Yebisu Izakaya, Regent Place, Sydney

It's been dubbed Little Japan, and it's easy to see why. There are enough moody lanterns, brightly lit signs and choruses of irrashaimase to excite any Tokyophile in this newly renovated section of Regent Place. Remember the dark and rather mysterious entrance to Azuma? It's barely recognisable now with new tenants Yebisu Izakaya, a Japanese tapas-style bar serving sake, sushi and snacks from the grill.

The entire Azuma trio -- Azuma Restaurant, Azuma Patisserie and Ton Ton ramen -- have been replaced with Yebisu, Chanoma (serving green tea soft serve and hot dogs) and Tenkomori (a ramen and self-serve deep fried snack canteen of the Mappen and Oiden family).


Yebisu Izakaya

If you squint a little, you can probably recall the layout of Azuma Restaurant. The bar and kitchen remain untouched. You can still see the room dividers that led into the private dining area. What interior designers Giant have done, is remove all the frontage, creating an open and informal dining option that is fun and accessible for the passing public. The Giant design company were behind the interiors for Yebisu, Chanoma and Tenkomori.


Touch screen menus at the counter

We stop by at lunchtime when the restaurant isn't quite so busy. Mounted iPad screens act as touchpad menus, although you can ask for a laminated menu if you don't want to scroll.


Counter stool seating

A seat at the counter gives you a view into the kitchen, but most larger parties are seated in the main dining area.


Yebisu Izakaya interior design by Giant Design


Totoro!


Assorted fries lunch set with sushi, anyone?

The lunch menu is smaller than we expect, with options mostly spanning lunch sets ($13.80-$29.80) or sushi. There are no yakitori or grill dishes listed, much to our disappointment.


Teriyaki salmon lunch set with sushi $15.80

The teriyaki salmon lunch set is more like a three course meal, a multi-course banquet that allows you to dip into miso soup, curls of fresh sashimi, a dressed salad, disc of slow simmered daikon, rice and a hefty slab of sweet and salty teriyaki salmon.


Teriyaki salmon


Tuna and salmon sushi with sashimi


Chirashi sushi lunch set $18.80

I've opted for the chirashi lunch set, a favourite order of mine because of its casual simplicity of fresh fish on top of vinegared rice. At $18.80, it's not a cheap lunch but the chirashi sushi is one of the best I've had. It's a seafood wonderland of salmon, tuna, kingfish and octopus crowned with glistening pearls of ripe ikura salmon roe that burst on the tongue.


Sashimi salmon

It's the Japanese attention to the aesthetic, too, that so often transforms a meal into a memorable experience. Soft pillows of salmon are pushed gently into a bowl that looks like a bamboo cutting. Finely diced pickles are served in a gold-tipped saucer that looks more like a flower.


Simmered daikon


Ikura salmon roe on the chirashi sushi

Chirashi sushi often makes use of the off-cuts of sashimi - those end pieces or straggly bits that aren't pretty enough for nigiri sushi. But here the fish is so firm and fresh, the unevenness only adds to the textural experience. The rice is plump and well-vinegared without being soggy, and the salmon roe is like icing on the cake.


Main dining room

I'm so keen to try the grilled elements of the menu that I return that same night with a few Stomachs Eleven members in tow. At 6.45pm on a Thursday we're told that it'll be a two hour wait for four people. The place is heaving. There's a happy bustle to the place and the dining room is full.


Marinated octopus kimchi $5.80

We finally snag a table after 90 minutes. Marinated octopus kimichi sets the scene - it's actually ika or squid that's allowed to ferment with its own guts, creating a slippery and chewy snack that delivers on heat.


Homemade tofu $6.80

Homemade tofu is vastly different to the commercially produced version most of us are used to. The snow white mounds are delicate with a slightly grainier texture in the mouth. A heap of finely sliced shallots and grated ginger add freshness and zing.


Chicken skin yakitori $2.80

The yakitori menu is long and varied with a few unusual vegetarian inclusions like avocado with sweet miso ($4.80) and cherry tomatoes with asparagus ($3.30). We head straight for flavour land, loading up on calorific grilled chicken skin, ribboned on skewers and cooked over charcoal until the fat renders and the edges caramelise.


