Maeda in Japan: Maeda, Newtown

Maeda in Newtown is a Japanese neighbourhood cafe on the busy south end of King Street in Newtown. Go on weekends and you'll see long queues but on weekdays it is much easier to nab a table to try delicious Japanese spins on breakfasts and great teas and coffess.

I've driven or walked past Maeda a hundred times over the years. Every time I drive past on a weekend, it's always full, people spilling out onto the outdoor tables on this corner block cafe. "We've got to go there," I say to Mr NQN every timke we drive past. It has sat on my list for years. Until one day we were driving past and I saw my friend Girl next Door walking past. I haven't seen her for years and I texted her. She suggested that we meet up for lunch since she works part time nearby. And that's how I finally got myself to Maeda.

Girl Next Door has eaten there and knows what she wants. We are having lunch at 2pm on purpose to miss the crowds. She hones in on the yuzu soda and the avocado toast on a bagel while I dither between choices. Girl Next Door worked at a food magazine when I first met her so she asks, "Are we shooting pics today?" and recommends some things. The menu is full of things that I used to enjoy when I lived in japan like Amazake, coffee jelly and Hamburg steak.

When I lived in Japan I lived on amazake, a healthy fermented drink with good nutritional properties. It's a fermented rice drink made with koji and brown rice. Here it is served hot with freshly grated ginger on top. It's a sweet, warm drink that I especially enjoyed in winter although I also liked it chilled in summer. I'm just so excited to see it on a menu!

I really enjoy the variety in the breakfast plate. I don't tend to go for Big Breakfast plates with bacon, eggs and beans, this is really more my style with a fillet of miso salmon, pickled hot mustard onigiri, shimeji mushrooms, sweet baked omelette, nimono, pickled daikon and prawn pasta salad. Everything is delicious from the perfectly cooked salmon to the slippery shimeji mushrooms, bouncy sweet omelette and onigiri filled with pickled mustard leaves. I end up eating everything which I don't often do but it doesn't feel heavy.

I try some of Girl Next Door's avocado on toast made with lightly smashed avocado with yuzu sour cream, edamame, parmesan cheese crisps, poached egg and avocado oil. Like the breakfast plate, it's wholesome anmd nourishing and tasty with the yuzu citrus instead of lemon.

A couple of months later Girl Next Door and I meet up again to try more food here. This time I order a hojicha latte that is perfectly sweet and nutty.

One of the most common things I used to see on the menu in Japan when I lived there was Hamburg steak. It's basically the beef patty from a hamburger without the bread, and it's usually served with mushroom sauce. I never see it on Japanese menus here but it is very popular in Japan. Here at Maeda they serve it as a crunchy katsu crumbed beef patty on a slice of milk bread or shokupan with curry sauce, house made pickles, seeded mustard and coleslaw. And despite how heavy it sounds, it's actually really well balanced so that it doesn't feel heavy at all. The beef patty is tender but crunchy and the accompaniments balance it perfectly.

One of the things that I've noticed about all the items on this cafe menu is that they're really tried and tested, like there are no duds. Girl Next Door's Chicken Karaage sub is one of the most popular items as I see many going out to tables past us and I get to try some of it. This is fantastic. The Chicken Karaage is so juicy, and the bun is so soft and fresh that you really can't fault anything with it.

All of the cakes are homemade so we end off on a sweet note: the carrot cake. Here is it an individual round serve of carrot cake that is moist and topped with yuzu cream cheese. We would have both loved a bit more yuzu in the cream cheese as it is light but that's just our personal love of yuzu.

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever tried hamburg steak Japanese style or amazake? Which dish would you order?

These meals were independently paid for.

Maeda

549 King St, Newtown NSW 2042

Phone: 0421 315 234

Open 7 days Monday to Friday 7am-3pm

Weekends 8am-3pm