Jizo - Addicted!

I have previously raved about the Original Teriyaki Chicken sushi at Jizo (twice, because once just wasn't obsessive enough) and most of my friends here know that I am addicted to the food at Jizo. I have since discovered several other divine, mouth-watering dishes that quickly became 'must-orders' every time we patronised Jizo (which is pretty much weekly and sometimes even twice a week!). The following is my dutiful report on my favourite Jizo items:

Karaage Chicken - Juicy, crispy, crunchy, deliciously tasty, succulent fried chicken pieces, which I think is even tastier when dipped in the Jizo mayonnaise salad dressing, even though it comes with plain mayonnaise. The problem is, I prefer the garlic dressing for the salad. Nevertheless, my desire for Karaage dipped in Jizo mayonnaise always supersedes my preference for the garlic dressing because having the Karaage without the Jizo mayonnaise dressing is a diminished experience, in my opinion.

Salmon, Avocado & Mango roll - This is one of the most refreshing, delicious, bright, clean tasting sushi that I have ever had. I don't even like raw salmon, normally, but this is an exception. I think it's the mild sweetness of the mango slices, coupled with the perfectly flavoured (and cooked), sourish sushi rice, that gives it its delightful fresh and bright quality. And, the light, creamy sauce dabbed on each piece rounds it all off with just a little richness. The combination of ingredients also make it beautifully colourful and pretty and I get a little happier just looking at it. Like bites of rainbow. Stellar.

Kushiage Tofu - Grilled (I think) tofu pieces with a tasty, sticky, caramelised coating of teriyaki or miso sauce. Smells heavenly and is mouth-watering-ly tasty. Yum yum!

Teriyaki Chicken with Curry - Bite-size, tender, teriyaki chicken pieces, accompanied with rich, thick, tasty Japanese curry. Hearty and so satisfying, especially if you're hungry.

Agedeshi Tofu - Tofu with light, crunchy coating, in nice, light, clean tasting soy and ginger sauce, topped with spring onions. The spring onions and the ginger in the sauce gives the dish a nice freshness and, combined with the sauce and the crunchy tofu, results in a delicious dish with a wonderful combination of textures and flavours.

Chicken Katsu with Curry - J's favourite. Can't go wrong with the curry and they know their way around the fryer at Jizo, so you don't get thin, hard pieces of overcooked chicken. You get, as you can see, a nice, juicy, thick piece of crumbed chicken breast.

Jizo's Original Teriyaki Chicken Sushi - I just had to put up another picture this because they're just so beautiful I could weep. I can't get enough of the Teriyaki Salmon sushi either. This is just about as close as you can get to perfection on earth. Glorious, exquisite, euphoric, and unrivalled....for  now.

Jizo Japanese Cafe & Bar

56 Princes Street

Dunedin

Sole Meunière

This post is for J.I., a very kind reader who, upon reading about my obsession with some of the food in the movie Julie and Julia in Critic (pg 33, or here), sent me his copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Thanks J.I.! Even though we still haven't tried anything from the definitive, preeminent cookbook (Boeuf Bourguignon is first on the list!), Sole Meunière should suffice as a tribute, temporarily. This was apparently the 'life changing' dish that Julia Child had in Paris that ignited her love for French food and cooking. And I can see why.

The Sole Meunière was wonderfully zesty and acidic and had a lovely, smooth, very subtle buttery flavour. It was not in the least bit sickeningly rich or greasy, as one might reasonably expect in dish with this amount of butter. The edges of the sole were nice and crispy and each bite of delicate, tangy sauce coated sole flesh melted in my mouth with an immediate rush of clean, slightly tart but still rich, full, flavours. Bliss! It's one of those dishes that does not immediately 'knock your socks off', but tastes better and better with each mouthful. Towards the end, in butter induced euphoria, I almost believed that it was the best fish that I had ever tasted. I can't wait to make this again. 

