Yutaka, Sydney

I first discovered Yutaka courtesy of Pinkcocoa here. I'm becoming more and more sceptical when it comes to buffets, but Pinkcocoa's pics and write-up convinced me to give this one a go.

Yutaka offers a la carte sushi and teriyaki but most of the punters are here for the hedonistic excesses of the all-you-can-eat buffet. In a quaintly open pragmatic approach, the lunchtime offer is a bargain $12--but for 60 minutes only. The penalty for languid conversation and chewing each mouthful 30 times? $3 for every 30 minutes you over-stay...

We were on a workday lunch so one hour was fine with us. We sat down amongst the tables full of families and uni students and indicated we were after the buffet. The waiter nodded and hurried away. Three minutes later we realised that noone was coming back with any plates or instructions... eek! The starter's gun had obviously already fired!... And we were three minutes behind already! Run run run...


Hoso-maki (thin sushi rolls) with salmon and avocado; pickled radish; and cucumber


Futo-maki (thick sushi roll) with chicken and lettuce


Gunkan-maki (battleship wrap) with (top to bottom) flying fish roe; seaweed salad; and tuna.


Futo-maki with various fillings.


Platter of gunkan-maki with flying fish roe and tuna fillings.


Agedashi tofu


Fried rice and yakisoba fried noodles.


Japanese curry beef and steamed rice.


Hot chips, fried fish fillets, spring rolls and dimsims.

Whoahhhhh... lots of food hey? But wait. There's more....


Teriyaki beef and chicken.


Front: Tempura prawns, eggplant and sweet potato
Back: um... some kind of deep-fried yuba roll? and what tasted like deep-fried money bags.


Hiyashi soba


Hiyashi somen


Hiya yakko tofu


Yaki gyoza


Prawns


Edamame boiled soybeans


Japanese-style potato salad with sweet corn and carrots.


Dessert corner (from bottom): crackers, salted crackers, coconut coated peanuts, chocolate wafer rolls, jellies, rice flour cakes, haw flakes and various lollies.


Red globe grapes, rockmelon, bananas and apples.

Miso soup

This is buffet food where the emphasis is on quantity not quality. However the food is of reasonable quality and there is a fair variety on offer. In fact we kept peering around all the columns to discover yet another island of bain-maries.

The gunkan-maki were a little soggy but there is plenty of food here to satiate even the hungriest sumo wrestler. I would craving a few more vegetables too but I suppose at least the abundance of tofu and noodles would keep the veggo's happy.

Dinner is more than twice the price but with an expansion of options including oysters, mussels, eel and sashimi. We were more than amused by the little signs on each table warning customers not to overeat the oysters and sashimi as "you may feel sick" and that wastage was not appreciated and could be penalised.

Still, if you're not fussy on your sushi or just after a variety of options on a budget, this is handy lunchtime fare. And the automated sushi-making machine was pretty cool too.


Yutaka Japanese Restaurant
125-129 Bathurst Street, Sydney
Tel: 02 9264 3700

A la carte menu

Lunch buffet:
Mon-Thur 11am-3pm $12pp (60min limit*)
Fri and Sat 11am-3.30pm and public holidays $16pp (90min limit*)

Dinner buffet (includes oysters, mussels, eel and sashimi):
Mon-Thur 5pm-10.30pm $30pp
Fri, Sat and public holidays 5pm-11pm $32pp

*Extra charge of $3pp for every 30min after limited time