendang, siew mai (chewy steamed dumplings with peanuts sauce. She always coat boiled eggs, tofu and boiled potatoes with mince meat and then steam. Different from what I knew as siew mai in Japan), gado-gado (mixture of blanched vegetables with peanuts sauce), bak mee (soup noodle), oxtail soup, ayam goreng (deep-fried chicken), sayur asem (sour soup with vegetables), bachang (triangular-shaped glutinous rice dumplings wrapped with bamboo leaves. She stuff mixture of mince meat inside) etc etc …

She also cooks some desserts, I will up-date it later…

I had rendang last night. RIght after I opened the door I knew she was cooking rendang. Smells so nice… Beef is very soft and melts in your mouth, so you don’t even need to chew. She usually accompany rendang with hard boiled eggs.

I’m now waiting for her cooking some siew mai… very yummy. 🙂

Friends

Yesterday I received this beautiful gift from my friend in Japan.  She used to go to an English school with me in Perth few years ago, and now she lives in Japan, happily married to a Japanese and have a lovely girl. I didn’t want to open the packaging as it was beautifully wrapped with paper and ribbon, but I had to see what’s inside so I opened it…  it was a scented white-rose wreath …  What a lovely gift!  Now it’s in my room and I think I’m gonna use this as something on my wedding day too!

I had a few Japanese friends while I was in English school, and some of them really loved Perth.  They said they didn’t want to go back to Japan anymore!  Those people happened to be mostly from Tokyo side.  I guess they are tired of living in busy stressful life? :p  Me, I was looking forward to going back to Japan as soon as I finish my school here (:)) but I ended up staying here.  Now most of my friends went back to Japan because they couldn’t get visa successfully.  Others worked really hard to get Permanent Resident Visa and some of them are happily living in Perth.  All of my friends who I met in Perth and got PR visa are still staying in Perth, not in other cities like Sydney or Gold Coast.  They say they like Perth the best. 🙂

Today I was out all day.  I went to see some of my friends in the morning, then went to see another friends. I hadn’t seen them for so long (probably for one year?) and it was really really nice.  After long-time-chatting I went to a shop where I bought my wedding dress to get the final fitting.  The dress perfectly fits now, I hope I don’t gain any weight by the day otherwise I can’t wear!

Actually one of my friend works in the shop, and that’s the reason why I got my dress there.  And, another friend who is getting married on November this year bought her dress there too, so she and I went to the shop together and did the fitting.  After the fan fitting, we all went out for a snack.  We went to The Moon Cafe in Northbridge.  I was recommended this place by one of my workmate and I wanted to try.

I like the atmosphere and the interior of this cafe.  Relaxing and wide.

(Photos are not nice as I was moving around while shooting) ..

We were 4 people but not really hungry, so we all shared one pizza and one pasta.  Roasted Eggplant, Cottage Cheese and Pesto Pizza, and Gorgonzola, Pumpkin and Cream Fettuccine.  The pizza was delicious, but we all didn’t like the pasta… It might be just because of our choice, I think.  Next time I want to try their sweet pizza menu, chocolate or strawberry…

The place would be good for drinking with friends though.  You can sit down and have a snack.  They open until late so I would come back here again for a drink.

Is Japanese Mayonnaise going to disappear from Australia??

As you can tell, Western style mayonnaise and Japanese mayonnaise taste pretty different.
Japanese mayonnaise contains more eggs comparing to Western ones, and it’s thicker in texture and richer in taste.  I had a difficulty eating Western style mayonnaise when I just came to Perth because it tasted totally
different from what I knew as mayonnaise and didn’t like it at all. :p

Now I’m used to the taste of Western style mayo, but I keep Japanese mayo in my fridge too just to eat with some Japanese food such as Okonomi-yaki, sushi rolls and kara-age.  I can eat Western style mayo in sandwiches and salad, but it’s definitely not for Japanese food.

Western style mayonnaise, (well it’s the standard mayonnaise in the world but I call it Western style) is made with egg yolk, oil, vinegar (or some acid such as lemon juice) and mustard.

