Japanese Cafe ULARA

It’s been a month a so since this small shop called “ULARA” took over the business from Super Fuji in Victoria Park. It is located in the same address where Super Fuji used to be, at the end of Albany hwy.

The new shop ULARA has a big sign board at the front, and the logo on the windows outside looks good. But once you step inside, the place is more like a deli, I thought. Super Fuji was like this as well (plain white wall, small space). Urara continues the rental service for Japanese books and DVDs at the premise.

This place also sells Japanese foods, but not so many. The owner told me that he just sell what customers request. So, what is the main business of this shop? DVD rental service? Retail of Japanese groceries? Well, it’s actually takeaway of Japanese foods.

“It’s been just a preparation period to setup the kitchen and a whole process of takeaway business”, the owner says. Urara starts selling Japanese takeaway  food from today (24, Oct). The owner’s previous business, Banzai  Sushi & Noodle Bar in Leederville was such success and he had many fans. He sold the business to Matsu Sushi last year, and since then he’d been hunting for a new place to start new business. I’m not sure what Urara has on its takeaway menu, but I’m sure they will all taste good considering the foods he was serving at Banzai.  ULARA has few tables and chairs inside for dine-in too.  They are plastic ones, so it’s more like a place for busy working people who want quick lunch rather than for couples who seek for romantic dining experiences.

ULARA
245 Albany Hwy, Victoria Park 6100
Mon – Sat 9:00 ~ 18:00
08 9355 0882

Sushi at Royal, East Perth

There is a small Japanese take-away food shop on Royal street in East Perth.  I happened to go there the other day just past 12PM, and I was very surprised….  Not only to see that so many people keep coming in and making a long queue to grab take-away sushi and typical Japanese meals, but also the speed of their service.

I stayed there for about 15 minutes – until Hiro started crying loud and realising eating at home would be better for us and also other diners.  While the 15 minutes, the line of people didn’t break.

Most of the customers must be office workers around this area, wanting to grab fast and easy food to take-out during their limited lunch time.  These people must be this shop’s target as well – considering the opening hours of 11:00 to 16:30, Monday to Friday.

There are lots of drinks to chose from the fridge.

There is a counter full of packed sushi to go.  You can also order meals such as teriyaki, katsu, donburi, curry, udon and soba noodle, agedashi, burgers, etc.  The owner must be Indonesian or Malaysian because there is “beef rendang” on the menu :p

I was curious to try their teriyaki burger ($7.50), but decided to order Fish Katsu-Don ($10.50).D ordered Teriyaki Chicken ($10.50).

I was assuming that it would take at least 5 minutes to make our foods, but it showed up within 2 minutes.  Very very fast.  That’s why there’re not many people waiting for their food besides the number of people queueing. They get their ordered meal in a flash.  This must be one of the reason why this shop is so busy.

The katsu was not like Japanese katsu – it was more like Western-style (like those for parmigiana).  The meat of teriyaki chicken was chopped, and it was chicken breast (no skin).  I guess these “katsu” and “teriyaki chicken” are prepared for burgers and sushi rolls too. That’s why they are in funny shape.

The quality of the food is very average, but I am, again, very impressed by their fast service.  The staff are very friendly and kind too.  When I asked them if I could take-home our half-eaten food  (because of Hiro) they quickly brought me plastic lids and a carry bag with a smile.  I was surprised to see the speed of the staff’s movement as well.

Monday to Friday during lunch time only, serving variety of food, very fast service.  I like their concept.  Very good business.

(08) 9225 7911

May in Autumn

I just realised that it’s May already…!  It’s the middle of Golden Week (long weekend with public holidays) in Japan.  Sakura should be all gone by now (in the main island / south), and it should be getting warmer and warmer soon over there.  I haven’t heard from my family (dad and bro side) for a while so I emailed my bro to see what they are up to.  I thought bro would be enjoying this long weekend, but he said he and dad have been working all-day at their rice fields.  It’s that season already.

I haven’t been back to Japan during summer for almost 6 years now (because I don’t like hot & humid climate), but I remember I helped working in the rice fields a lot while I was there during my homecoming in 2005.  I helped weeding (using a machine), bringing lunch to them, harvesting the rice, and bringing all the crops to the mill.  The job is hard, but it’s very interesting.  I like doing that type of physical work.  Sometimes I took Mimi (our dog) to the rice field, and watched dad and bro working from the side of the rice field with her.

Ah, I miss eating our rice!

Back to Perth : It’s very cold at night and morning, but the temperature goes up to mid-20′s (or close to 30℃) during the day.  I need to dress Hiro twice.

One of D’s sister has been visiting here from Jakarta, and yesterday was her last day here.  She comes here quite often so we didn’t do anything special – besides she likes watching tv all the time at home.  But yesterday I had to buy some stuff from Fremantle so we all went out for a quick drive.

