My husband has abandoned me. To go sailing at Airlie Beach to be precise. So what choice do I have but to fill my schedule with dinners and outings with friends so that I don’t feel completely socially isolated. Tonight, I’m catching up with Queen Viv and Miss America at nearby Sushi Samurai in Neutral Bay where there are several Japanese restaurants located. It’s a place that has been recommended to me several times, for the freshness of their sushi and sashimi, huge serves and reasonable prices. And like most places that are popular, you need to make a booking, which we are slightly late for.
There are tables outside in the cold as well as tables inside the warmly lit dark wood furnished room (thanks must go to Queen Viv for the photography assistance in the dark room!). It’s packed to the brim with customers and tables feel quite tight and close together. It takes a while to get drinks and give our order as the staff fly furiously fast past the tables carrying all manner of enticing looking dishes.
Appetitser: deep fried wholemeal pasta spiral: a bad start
The night starts with an odd note, deep fried uncooked wholemeal pasta spirals with seasoning comes with our drinks. It’s like eating crunchy string and we leave this behind hoping that it’s not a sign of things to come.
We choose mainly from the specials menu as they look the most unusual and enticing although Miss America baulks at the whole stuffed squid grilled sushi. I’m glad to see Tokyo favourites like Oden and Nankotsu appearing on the menu. It’s all incredibly good value with a sashimi platter for 3-4 people at only $25 and the only thing we have difficulty with is narrowing down our choices. There are little Japanese touches on the menu like signs pointing to dishes that are “So Yummy!”, “Good Value!” and “Our Best!”.
Sashimi main size $19.80
Thankfully whilst the service lags, the kitchen is fast and before we know it our meals have arrived. Our sashimi arrives first. It’s a fantastic looking platter with a wide range of sashimi including kingfish, tuna, salmon, scallop, squid and prawn sashimi. One bite into a juicy fresh scallop and I know that I will be coming back for more sashimi. It’s the perfect temperature (I sometimes find sashimi too cold) and each piece is so velvety soft and fresh, we’re all in raptures. I usually only like salmon sashimi but in this case I adore the kingfish and tuna too and every piece on this gorgeously fresh plate.
Salt and Pepper soft chicken bone $9.80
The Salt and pepper soft chicken bone arrives, the Nankotsu, one of those great Izakaya foods that tastes so great with beer. Ordinarily I’d ask for some Tabasco to sprinkle on top but the salt and pepper seasoning is a nice substitute. I love the soft crunch of the bones and the fluffy perfectly seasoned batter gives this bone crunch a delicious flavour.
Wagyu Beef salad $14.80
Never one to say no to Wagyu, our Wagyu beef salad is heavenly. Sometimes I find that Thai Beef salads have beef that is too stringy or chewy. This doesn’t, the beef perfectly tender and melting in the mouth. Miss America in particular loves this dish.
Okonomiyaki $9.80
Our Okonomiyaki comes out on a cast iron hot plate, in an oval shape packed with bean sprouts and all manner of indiscernible vegetables and filling and steam rising from it. I’m not used to this much bean sprout in Okonomiyaki but it’s nevertheless deliciously creamy inside although I do prefer the Okonomiyaki from Samurai in Balmain. It gets an enthusiastic response from both Queen Viv and Miss America who have not tried this before.
Dragon Roll (Eel and cream cheese) $9.80
We wait a little while before the Dragon Roll comes out. Miss America is curious about Eel having not tried it before and granted we might be pushing it by ordering the eel combined with cream cheese but we were lured by the “Our Best!” claim on the menu. We needn’t have worried, it’s absolutely mouth watering. The cream cheese, often applied too liberally at other Japanese restaurants we’ve visited, is judiciously portioned in this, giving it a creaminess without screaming “Alert! Cream cheese! Weirdly alien sushi ingredient!!”
Coffee Jelly with black sesame ice cream $6.80
After a long respite and because the service is slow, it’s about 45 minutes before we order dessert. I’m pleased to see Coffee Jelly, one of my favourite items to have in the sweltering Japanese summer and the Zenzai with ice cream so we order both of these, with three spoons. The coffee jelly which we’ve ordered with black sesame ice cream is strong and almost like the jelly that I’ve had in Tokyo although I don’t know if the black sesame is quite a good match for it. I prefer it with just cream and the black sesame ice cream has too much smokiness for my taste.
Zenzai with green tea ice cream $5.80
The Zenzai isn’t bad but to be honest I preferred the one at Ainoya although the mochi balls are very soft and chewy. The red bean is more soup like here than at Ainoya and the green tea ice cream strongly flavoured. Nevertheless it’s still a refreshing end to a great meal. And Mr NQN, you’re definitely missing out! 
Queen Viv pops off to the ladies room and comes back wide eyed saying “I don’t usually say this but you MUST go to the bathroom. It’s like the Japanese horror movie ‘The Ring’!” and explains that it’s dark as dark could be and playing haunting music. Curiousity peaked, I walk in and see that it is indeed very dark with jet black walls and very much “The Ring” looking although I hear jazz music. Miss America who visits after me hears no music. How very odd!