According to the package of typical Japanese mayonnaise it contains apple cider vinegar (or rice vinegar) and a small amount of MSG….  doesn’t sound good, but I guess that’s the reason why Japanese mayo is so tasty…

Because of the high ratio of eggs contained in Japanese mayonnaise, Australian government prohibits travelers bringing them into Australia.  You can find Japanese mayonnaise in Asian grocery shops but they are very expensive.  The most popular Japanese mayonnaise brand is QP (kewpie) and it’s the biggest mayonnaise company in Japan.  There are few other brands but usually QP is the most expensive one.

Now, Australian government is getting more strict on this product and they don’t even allow some importers to release those Japanese mayo into Australia.  Which means, you can’t even buy it from grocery stores.  The people who will be in trouble are Japanese restaurant owners.  Japanese restaurants need Japanese mayonnaise otherwise some dishes don’t taste like how they supposed to do.

Fortunately some of QP mayonnaise and other brands’ are permitted at this point.  Those permitted mayonnaise contains less egg % .

In case all the Japanese mayonnaise get prohibited, Japanese restaurants’ chefs should learn how to make Japanese style mayonnaise?

Food from Jakarta and Japan’s mobiles

I try not to buy and keep lots of snacks/sweets at home otherwise I can’t control myself from eating all the time, but now my house is full of food as in-laws recently got back from Jakarta and brought so many things with them.  Sometimes I admire them for bringing so much food into this super strict country (Australia).  They just know what food can and can not to be brought into Australia very well.

Shiga

Shiga is a prefecture located in the centre of the main island in Japan.  …and also, my hometown!  Prefecture means something like “suburb” “state” “county” … few people didn’t understand what “prefecture” means when I was talking about Japan, so just in case.

Shiga is not a large city, and there are lots of mountains and rice field.  so, it has a typical country side landscape.  In fact some area in Shiga is really rustic and you can see nothing but mountains.  In Japanese, we call this type of place as “inaka”.

My house is near mountains and rice fields as well, but fortunately I was more into “city side” and often went out to Kyoto/Osaka side, so I didn’t really feel like I was living in a mountain :p  That’s the thing I like about Shiga.  One side has a totally “inaka” environment, and other has a city environment.  I’m not talking about big city like Osaka or Tokyo of course, but the size of city in Shiga is just right, and it’s quite similar to Perth actually.  Wide road, nice view, not too busy…  In fact, Kusatsu-city, near the capital city of Shiga (capital city is Otsu-city) was voted as “the most livable city in Japan” few years ago.  So was Nagahama-city, which is just above Hikone-city in Shiga.

(you can see some photos I took on my last trip here.  Just scroll down to the bottom.  Also this is the photos I took near my house in 2003)

For people who might have an interest in visiting this place, I’ve listed up a few things what people can do in this prefecture ↓↓↓

<Fishing>

The biggest lake, and one of the world’s most ancient lakes in Japan, Biwako Lake is in Shiga prefecture.  Biwako Lake is a very famous fishing spot and people from other prefectures and even from other countries visit Biwako Lake every year.  Some people might have heard this news but a 10.12kg, 73.5 cm bass was caught on the 2nd of July this year (just few weeks ago) by Manabu Kurita, a pro staffer representing Deps Tackle Co. in Japan.  Wow…   I used to swim in the lake when I was a kid!  I’m really happy that I didn’t see something like this huge fish in the water then.  Besides black basses, you can fish bluegills, sweetfishes, carps (koi) etc…  My grandpa liked fishing and I ate lots of fish (including koi) back then at home.

<Biwako Cruise>

“Michigan” cruise is one of most popular entertainment of Biwako Lake.  “Michigan” is a name of this ferry and it’s got 2~3 stories.  I’ve been on this ferry when I was little and remember enjoying popcorn and entertainment on the deck while feeling refreshing breeze.  Cruise leaves from Otsu Port, goes up north to Biwako Lake Bridge and returns back.

