Iiza - Newtown, NSW 17/08/10

I love Japanese food. I cannot get enough. So when I met my friends Kyle and Mick and their friend Nessa for a few drinks and then dinner last night in Newtown and we decided on Japanese I was overjoyed! We'd toyed with the idea of Thai but faced with the prospect of deciding between the 2354894 Thai restaurants in King St we opted for Iiza - a Japanese restaurant between 2 Thai restaurants. And we discovered it was a rose (possibly between two thorns).

We decided on plates and plates and plates of food to share - from just about every section of the menu.

Deluxe Chef's Selection Sashimi Plate

How amazing does this look? On top of the amazing presentation the sashimi was all beautiful!

Gyoza
Tasty tasty gyoza - and that sauce had a bit of a kick!

Camembert Tempura

While not *strictly* traditional Japanese it was light and flavoursome and I would definitely go for seconds.

Nasu Dengaku
Sliced eggplant topped with Japanese dengaku miso.

Serve me up eggplant like this and I will eat it every day!

Spider Rolls
Softshell crab sushi.
Soooooo freaking amazing. I love softshell crab.

Teriyaki Duck.

Not quite the "lucky duck" that was done 2 ways but very, very delicious.

Yakiniku Wagyu Beef

Amazingly tender beef - so flavoursome but still light. The reason I love Japanese food.


So you would think after all that food we'd ditch dessert. Don't be silly! We were prepared to give the dessert a menu and each ordered something different so we could give them all a try.

Fondant au chocolat.

Again - not so traditionally Japanese but very rich and creamy.

Kokutou Brulee

Creme brulee with Japanese brown sugar.
It didn't taste all that different to any other creme brulee - so that meant it was delish!

Green tea ice-cream

* According to Mick "You can really taste the wasabi"

Annin Tofu

Very almondy - very nice.

It was a great little cafe style Japanese restaurant with really friendly staff. I must admit in part I ordered to the brulee to hear the strongly accented Japanese waitress say it!

Mick's tip of the evening - use the men's room there is a bidet! Not a permanent one but a nifty one that's attached to the side of the toilet bowl. He was so intrigued by it that he checked the ladies room to see if we had one too. Ripped off. We didn't.