Kansai - Sydney

I've wanted to try the Japanese buffet at Kansai for a while. After training one day, my partner and I got the chance. As it was a random dining experience, my phone camera had to photograph our meal.

At Kansai, the all you can eat buffet is $38 (adult) for a big range of small eats, sushi, sashimi boat and hot pot, and $28 (adult) for everything but the sashimi and hot pot. Being a fan of sashimi, we opted for the $38 one.

At Kansai, you get unlimited orders as long as you don't waste the food.

The gyoza was pretty good. Nice and crisp on the outside, and yummy vermicelli meat mix on the inside. Tasty, but not overly tasty. But yummy all the same.

gyoza

We had two rounds of the sashimi salad. There was cabbage, avocado, a mix of tuna, salmon and king fish cubes, a stick of cucumber and carrot, and a dab of flying fish roe on top. Wasn't bad. Like it wasn't the best sashimi salad I've had, but it wasn't bad. There was really quite a huge pile of sashimi cubes and when mixed with the fresh cabbage, salad dressing and mushy avocado, it was pretty good.

sashimi salad

We also ordered half a portion of rainbow roll. There was soooo much salmon inside this roll compared to normal rainbow rolls. It was slightly wierd how the sashimi bits on top was so thin in comparison. I actually really enjoyed this sushi. The generous proportions of salmon and the mayo inside provided for an appetising dish.

1/2 portion of rainbow roll

By now, you can probably tell that presentation was not the forte of this place. Instead, food quantity and economicalness probably is. The sashimi boat came loaded with piles and piles of salmon, tuna and king fish. All the sashimi bits were fresh and tasty. Not bad at all considering we could have ordered unlimited numbers of these sashimi boats.

sashimi boat

The last thing we could fit in our stomachs was the hot pot. We chose the miso seafood hotpot. This comprised of mussels, tofu, prawns, octopus, fish head, udon, veges and soft shell crab - yes, you read it, soft shell crab! This must have been the first time I've had soft shell crab which was not deep fried in batter. After a while, the broth of this hotpot became really creamy and delicious. The sweetness of the seafood (although initiall frozen) seeped through the broth, making everything super tasty. The soft shell crab was definately interesting. It was still sweet and tasty but texture wise, it was weird. But I guess the benefits of the soft shell crab was that us, lazy people, could chomp the whole thing and not spend hours on end picking out the meat from a small crab.

miso seafood hotpot

All up, the food at Kansai is decent. It's most definately worth it for the price. You get unlimited orders and the portions are decently large. Service is not the most attentive, but it got us through the night. Will probably come back the next time I want a Jap feast - when I overcome my current sashimi overkill :P

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - 9/10
Overall - 30.5/40

Kansai Japanese Restaurant
B1/7-13 Hunter St
Sydney
NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9231 5544