<Rowboat Tour>

This tour is a famous tourist attraction in Ohmihachiman-city.  The lord Toyotomi Hidetugu, about 400 years ago, was the first one who toured through the canals following a sail of royal people. Take a roofed 6-seater rowboat through winding canals running into Biwako Lake. You can enjoy seasonal changes in the scenery of Omihachiman.

<Biwako Lake Museum>

This museum is in Kusatsu-city (my grandma lives there).  I’m not really a museum person but I like going there!  There are various exhibits showing : how to think of environmental issues, how Biwako Lake was formed, the history of relationship between the lake and the people… but also lots of fish that live in Biwako Lake.  It’s like an aquarium, really.  You can see various kinds of fresh water fish and animals including turtles, ducks, deep-sea (lake?) fish and fresh water sharks.  You can experience some activities too, so it may be a good place for kids to explore.  You can see some of exhibits closely and touch some of them directly.  Videos and PC software are available for public perusal, and you can look at some specimens through the microscope at one of the galleries.  Very interesting to see how Japanese people lived in decades ago.

<Biwako Valley>

The nearest ski ground from Kyoto/Osaka/Kobe area.  .Most courses are designed for beginners and intermediates.  During the off-season, it’s also fun to explore the mountain, riding in a 120-seater ropeway car, looking for animals and flowers. I used to go there every winter while I was in elementary school for skiing.  (one of school activity)

<Ishiyama-dera Temple>

Ishiyama-dera Temple is one of the most famous holy places for Goddess of Mercy as well as Kiyomizudera Temple in Kyoto and Hasedera Temple in Nara.  Ishiyama-dera Temple was often described in ancient literary works such as “Suzumushi Nikki” “Sarashina Nikki” and “Makura-no-Soshi”  It has been said that Murasaki-shikibu conceived an idea for “Tale of Genji – Genji Monogatari” while she stayed at Ishiyama-dera Temple.  The temple is also known as one of views in Omi -Genji Monogatari.  Very historical place!  My high school was just near this temple.

<Hiyoshi Grand Shrine>

Hiyoshi Grand Shrine, also known as Sanno Gongen, is the head temple of Hiyoshi sect of Shinto.  Various beautiful shrines remain on the premise, such as a national treasure Higashi Hon-to and Nishi Hon-to.  Hiyoshi Osanbashi Bridge is said to be the oldest stone bridge in Japan. It is designated as an important cultural property.  Gorgeous Hiyoshi Toshogu Shrine is about 300M south from Hiyoshi Grand Shrine.  Hiyoshi Toshogu Shrine decorated with colorfully painted carvings has kept its original shape since early Edo period!

<Old Chikurin In Garden>

This is in Otsu-sity, the capital of Shiga prefecture.  The garden of Chikurin In Temple (one of the most respected temples among Enryakuji Temple) sits at the foot of Mt. Hachioji and clear water of Omiya River runs into the winding creek.  Two teahouses and a waiting room built during Tensho period (1573-1592) are designated as cultural properties by Otsu-city.  Visitors can enjoy a serving of green tea in the hall where the beautiful garden can be seen throughout the year.

Japanese Restaurants

Wow it was a bit of shock to hear that Mr Samurai closed their business… Although I wasn’t their regular customer, as I don’t really go to city often except for shopping and visiting JP Consulate etc, I kind of miss their food.  Nothing special, really.  Just that I know there’re many local people who loved Mr Samurai food.

Now, where can we get Japanese food for reasonable prices?  Ummm there are a few, actually.  Lots of Japanese food places are owned by non-Japanese, but some of them serve nice food.  Here is a list of casual Japanese eating places around Perth, which I recommend to you 🙂

※ Sundays Everyday – 6-43 Halme Court, Myaree

※ Ohnamiya – 34 Kearns Crs, Ardross

※ Shige Sushi Bar – Millstream Shopping Centre, South Perth

※ Peko Peko – Shop1/ 172 St Brigids Tce, Doubleview

※ Kanta – 2/76 Langford Ave, Langford

And, if you want to go to rather expensive Japanese restaurants, here are some …

※ Matsuri Japanese : cnr of Hay and Milligan Streets, Perth

※ Shimizu Floreat : Floreat Shopping Centre

White Stew with Chicken (Cream Stew)

Who doesn’t like hearty creamy soup in winter?  This is my favorite winter food in Japan: white cream stew.  The name says “cream” but there is no cream as ingredient.  We can make this dish with a ready-to-make packet which you can buy from oriental grocery shops.

