Tonight I went out to dinner with my students to one of my favorite Japanese restaurants outside of Japan.

We had more than just sushi tonight, but I wanted the title to go along with a previous post that I wrote: Yanagi Sushi

After class this evening we headed off to Kyushu in Neutral Bay. I have eaten there quite a few times on previous visits to Australia. We had called earlier in the day to get a reservation, which is required as the restaurant quickly fills up in the evening. We were some of the first patrons to arrive and it didn’t take long for all the tables in the restaurant to fill up.

Kyushu is the third largest island in Japan and is in the south part of the country.

The meal started off with an appetizer of edamame. These are immature soybean pods that are cooked and finished with salt. This is a common way to start a Japanese meal.

Next to appear was a soft shell crab dish. The crab was very delicious.

We also had a mixed sashimi bowl. Here we have raw fish and oysters and also a type of sashimi called tataki which is lightly seared. I passed on the oysters, but really enjoyed the other pieces of fish, especially with a bit of wasabi.

Kyushu has some of the best teriyaki chicken that I have ever had. It is always a favorite when we eat there. I also insisted that we have some tonkatsu. It was delicious as always.

We also had several other dishes, including several types of sushi.

We ended the meal with some simple dessert. I had vanilla ice cream while some of my students had green tea ice cream. One of the unique things about Kyushu is that they serve the ice cream with corn flakes. I don’t remember seeing this anywhere else. I do like the nice crunch that they add.

We had a great meal and also a great time sharing stories. I am teaching an update course this week so have a few students that I have know for up to 6-8 years. A great evening to catch up outside of the classroom.

Do you have a favorite Japanese restaurant?

Steven

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