Wagyu beef yakitori $5.80

Wagyu beef yakitori is a bit of a splurge but one cube of this juicy succulency, and I dare you to not sigh with unbridled happiness. The beef is soft and and yielding, with a tenderness that comes only from marbled perfection.


Wagyu guts $3.30

We're not just here to eat the prime cuts. We want everything else too. The eloquently named wagyu guts is actually intestines, but here the casing has been cooked so long and slow that the fibres have actually broken down so it tears apart like meat. It's unlike any other intestine I've ever eaten.


Eggplant with sweet miso $6.80

Eggplant with sweet miso is conveniently sliced to allow easy pickings at the premium flesh. There's more of a toasted soft char than an oozing stickiness to this dish, but we still end up eating the entire dish, skin and all.


Fried chicken soft bone $7.80

Fried chicken soft bone makes use of the cartilage section from the chicken breast. It's a dish that contrasts the hard crunch of cartilage with the light crunch of a golden batter.


Toasted rice cake $5.80

Toasted rice cake is one of my favourites - marrying my obsession with chewy starch with a smoky char from the grill. It's a tablet of mochi, or pounded rice cake, that's wrapped in nori seaweed and then cooked over charcoal until the mochi becomes soft and stretchy in the middle. There's a light basting of miso, a sweetness to the edges and a crinkle of toasted nori that adds a taste of the sea.


Steamed wagyu and vegetables $12.80

There's a lovely sense of elegance that comes with the steamed wagyu and vegetables, two slices of wagyu beef steamed in a bamboo basket with autumnal accompaniments of pumpkin, sweet potato, zucchini and asparagus spears.


Tsukune chicken meat ball with poached egg $4.80

Tsukune, or chicken meat balls on a skewer, come with a runny poached egg on the side.


Meat ball dunking in runny egg yolk glory 

Who doesn't love an interactive dish? It's all about dunking the meat ball into as much runny egg yolk as you can manage.


Flight Sake Airways departing now

We'd been ordering sake from our touch screen menu but soon we realise there's a drinks trolley circulating the room. Just like an airplane! The pretty waitresses - and yes, they're all female and all demurely batting super long eyelashes - trundle the alcohol cart with calls of enticement.


Sake for one?

Ok we couldn't resist either, and actually it's an easy way to check out all the different sake bottles and ask any questions if you have any. When you do nod and agree to order some sake, the waitress rings a bell like you've won a prize. The kitchen rings a bell as well. It's like some crazy big party and heck,  by that point, everyone wants to join in. It's a brilliant marketing strategy with the bell going off every five minutes like an alcoholic slot machine.


Sake pouring at the table

The sake is ceremoniously poured at your table, into a sake glass that deliberately overflows into the masu wooden box in which it sits. The sake is deliberately poured so it spills over, as a show of generosity. When you've drunk all the sake in your glass, simply transfer the extra sake in your masu to your sake glass to finish.


Dewazakura ikko sake $9.70


Takara brown sugar umeshu $8.80

We also try the takara brown sugar umeshu, not quite as toffee sweet as umeshu plum wine, with a deeper amber hue.


Aburi scallop nigiri sushi $6.50

We briefly delve into the sushi menu. Aburi scallop nigiri are flamed with a blow torch until charred on the surface.


Soft shell crab roll $14.80

The soft shell crab roll looks unusually wide in circumference and the use of red cabbage seems a little ill-fitting.



Whiting tempura with isobe $7.80

It's easy to rack up a hefty bill here, and some dishes seem significantly pricier than other touch screen restaurants. A single fried chicken drumstick, for example, is $6.80. Three cheese croquettes will set you back $14.80. By comparison, the whiting tempura seems like a bargain at $7.80 for eight whole fillets, the batter mixed through with isobe, or dried green seaweed.



Diners inside the main dining room

It's easy to see Yebisu fast becoming a mainstay for George Street diners. It's quirky but approachable, with easy ordering and a lot of fun. Itadakimasu! Let's eat.




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Yebisu Izakaya
Shop 7-10, Regent Place
501 George Street, Sydney

Opening hours
Lunch 7 days 12pm-3pm (last order 2.30pm)
Dinner Sunday to Thursday 5pm-11pm (last order 10.30pm)
Friday to Saturday 5pm-12am (last order 11pm)

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Colombia Organik Cafe, Haymarket, Sydney

Is there some kind of conspiracy to keep South American food menus secret from the public? It's a thought that crosses my mind when we venture into Colombia Organik, a sandwich shop and cafe that offers more than just the juices and frappes advertised loudly out front.