Sushi Samurai
Shop 5/197 Military Road Neutral Bay 2089
Tel: +61 (02) 9953 4059
Open 7 days
12:00pm-3:00pm (last order) Close 3.30pm
5.30pm-10:00 (last order) Close 10:30pm
There is also a branch at Pyrmont:
Shop 1/16-30 Bunn Street Pyrmont
Tel +61 (02) 9518 8852
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12 Comments | Add your own
I’m still trying to get my head around the deep fried raw pasta!!
Ooh freaky.. I wouldn’t want to be combing my hair in front of the mirror on that bathroom!
Me too!! I can’t imagine eating that - especially at Japanese!
Nice to see a review on one of my very favourite places!
I come here at least once a week for lunch with girls from work, and we absolutely adore it.
It used to be our “secret little place” until we starting bringing more people along every week
If you go at lunch time, the lunchbox specials are a bargain for under $16 - they include miso soup, agedashi tofu and Japanese pickels
Absolute must-haves are the salmon sashimi and the most amazing teriyaki salmon ever.
I went on Tuesday lunch, and may be going there again today or tonight!
i love your restaurant reviews, but often wonder if you get any irate restaurant staff telling you off for taking pictures or strange reactions from your fellow restaurant goers?!
Hi Iron Chef Shellie-Please don’t, it’s so wrong! Especially when it’s wholemeal pasta
Hi Y-I should have taken photos inside the bathroom or better still a video
Hi Carolyn-It was really left of centre, we were a bit worried about the rest of it although the other dishes were great. I hope they’ve replaced it with something else
Hi IllegallyBlonde-I should try and make it there for their lunch bentos one day. I grabbed the leaflet and they looked great. Sounds like you’re definitely a regular there
Hi the projectivist-No, not at all about the restaurant staff
They’re usually either used to photos being taken (tourists take pics too) or they’re happy that people are into their food that much. There were a couple of restaurants in London that don’t allow photos due to “celebrity clientele” but none in Sydney. As for fellow restaurant goers, only twice in the whole time, they stared like I landed from a spaceship but didn’t say anything 
Hi Lorraine,
Mmmm, I love it when sushi and sashimi are the right temperature and very fresh. I had excellent ’sushi train’ sushi on my birthday this year, when hubby and I went up to Melb CBD together. I did however, have evidence of food poisoning throughout the night, but by the next day I was ok! :-/
I have a couple of criticisms (looking at the dishes) and hope it’s ok I impart them. The curly leaf parsley for garnishes. And the tomatoes in the Wagyu beef salad look like really cheap, tasteless supermarket tomatoes. When I think of Wagyu.. I think it begs for better tomatoes? Char grilled cherry tomatoes on the vine? Am I just being too picky? Though considering the price of the meals.. how can one complain?
I assumed the pasta was cooked and then deep fried. Gosh.. that was some chef’s big mistake, I can hear Gordon bellowing now
That soft chicken bone looks and sounds so delicious. I’ve never had it at a restaurant, though growing up in a Hungarian family, my sisters and I munched on chicken feet and cartlidge and bones etc!
I’ve not tried coffee jelly either. Is it something really sweet or maybe intense like an espresso and not sweet enough?
I love eel sushi, but have not tried it with the cream cheese combo.
Mmm.. again, I could just go that plate of sashimi right now, it even LOOKS the right temperature!
Thanks Lorraine for a great review, I hope hubby enjoyed his sailing?
clearly you have no choice but to socialize over meals with your friends. that’ll teach your husband to leave you and go sailing.
meanwhile, deep fried pasta? it sounds quite interesting, but what a bummer that it wasn’t tasty. you could do it better, i’ll bet.
We go to the pyrmont joint a lot of times and always get the sashimi. It is always so good and very good value for money. The dragon roll is also a favourite of ours. I love how the Japanese do their eel. Oh the miso eggplant is another winner!
Hi Maria-Yes the temperature makes a difference with the flavour of the sashimi I find. Oh no, I hope it wasn’t too serious!?
I’m not sure about the cherry tomatoes, I can say that in Japanese salads in Tokyo I did have some cherry tomatoes and I actually had some of the tastiest cherry tomatoes while I was over there. So perhaps using them is normal for a Japanese salad.
LOL yes Gordon would not have been happy. I’m sure he would’ve said a few swear words at it.
In that case, you might really like the chicken bone.
Hmmm how do I describe coffee jelly? It’s usually slightly sweet and quite strong. I don’t like it without cream but love it with cream, if that makes sense.
Eel is so delicious and it went surprisingly well with the cream cheese I think because there wasn’t too much cream cheese. You’re welcome and he did enjoy it but was very glad to be home
Hi grace-I don’t like being alone too much so it was a welcome diversion! I stay away from wholemeal pasta at the best of times but to have it uncooked and deep fried, that’s just wrong
Hi Susan-I agree, the sashimi is definitely excellent value, it’s unusual to get a serve like that for that price, you’d usually pay double that. I will give the miso eggplant and the Dragon roll a go next time, thanks for the recs!
Food aside, I think the ‘Ring’ themed bathroom is a nice touch! Show’s a bit of character from the Owners , I like it!
Hi Howard-I wonder if they did it deliberately!
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