You can add any vegetables, but basic ingredients are:

• chicken pieces
• potatoes
• onion
• carrot
• cream stew packet (usually House brand or S&B brand)

Pizza around the world

                                   

                                 

                                       

                                     

                                   

Baked Scotch Egg

I don’t eat meat so often.  It’s not that I don’t like or can not eat, I just don’t feel like eating them.  For me, hearty vegetable soup or grilled seafood make me more excited than bacon or saucy steak. … lots of people must be thinking that i’m so weird :p

However, my partner can’t survive without meat, so I need to cook meat often at home.  Now, thanks to him, I eat steak quite often.  I actually like Australian beef than Japanese beef.  Japanese beef usually is fat marbled, which means that it contains various amounts of intramuscular fat and has an appearance similar to a marble pattern.  This marbled meat gives tender texture and it melts on the tongue, and it is considered as high quality meat in Japan and usually expensive.  But, I like tough red meat here.  Australian beef is called “oz beef” in Japan and quite well-known there too.

When I was a kid I liked eating hamburg, and my mum sometimes put boiled egg in the middle.  (or cheese)  This is kind of my childhood food, and I make it here too for myself (and partner :p)

Using a pound cake mold…

• 600g beef mince
• 1/2 onion
• 1 egg
• 2 tbs breadcrumbs
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbs tomato sauce
• 4 boiled eggs

* Preheat oven to 200

1. Mix all the ingredients, except boiled eggs, in a bowl until the mixture become sticky.  Season well.
2. Cove the bottom and sides of a pound cake mold with mince mixture, and place boiled eggs.  Top up the mold with the rest of mince.  Pad the top lightly to make sure there is no gap or hollow inside.
3. Spread another 1 tbs of tomato sauce on the top, and cook in the oven.

Any left over can be used to make a gourmet beef burger.  Toast 2 slices of bread (or a roll) and sandwich sliced scotch egg, cheese, lettuce, tomato and any sauce.  Easy meal, no waste of food!

Kyushoku

I’m not sure if all Japanese schools have Kyushoku system (schools supply lunch to students/teachers), but my kindergarden, elementary school, and junior high school did.  I loved Kyushoku menu!  There’re few ladies working at school who prepare Kyushoku for us and they gave us monthly menu in advance with illustration.  Because we could know what today’s lunch is, so everyone get excited when we’re having everyone’s favorite menu, such as curry or cakes.

I don’t really remember at kindergarten, but at elementary school and junior high school, we got milk everyday with main (rice, noodle or bread), side dish, sometimes soup and dessert.  Each week one group in each class becomes “Kyushoku group” and the group have to go to kitchen to collect a trolly with food for each class.  Then, they bring the trolly back to the class and serve to all the classmate including teacher.  Next week another group becomes Kyushoku group so that everyone get to do it.  At my school, the food was so delicious and I always ate up all!

I still remember my favorite Kyushoku food in my school.  There’re few typical combination of menu (such as; Oyako-donburi with crispy silver fish tempura and clear soup, fried sweet bread roll with coffee milk (decaf) and yogurt, etc), and I always loved the oyako-donburi menu and chewy udon in clear soup (egg, veggies and chicken).  I can’t eat the same udon soup anywhere else… miss it.

And, sometimes there is s special menu ; Christmas cake on Christmas day, Tanabata cake on Tanabata day, very simple plain food on the day we pray for the memory of WW (brown rice, miso soup and pickles), chocolate on Valentine’s day, etc.

Oh yeah, the day there’s Yukimi Daifuku on the menu was popular and no one was absent in the class :p

By the way I found this interesting blog site introducing Kyusyoku menu from around the world.

