On one of the wettest weekends on record — the same that caused widespread floods and triggered a state of emergency — we paddled into the CBD for dinner plans of yakiniku at the Malaysian-run Kōbe Wagyu BBQ.
The buffet was $89.00/pp (includes meat, fish and sides) and the soft drink package was $10.00/pp or free if paying with cash.
We go through all the different types of wagyu — brisket navel end, chuck eye roll, flap meat, outside skirt, oyster blade (above, bottom), rib eye cap, rib finger, short rib (above, top), tri-tip, beef tongue (above, centre) and thin cut sirloin.
Our favourite was the short rib, which came as no surprise as it’s always our favourite at Korean BBQ. We’re pleasantly surprised by the rib finger, which is like a more melt-in-the-mouth version of the former. With that said, the orders of wagyu were very slow to arrive and we were without any food on the table quite a few times during the two hours despite ordering well in advance. Each ‘order’ was a mere 3 slices of meat with a maximum of 4 serves per request. In addition to being slow to serve, they also ‘lost’ our orders of wagyu.
This is the Yukke, which is wagyu beef with egg yolk. The meat was tender and the egg yolk complemented well, but the onion was strong.
This is the Duck Breast, which was juicy and fatty.
We enjoyed the sashimi — grouper, kingfish, salmon, scallop, snapper, swordfish, tuna, shellfish, surf clam — but did not find it mind-blowingly fresh. To make up for it, we wanted more, but as with the wagyu, waiting for the staff to fulfil our orders was a constant source of frustration.
We had grand plans to eat a lot of scallops, but grilling (above, top) four at a time occupied the entire space for a significant duration that we focused our attention back on the meat. There was also a salmon and butter in a dashi broth base (above, bottom). Again, the fish took a long time to cook in comparison to the meat and N concluded sashimi was the better way to go.
With the meat and fish taking a while to arrive, we turned our attention to the sides, which arrived much faster.
This is the Takowasa, which tasted fresh with plenty of crunch from the octopus and bite from the wasabi base. We enjoyed these immensely and went through quite a few.
The Seaweed Salad was also a winner with its crunch.
We followed with the Chawanmushi, which was impossibly smooth and just slid down our throat. It had a bright dashi flavour and was garnished with some fish roe, an edamame bean and a slice of shiitake. We had to get a second to make sure its smoothness wasn’t a one-off — it wasn’t.
These Prawn Croquettes were a crowd pleaser — crispy and piping hot with a creamy centre packed with tiny prawns. Yes, please!
The Bite Size Tempura Prawns were crispy and served warm, but we weren’t a fan of the dressing.
The Takoyaki tasted much like the ones we prepare from frozen at home.
While the previous two fried dishes weren’t bad, these Tako Karaage were indeed bad. They were cold and stale and chewy.
Moving on to the drink buffet menu, we had our choice of soft drinks as well as Calpis (regular, grape (above, right) and peach) as well as Pokka drinks (grape aloe vera (above, left), sparkling fuji apple) as well as Itoen (unsweetened green and oolong tea). Again, there’s not much positive to be said about their glacial service.
Finally, we move on to the dessert part of the menu. There were two kinds of ‘tiramisu’ on offer — matcha and chocolate — and neither of which could be accurately be described as such. The matcha version was firm and icy with none of the soft creamy textures usually associated with the dessert. The rose petals were also old, stale and discoloured. The chocolate version fared even worse, being a rock-solid lump of cocoa.
There were three flavours of ice cream on offer — mango (previous photo), matcha (above, left), and red bean (above, right). The mango tasted like the cheap artificial mango ice cream of childhood, while the red bean was quite pronounced on the dairy. The matcha was redeeming despite its initial iciness, with a creamy texture and healthy green tea flavour. It’s not particularly great matcha ice cream, but it was acceptable.
Finally, in hopes of redeeming dessert, this is the Matcha Chocolate Lava Cake (+$13.50). All I can say is that it did not deliver. The lava cake was not hot and did not have an oozy centre (the defining characteristic of a lava cake), while the pile of matcha ice cream was simply unappetizing and unrefined. Seriously, what is that?!
By now, it’s clear that we were far from satisfied with our time at Kōbe. It’s easy to see that the restaurant views their buffet customers as easy money, and purposely bring orders of meat and fish — wagyu and sashimi, essentially anything worthy — at a glacial pace to maximise profit. To get any remote sense of value from a meal at Kōbe, it’s probably better to order a la carte and have dessert elsewhere.
Kōbe Wagyu BBQ is located at Level 1, 605-609 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000.