Off the back of a trip to Japan just 1 month prior, we were surprised when D’s dad chose a Japanese restaurant for his 60th birthday. With the cooler weather we were looking forward to the hot pot menu items at Sakae Yakiniku House in Eastwood. Alas, when they called to confirm our booking we were told that those items were no longer available. But yakiniku and sashimi are things we can get behind.
The restaurant is nothing like your regular Korean BBQ places – it’s a much more private and cosy with dividers separating groups of diners. That said, it’s still run by Koreans. So, of course, there are the requisite side dishes –
There’s lettuce with sesame dressing, which everyone enjoys for its crispness and nutty flavour.
There’s also hakka fish balls, which look more like flats slices of tofu skin. They have a pleasant savoury flavour.
This is edamame. Unfortunately, they’re unsalted and stone cold without the moreish flavour of freshly steamed edamame.
This is a bowl of marinaded wakame and sliced onions. The wakame is marinaded with garlic and chilli, giving it a flavourful delectable crunch.
Of course, there’s kimchi, which I’m not a fan of generally so I can’t vouch for its flavour.
Onto the mains, D loves eel and orders the Unadon ($17.80), ‘grilled teriyaki eel atop fresh boiled rice with miso soup’. The serving of eel is generous, although the eel could have been grilled further to create a more caramelised flavour like the ones we enjoy in Japan. The miso soup has cubes of tofu and wakame, although the soup itself is unremarkable.
To go with D’s unadon is the Karei Karaage ($18.80), which is deep-fried flounder. The flesh is deboned and lightly battered, relying on the accompanying dipping sauce for flavour. The bones of the fish are also deep-fried, creating a deliciously crunchy snack much like the salmon skin snacks we tried from Japan.
Between sashimi and yakiniku, I will always choose the former – I love raw fish! This is the Sashimi Deluxe ($33.00) with 20 pieces including scallops, surf clam, tuna, salmon, squid and kingfish. The seafood is very fresh.
For D’s brother and dad, is the Combination BBQ Platter ($78.80) with 2 pieces of beef rib, thin skirt, 3 pieces of LA rib, beef tongue and wagyu rib finger. The quality of the cuts is high, although we’ve had more satisfying servings of meat at Korean BBQ for much less.
They also use gas stoves, rather than coals which gave a more consistent heat and less smoke and smell that gets into everything whenever we visit Korean BBQ.
Sakae Yakiniku House serves fresh food with attentive service in a cosy and refined atmosphere that’s more suited to celebrating events in small groups than the louder and more haphazard environment of Korean BBQ restaurants.
Sakae Yakiniku House is located at 6 Hillview Road, Eastwood NSW 2122.