What\’s For School Lunch

Who have you adopted?

Here are the stories from PetRescue about unwanted pets finding new home…

<Buzz’s Story>

Buzz was always smiling. That’s why he stood out to Pam who had a big empty space in her family and was looking for a new friend for her Golden Retriever, Tyson.

Although Buzz was once unwanted, after having his profile on PetRescue everyone wanted to take him home! And when Tyson met Pam he knew he’d found his perfect person…

<Cherub’s Story>

<Matisse’s Story>

Matisse and her siblings came to stay with their foster carer Rebecca until they were big and strong enough to find new homes.

“I’m what you call a ‘failed foster carer!” says Rebecca. 

“Matisse captured my heart and we bonded instantly. She has the most amazing, easy going nature.”

What a clever puss to find the perfect forever home without even leaving her rescuer!

<Bindi’s Story>

Bindi and her brothers and sisters were found dumped in bushland and caring rescuers saved their lives and nursed them back to health.

When it came time to find the perfect forever families for them, PetRescue was the place! Within a few days all of the litter had fantastic new homes and Bindi was matched with the Cloustons who gave her a great new name after their hero, Steve Irwin. Bindi has proven to be a real ‘Aussie dog’ with a big heart. She is now looking forward to a happy future with her people.

If you are thinking to have a pet, why don’t you go to animal shelters.  Those animals are once unwanted, but looking for loving new owners and warm home.

Tanabata

Today is 07 July… it’s Tanabata in Japan!  Tanabata is Japanese star festival, takes place on the 7th day of the 7th month of the year, when, according to a Chinese legend, the two stars Altair and Vega, which are usually separated from each other by the milky way, are able to meet.  

Tanabata story is very romantic.  According to those separated stars, the story is about two lovers, Orihime and Hikoboshi, are allowed to meet only once a year on this day.  The river separates these lovers is Milky Way, called “Amano-gawa” in Japan.  Amano-gawa means “river in Heaven”.  

Here is the story ..

Orihime (織姫 Weaving Princess), daughter of the Tentei (天帝 Sky King, or the universe itself), wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa (天の川Milky Way, lit. “heavenly river). Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that because of her hard work she could never meet and fall in love with anyone. Concerned about his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi (彦星 Cow Herder Star) who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa. When the two met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly thereafter. However, once married, Orihime no longer would weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven. In anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade them to meet. Orihime became despondent at the loss of her husband and asked her father to let them meet again. Tentei was moved by his daughter’s tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if Orihime worked hard and finished her weaving. The first time they tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. Orihime cried so much that a flock of magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet. (wikipedia)

In Japanese custom, we celebrate this day by writing wishes on Tanzaku (small pieces of paper) and hung them on bamboo tree.  With Tanzaku and other decoration, the bamboo is set afloat on a river in the night time.  

Many areas in Japan have their own Tanabata customs, but this is what I did when I was a child.  Besides, there is a river named “Amano-gawa” near my house and this is the place my family and I set the bamboo tree afloat every year on this day.

Now, still, I write a wish on Tanzaku and hung on a tree in the garden although we don’t set the tree afloat in a river.  Just keeping up one of Japanese custom here :p

Some photos from Japan ↓↓↓

Web Catalogs

Nowadays we can do lots of things online: rent DVD, meet your friends/family, search jobs, transfer money, change your mobile status, business meeting, buy tickets etc… without leaving home.  Still, people sometimes prefer going out for meet-up or shopping of course, otherwise they become hermit crabs!

I like online shopping and mail shopping though, I can look at catalogs at home and enjoy shopping anytime.  But, sometimes things I order look different from what I saw on catalogs or web and it’s the demerit of online/mail shopping – you can’t touch the material, check color with our eyes, and try them on.