We picked up some sushi from Oceans in the Woolstores on the way back.  It was actually my first time to try their food.  I go to Fremantle quite often, but I’ve never had a chance to buy anything from there.  I believe the owner is Japanese (my friend used to work there before), and the location is good – close to the train station and car parks.  We bought some mixed sushi rolls which were already packed for take-away.  The sushi was not bad and I enjoyed it.  Much better than Sushi Sushi …

Sundays Everyday in Myaree

43 Hulme Court, Myaree WA 6154

(08) 9330 2911

Open
Mon-Sat 07:30am – 02:30pm

Located in Humle Court in Myaree, this small take-away Japanese food shop has been very popular -especially among the workers in Melville area.

They open from 7:30 in the morning, so customers go there to grab a cup of fresh brewed coffee and a pack of fresh made sandwiches before they go to work (or school).  I’d say their business style is great as they know what their target market is.  At first, it may sound strange to see a coffee machine next to the show case filled with takeaway teriyaki-chiken and katsu-curry.  But, it makes perfect sense – I’d want to have a cup of coffee after having lunch!

Their sandwiches are Japanese style – I mean, they use Japanese mayonnaise for the fillings (e.g. egg sandwiches), and there are teriyaki chicken sandwiches etc.  I’ve wrote about this place before saying that their serving portion is really big, and it can be said for the sandwiches –  the fillings are big too.  There are about 4~5 slices of ham in a ham sandwich!

When you go to Sundays Everyday, try to go there as early as possible – there may be a queue to order around lunch time, but if you go there late (around 2pm) the chances are you will be only getting the left-over takeaway food in the showcase.  The kitchen usually closes around 2:10PM (they said), but they may close around 1:50PM if the business is quiet.  That’s what happened to me this time…  I arrived there just before 2PM, and there’re about 6 people dining there.  I was browsing the menu board, and a waitstaff said “sorry, the kitchen is closed”.

That’s a shame!  I really wanted to try their ramen this time.  The daily lunch menu looked good too.  But, probably next time…  I could see from the counter the kitchen staff working hard cleaning the floor and the bench.  D and I picked a teriyaki-fish to share from the showcase.

All the donburi-styled takeaway food was $8.50 each.  To me, the rice was little too soft, but it may be because it was from the showcase.

There are some Japanese magazines (and Australian magazines and newspapers) to read inside the shop.  When I was eating and reading, I realised it’s actually a nice place to sit down and have lunch or even a cup of coffee.  I felt cozy.

People kept coming to order some food until we left the shop.  I wish they open little longer!  But, this is Australia, I’m sure the owner (a Japanese guy) enjoys his private life after 2:30PM – the busy business each day.  The reason he moved to Perth permanently could be to enjoy his life like it’s a Sunday every day.

Shige Sushi Bar in South Perth

Shop 13, 19-21 Mends Street, South Perth WA 6151

(08) 9367 2500

Lunch
Tues-Fri 11.30am-2pm
Dinner
Tues-Sat 6-9.30pm

Shige Sushi Bar has been opened for quite awhile now, and this hidden small restaurant has been popular among locals and tourists.  Although the restaurant is very small – counter seats, and 3 tables (inside) and 2~3 tables (outside) -, people seem to be still enjoying going there for the food.  Because of the location, some tourists staying around South Perth also visit there.

I headed to this place with friends for dinner the other night.  When I called the restaurant to make a booking, they said the night was going to be very busy but they could squeeze us in between 6 to 7:30 pm.  When we arrived there, the restaurant was just opened and the owner chef (Mr Shige) was already working busy in the kitchen.

We can see the kitchen over the counter, and it seemed that he is the only chef who does all the cooking.

We ordered a large assorted sushi, gyoza, assorted tempura, lemon chicken and grilled beef fillet in teriyaki sauce to share.

The food came up really quick.  After ordering I went to the toilet, and when I came back to the table the sushi was already there. I think they had to push the food out as quickly as possible so that we could get out before 7:30 for the next bookings.

The gyoza was properly cooked – I mean, at some other restaurants, gyoza is deep-fried.  Gyoza is normally grilled like this unless it’s specified “deep-fried gyoza” on the menu.  The gyoza was very moist and soft.  My friend said that she prefers the skin to be crispier, but I liked it.  I thought the taste was bit thin, but I don’t really like too-much-garlicky-taste gyoza anyway, so I enjoyed it.

I must say, the tempura was very light and crispy.  The beef fillet was tender (even though I ordered very-well-done) and tasty.  Both Beef Teriyaki and Lemon Chicken came with some simmered vegetables on the side (edamame and root vegetables) and we all agreed that the taste reminds us of my grandma’s cooking. Very traditional Japanese flavour.  We loved it.

The lemon chicken was delicious too.  At first, I imagined it to be something similar to the Chinese version of lemon chicken, but it wasn’t.  The lemon chicken at Shige, the chicken was grilled (not deep-fried) and the sauce was teriyaki sauce based.  The tangy kick of lemon juice really matched with the juicy chicken meat.

Overall, the food was great and so was the service.  Around 7PM many customers started to show up (around 15~20 people at once!) and the restaurant started to be crowded and busy.  Thanks to the fast service we could finish our meal and get out the restaurant by 7:30.  If you are planning to go to this restaurant I recommend to make a booking first.  Again, this is a pretty small restaurant so you have to prepare yourself to be sitting and eating in a limited space.