This narrow little cafe has been open for a couple of years now, but the predominantly black frontage makes it easy to miss, particularly as it sits on the under-patronaged George Street block between Railway Square and Sydney Central YHA.

The signboard menu lists BLTs and chicken schnitzel sandwiches and gluten-free muffins sit in the window display but it's not until you approach that you notice a few South American snacks hidden on the third shelf. On the walls of the cafe are a couple of Colombian food menus, but with their pretty photos and lack of prices, they could easily be mistaken for information posters instead.


Colombia Organik lunch menu

Asking about prices can be a little daunting and it can also yield different answers. When I first asked about the tamales and ajiaco I was told they were $15 each, but when we went to order and pay we were charged $13 and $14 respectively.


Colombia Organik snack menu


Ajiaco $14
Traditional Colombian soup of chicken, potatoes, corn and herbs serve with avocado, rice and thickened milk cream

They only have three items available on the lunch menu and Mr Manchego is happy to tuck into the ajiaco soup. It's a traditional Colombian potato soup and provides a weclome antidote for a miserable rainy day in Sydney.


Avocado, rice and thickened milk cream

The broth - noticeably hearty with chicken flavour - is thickened with potato and filled with rustic chunks of chicken, potato and corn. On the side is a bowl of rice, a quarter of avocado and a container of thickened milk which can all be added to the soup at personal discretion.

The rice makes this a substantial meal, and although the idea of warm avocado sounds odd, it adds a buttery and sweet element to the dish.


Corn cob from the ajiaco soup

They even thoughtfully provide you with a special corn cob fork for easier eating!


Tamales $13
Seasoned chicken and pork with vegetables wrapped in cornmeal and cooked in banana leaf

I'd gone for the tamales and boy, is it a whopper! Unlike the more familiar Mexican tamales - wrapped in corn husks and the size of a Christmas cracker - Colombian tamales are cooked in a banana leaf and giant-sized!


Chicken and vegetable filling inside the tamale

Unwrapping presents is always fun, and there's an enticing release of steam and aromas as the banana leaf is gently prised open. Inside is a pillow of masa harina, a cornmeal dough, filled with chicken, carrots, peas and potatoes.

Digging into the masa and meat is like eating a South American version of a Chinese sticky rice parcel. It's equally comforting too, with the soft and fluffy cornmeal taking on the subtle flavour of the banana leaf. The filling of chicken and vegetables is simple and tasty, uncomplicated but satisfying, and feels like a home-made meal cooked by Grandma.


Long black and flat white $3

The coffee is impressive too. They use Calima coffee beans, made from hand-picked Colombian-grown beans which are sun-dried, imported into Australia, and then roasted. The intensity of flavour takes me by surprise at first, with a nutty full-bodied richness not often found in Sydney single shot coffees.


Buñuelos deep fried cheese bread and Pan de queso baked cheese bread ring $3 each

There's room for a few snacks as well. A huge tub of pastries on the counter-top is unmarked and unlabelled but we make enquiries and find out they're cheese breads. The round ball is a buñuelo or deep-fried cheese bread (I make an immediate beeline for this) and the ring is a pan de queso or baked cheese bread.


Inside the buñuelo

The deep-fried buñuelo isn't as fatty as you'd expect. There's no excessive oil or grease, and the thin shell on the outside is the only telltale sign it's met the deep-fryer. Inside is a core of yeasted dough that's reasonably dense but not heavy, although it's quite a substantial snack for its size. There's not an overwhelming flavour of cheese either.

The pan de queso, on the other hand, is so cheesy it almost huts. It tastes remarkably similar to a Brazilian-style pan de queso, with that same starchy chewiness that I find irresistibly delicious.


Chilli chicken sandwich $7

We're so intrigued by the menu that we make a second visit. We'd been hoping to try the caldo de costilla beef rib soup but there are no soups available today, we're told. Instead Mr Manchego settles for a chilli chicken sandwich that is average at best, and further proof that the true highlights here are the Colombian dishes.


