Monday, October 8, 2012

Masuya (2) - Sydney

Back during the uni days, Masuya used to be one of my favourite restaurants. We used to frequent Masuya, Musashi, Makoto - all three of them in the chain - after uni, before Tafe, on  weekends ... just like, all the time! But for some reason, we stopped coming after all the uni craziness finished. So I was happy to revisit this place when my parents said they wanted a good Jap meal.
 
Sashimi boat



On a Saturday night, I was given two options when booking - either the 6pm or the 8pm session. We chose the 6pm ... and lo and behold - the restaurant was packed out by around 6.15pm! We ordered a sashimi boat, the rainbow roll, some individual sushi nigiri (mackerel, clam, scallop), a tofu and seaweed salad, unagi don, and also their soy milk hotpot.


Rainbow Roll
The sashimi boat was not bad. We had ample of the salmon and tuna and kingfish. Oysters, surf clams, scampi, mackeral and some other sea creatures also featured. Everything was fresh enough but nothing too wow. Also a bit dissappointing that there was no scallops in the mix! The rainbow roll was like I envisioned it. Hasn't really changed much in all these years.

nigiri



The inidividual nigiri was average. I don't know if our taste-buds have become more sophisticated over the years, or if our expectations of food has just increased but yeh... again, nothing too wow here but good enough?





seaweed and tofu salad



The tofu and seaweed salad was dissappointing. The presentation wasn't great. The flavours were not awesome and there was a huge lack in seaweed. I definately miss the gigantic seaweed and sashimi salads you get from Sushi Suma.



Unagi Don




My dad loved the unagi rice. The eel was apparently really tasty and soft and flavoursome and the rice was cooked well. it did smell pretty amazing :)







soy milk hot pot
Last but not least, the soy milk hot pot was ordered (as an afterthought). Ages ago, you used to get all these ingredients laid out on a plate. they used to dunk in some of the things that took longer to cook (e.g. chicken, salmon) but left the rest (e.g. scallops) to our discretion). Now, it comes pre-in-pot-. Meaning, well, less work for us? But also, some over-cooked stuff... and also just less food in general. You also used to get udon with this... but now you have to order it separately. Nonetheless, the soymilk dashi soup base was still awesome - and it's still something I can have bowls and bowls of :).



So all up, Masuya is still a popular Jap Restaurant. The food is decent enough but, I'm happy to just visit this place once every few years.

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28/40

Masuya
12-14 O'connell Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9235 2717

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