Meiji Japanese Cafe

    Saturday night, nothing much going on.  Been a tiring week primming for a better looking body so that we may fit into clothes and look better in them.  Dieting is always the main thing to look out for these days when it comes to health =)  I'd figured, since I eat out a lot due to me not having much kitchen utensils to cook, I'd start shooting some food porn.  This way, I'd have good practice ninja-shooting the insides of establishments and inanimated objects.  I'm new to blogging about food, but here goes...

Meiji Japanese Cafe

     Quaint little Japanese restaurant to eat at should you ever be down Little Bourke Street, aka Chinatown.

     The inside's decor is really cute and many of the ornaments of the maneki nekos are really eye catching!  It does make me feel like stealing a few back home to watch all the cats waving their paws!  I am surprised that although the restaurant is really small, it isn't cramped in the inside.

      The ambient was mainly coming just from the TV, the falling water in the little water feature by the entrance and of course, chatter from the other patrons.  Beware, everyone in the restaurant can hear your conversations. *smirk*  The cafe was brightly lit and appears to be one of the cleanest looking places to eat that I have been to in a while and it is really refreshing!  Besides the ceiling lights, the hanging lamps and lanterns is very effective in giving off a very warm and homely atmosphere.  Most of the corners look clean enough and I take joy in the clean shine of surfaces.  I love the simplicity of the wooden bar and the mirror placed behind it gives the subtle illusion of a more spacious area.

Hakone, as in menu.

Comes with Kani Maki (left), Inari (top) and Salmon Nigiri (bottom)

     The Kani Maki Sushi (Crab sticks rolled with rice and seaweed) was really well make and it melts in the mouth unlike what I'm used to back in Malaysia.  The rice is packed nicely and I like my sushi made with effort and care.  The Inari Sushi (Fried sweetened tofu wrapped around sushi rice) however, was a little too sweet.  It's definitely sweet to my liking, as in, if served to kids, they'll gobble up the sweetness.  The salmon, as you can see, was giving in a really generous portion and is more than a mouthful for some.

Tori, cooked and served in a kamameshi, as in menu.

Deep fried chicken with Quails Eggs on top of some folded Omelette on Rice

     So, I was fortunate enough to get ONE quail egg...which isn't a disaster and hence forgivable since there was a  healthy portion of fluffy folded omelette.  Note to self: do not bite on any quail eggs right off the bat as my lips were scalded by leaked gravy into that tiny little bomb.  As I am a fan of fried foods, I was happy to find that the chicken was still crispy when served, although there was a generous amount of gravy on it.  Props for frying skills!

     Quoted from Wikipedia, "Kamameshi (釜飯) literally translates to "kettle rice" and is a traditional Japanese rice dish cooked in an iron pot. Similar to takikomi gohan, kamameshi is a type of Japanese pilaf cooked with various types of meat, seafood, and vegetables.  By cooking it in an iron pot, the rice gets slightly burned at the bottom which adds a desirable flavor to the rice. It is often sold as ekiben.

     "Chinese cuisine also prepare rice in a similar way using a clay pot and is known in Chinese as guō fàn (鍋飯) or in Cantonese po chai fan (煲仔飯).  The cooking style is popular in Canton and Hong Kong."

     Apparently, if you order many of the rice dishes, it is served with a bamboo scoop that is kind of short but, surprisingly efficient to scoop food from the pot without scalding yourself on the iron.  Meiji is one of the very few places that serves food with reusable chopsticks.  The chopsticks are a deep black with a golden back that shows elegance.  Eating utensils, in my opinion, serves to impress and elevate the eating experiences.  This is very important for someone like me to cleans all the utensils thoroughly before I eat.

     Finally, even with the generous portions, the pricing is very decent when it comes to eating out.  Be expected to pay anywhere between AUD8-14 for more selections.  I will be back to try some of the ramen for lunch one day when I am too lazy to cook.

Photo info: D700, f/2.8D 17-35mm.  Shot with long exposures to capture ambient lighting.  Hand-held, no flash. Tips: Hold your breath ;)

Will take more food porn next time,

Stout out.