Arepa $10
Corn cake with shredded beef, avocado and cheese 

I order the arepa, a corn cake that arrives a little more dry and toasted that I probably would have liked. Cutting through the bottom is like carving through cardboard with a straw, and the slices of wilted cheese on top doesn't look very appealing. However the shredded beef is tender and plentiful, with a generous amount of mashed avocado slathered on top.


Arepa de Huevo [left] $6.50 
and Papa Rellena beef-filled potato [right] $3.50

We tuck into a few more Colombian snacks from the counter display, which are heated on a grill before serving.


Arepa de Huevo $6.50
Corn cake filled with beef omelette

The arepa de huevo is a like a meal compacted into cornmeal pocket. The casing of masa cornmeal is a little drier and chewier than the tamale with an omelette core that is chock-full of beef mince, onion and tomatoes. I could easily imagine myself happily nibbling on this as a hand-held snack on the streets of Colombia.


Papa Rellena $6.50
Fried potato with shredded beef, chopped onions and tomato

We also try the papa rellena, a fried potato snack that cleverly uses the potato skin as part of the mixture. The filling yield a mix of shredded beef, onions, tomatoes scented with aromatic cumin, but it's the outside that's the most intriguing. Chunks of cooked potato are mashed with egg and potato skins, creating an intense potato favour. Using the potato skins seems ingenious, particularly when it's almost always thrown away when peeled. My mother always said that all the flavour is in the skin!




There are only four tables for two on the footpath so you will have to arrive early if you want a guaranteed lunch table. We didn't have room for dessert but next time I'm definitely ordering a pastel pastry, filled with caramel fudge (pastel de arequipe) or guava paste (pastel de guayaba).


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Colombia Organik
810 George Street, Haymarket, Sydney
Tel: +61 433 500 502

Opening hours
Monday to Friday 7am-6.30pm
Saturday 8am-5.30pm


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Mie Kocok Bandung, Maroubra

Mie Kocok Campur $10
Combination beef flavoured soup

Okay, so Mie Kocok might send some of us into teenaged sniggers, but ‘mie kocok’ in Indonesian means “shaken noodles”, a specialty from Bandung in West Java.

It's an all-in-one beef noodle soup: chewy ropes of fresh, handmade noodles shaken about in hot water until cooked then plunged into a deep bowl of clear, sweet beef broth.


Decor inside Mie Kocok Bandung


You’ll find it at Mie Kocok Bandung in Maroubra – it’s such a signature dish here they named their restaurant after it. The soup comes with your choice of fixings, but you may as well get the lot and order the mie kocok campur, or combination, littered with springy beef balls, ribbons of beef tripe and gelatinous beef tendons. Crunchy bean sprouts, deep-fried shallots and chopped green onions add zing but it’s the giant beef ball that’s the highlight, hiding a hard-boiled quail egg right in the middle. It’s like a Kinder Surprise for carnivores.


Lo mie bandung $9

Dive into a bowl of yamien pangsit goreng, a huddle of egg noodles with chicken mince, deep-fried wonton for crunch, and chicken soup on the side or check out the lo mie bandung, a saucier combination of egg noodles and chicken mince doused in a thick sweet gravy.

The no-fuss décor suits the Indonesian-strong crowd to a tee. It’s families and couples who roll in and out for a quick bite to eat or a noodle fix. Help yourself to the bags of prawn crackers on every table. There’s an urn of free tea in the corner too.


DIY order notepad

The DIY mentality extends to ordering – you’ll have to fill out your own docket at your table but it’s simply a matter of ticking what you want before handing it to a roving waiter. While you’re waiting, fill up at the self-serve snack station with Indonesian-style croquettes and rissoles or banana leaf parcels of rice and chicken.


Self-serve croquette and banana leaf parcel snacks


Krokets $1.50
Mixed croquettes


Lontong ayam $2
Banana leaf rice with chicken


Siomay bandung $9
Steamed mixed dim sim


Sayur asem $6.50
Sweet and soup vegetable soup


Sop buntut $9
Ox tail soup




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Mie Kocok Bandung
Shop 1, 108 Maroubra Road, Maroubra, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8437 2322

Opening hours
Lunch Tuesday to Sunday 11am-3pm
Dinner Tuesday to Sunday 5pm-10pm

This article appears in the March 2013 issue of Time Out Sydney in my monthly Food & Drink column Eat This! [Read online] 

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