I’m browsing few Japanese online shops to buy some clothes and stuff so that I can receive them when I go back home, but I don’t wanna buy pants and shoes online anymore…  Last time I ordered 2 pairs of pants from UNIQLO web shop, and asked my dad to bring them over here (he was coming to Perth).  I was looking forward those pants but I couldn’t fit them, they’re little too tight and too long.  If I go to UNIQLO shop I can get adjusted the hem for free.  And, I can try them on before buying of course.

The site I’m checking out right now is what I was looking for, actually.  This site offers digital catalog online, so you can search each shop’s specials or sale items online.  With this site, I can check what to look for and buy when I get to Japan.

You can even check very local shops, such as Jusco or Joshin if they have any current catalogs out.  It’s good to know what products are on sale before you go shopping so that you can save time to look around.

In Australia there is also online web-catalog site called “Lasoo“, if you wanna check it out.

Ramen Restaurants

Although I’m not a big fan of ramen noodle, I sometimes feel like eating them in this cold weather.  Ramen soup is usually pork, chicken or vegetable stock based and very tasty.  On the other hand, fish stock is used for udon and soba noodle soup.

Because animal stock is used for ramen soup, it is bit oily and that gives the soup tasty flavor.  There are thousands of ramen restaurants across Japan and each has their original recipe for the
soup.

Here in Perth has few ramen restaurants owned by Japanese.  I’m not sure if they make soup by themselves though.

Banzai Sushi & Noodle Bar
741 Newcastle Street Leederville WA 6007

Kai Japanese Dining & Takeaway
Shop4, 110 Parry Ave Bullcreek WA 6149

Dosukoi
Stall7, Fremantle Market Fremantle WA 6160

Has anyone been to any of those restaurants?

I think it’s interesting that those restaurants have quite unique ramen menu.  I’ve never seen Fried Chicken Ramen or Gyoza Ramen in Japan :p  Fried Chicken Ramen has Karaage (Japanese style fried chicken) on ramen noodle, and Gyoza Ramen has deep-fried dumplings on ramen noodle.  Dosukoi’s simple Ramen is $6.50, it’s pretty cheap.  Kai Japanese just opened few months ago, and the owner used run another Japanese restaurant in Subiaco. (popular one)  At Banzai, you can enjoy ramen noodle with ranges of Japanese liquir such as chu-hi.  (white peach is my favorite)

If you want to enjoy other Japanese noodle menu, I recommend …

Ramen & Udon @ Taka’s Kitchen Shafto Lane, Perth
(Ramen noodle available only after 5pm on weekdays, and all day Saturday)

Udon @ Ohnamiya, Applecross

Udon @ Oceans, Fremantle

Udon @ Jaws restaurants, Perth

Udon @ Ninniku Jip, Victoria Park

Udon @ Sado Japanese, Claremont

Grilled Chicken on Rice (Chicken Donburi)

This is not really teriyaki, but taste similar.  The chicken is actually like yakitori, just without skewers.

I just dropped a soft poached yolk on the top so that it breaks once you mix with chopsticks and it actually become a kind of “sauce” to this donburi.  Japanese chili powder (ichimi, Shichimi) goes well with this.

• 1 fillet chicken thigh wih skin
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 1/4 tsp grated ginger
• 1/4 small onion
• spring onion (white part)
• 1 egg yolk

1. Cut chicken into cubes.  Mix soy sauce, sake and ginger.  Marinate chicken in the sauce overnight.
2. Slice onion, and cut spring onion into 5cm length.
3. Heat little amount of oil in a pan, and grill spring onion.  Remove from the pan and set aside.
4. In the same pan, grill chicken pieces over medium high heat.  When the bottom of the meat starts to get colored, turn it over and add onion in the pan.
5. Once meat is cooked through remove from the pan.  (onions still stay in the pan)
6. Add 1 tbs of water into the pan, and simmer for few minutes.
7. Arrange chicken and spring onion on steamed rice.  Pour onion and sauce over.  Top with poached egg yolk.

You can arrange it as Oyako Donburi ↓↓↓

At stage 5, leave chicken in the pan and add 2 tbs of water.  Simmer.  Break 1 egg into a small bowl and beat.  Pour egg mixture into simmering water.