2014
When you’re craving raw fish and rice, sushi may do the trick. But if you really want to satisfy that craving at an affordable price, you need a chirashi don. Essentially cubes of raw fish on vinegared rice. N and I have our go to resutrant for chirashi don: Ramen Kan. But a few weeks ago, we’d tried our luck at a place near Town Hall: Yebisu Izakaya at Regents Place. It looks nothing like an izakaya, even though it does have an extensive drinks menu.
The chirashi don ($18.80) comes with side dishes of salmon sashimi, green salad, egg salad, pickles and miso soup.
This is one of the most beautiful chirashi don I’ve seen, but I wasn’t too impressed by the dish itself – the rice was vinegared in a salty, almost bitter way – the saltiness from the fish roe did not help. In fact, it was so salty, that adding soy sauce, which usually makes everything taste better, could’ve only made it taste worse. Saltiness aside, the fish to rice ratio also needed balancing – one piece of fish for every mouthful of rice left me with a large amount of rice.
So, while beautiful, I wouldn’t go back for the chirashi don at Yebisu Izakaya. At least not when I have the chirashi don at Ramen Kan.
2017
We’re always hopeful that a subsequent visit will improve our impression of a restaurant. Three years on from our first overly salty and lacklustre visit to Yebisu Izakaya, we return for its proximity to desserts options in Regent Place. It’s stuck around for three years, so they must be doing something correct, right?
To start, N and T have Agedashi Tofu ($9.80). Not one for tofu, I pass on the dish, but N laments that the tofu was not silky and tasted just like the premade cold tofu dipped in batter then fried. Perhaps the high price they charge is the key to their success?
Not impressed with their Chirashi Don the first time we visited, this time I fill up on Tuna Hosomaki ($5.80 for 6 pieces) and Salmon Hosomaki ($5.80 for 6 pieces). They sell cucumber hosomaki too for the same price, but why eat vegetables when you can eat raw fish? Hosomaki is one my comfort foods being delicious bite size morsels, although no one I know seems to understand my love for them.
Here, the hosomaki satisfy my craving, although there is more rice and less fish than I’d like to each roll and the fish isn’t flavourful, which was a problem replicated in N’s sushi lunch set.
Overall, we see no reason for the high prices commanded by Yebisu Izakaya. Other customers must see it differently.
Yebisu Izakaya is located at 10/501 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000