We, naughtily, did not use Julia Child's Brown Butter recipe because we couldn't be bothered clarifying the butter, so we used this recipe instead. Below is my simplified version, of an already very simple recipe:

Sole Meunière

Ingredients:

4 sole filets (6 - 8 ounces)

4 tablespoons butter (apprx 56g)

1/4 cup of dry white wine (Sauvignon Blanc)

juice from half of one lemon

flour to dust fish (1/4 cup)

1 teaspoon fresh minced parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat a large saute pan on a high setting, while the pan is heating season the flour with salt and pepper. 
2. Dust the sole with the seasoned flour. 
3. Add two tablespoons (28g) of butter to the saute pan and melt until slightly bubbly.
4. Add the sole filets to the saute pan making sure you do not over crowd the pan, or they won't brown. 
5. Fry each side until golden, then remove from pan.
6. Add the remaining butter and continue to cook until the butter begins to turn brown slightly. 
7. Once the butter begins to turn brown quickly add the white wine, lemon juice and parsley (you may premix the white wine, lemon juice and parsley so that it is ready when the butter browns).
8. Pour the butter sauce over the sole and serve.

The Palms $10 Lunch Menu

Critic Issue 21 - Food Column

Pumpkin Risotto

I have mixed feelings about The Palms Restaurant. Over the years, I’ve had several really good dishes but also several ‘so-so’ meals there. Still, The Palms has stayed on my ‘good’ list. So, when I heard about their $10 lunch menu, the prospect of having posh, cheap lunches was very appealing. My friends and I have lunched there twice and I have….mixed reviews.

Creme Brulee

Fish Cakes

At our first lunch, S had a delicious, elegant, beautifully balanced pumpkin risotto (it has a more elaborate description, but unfortunately, I neglected to record it) which she very generously shared with me because I was very disappointed with my order…and it was my birthday. You know you have a good friend if she’ll offer to swap half of her ‘something delicious’ for half of your ‘something bleh’. I, unluckily, ordered the ‘Fish and potato cakes infused with fennel, maryrose sauce and dressed greens’, which was altogether rather bland. We also indulged in an apricot (I think) crème brûlée with pistachio biscotti and a coconut and pineapple thing (the name escapes me, sorry!). The coconut and pineapple thing wasn’t bad but it was the crème brûlée that we had high hopes for because we once had a fantastic, luxuriously rich and smooth coffee crème brûlée here (for dinner). It (apricot crème brûlée) was pretty good, but not as luscious as that fabulous, coffee flavoured one.

Chicken Tortilla

Coconut and Pineapple Thing

Yesterday, on our second visit, I, thinking I couldn’t go wrong this time, ordered the ‘Rich tomato risotto, spicy chorizo and parmesan puff pastry twist’. I was wrong. I’ve had some amazing risotto in my time and this one was a little one dimensional in comparison. It was okay and wasn’t bland or anything like that but it didn’t have the depth of flavour that a risotto can have. S, two times lucky, had the ‘Chipotle braised chicken tortilla, cheese, capsicum, bean sprout salad and Greek yoghurt’, which was very, very good. The nicely sauced, succulent chicken pieces wrapped up in tortilla were not only incredibly tasty, but also beautifully presented. This time, I was not offered half of the ‘something delicious’!

Tomato Risotto

To be fair, I’m pretty sure I had higher expectations because it was The Palms, as opposed to any other normal restaurant in town with a $10 lunch menu. The portions were mid-sized, which is an understandable trade-off for the quality food and low price, and perfectly fine as an occasional treat. So you may be left wanting more if you only order a main, but that simply means you have room for some dessert after.

The Palms Restaurant

18 Queens Gardens

Dunedin

In Betweens

Critic Issue 20 - Food Column

The reality is that fantastic food places are rare and far in between, particularly in a small(ish) city like Dunedin. We are lucky enough to have a few restaurants that serve exceptionally good, sometimes even outstanding, food but the rest mostly just fall in the “not bad”, “okay” or the “sometimes some things are good” categories. These “in betweens” are essential to our gastronomic happiness. We need to be familiar with “not bads” and “okays” of the world to preserve an un-jaded palate and to be able to identify the “fantastics” when we encounter them.

This week’s column is a tribute to the “in between”. These are the dishes that I order most frequently when I dine at these establishments and I think they’re pretty good. At Thai Over (388 George St), I always order the ‘Vietnamese Fried Fish Steak’, which is battered fish fillets with stir fried tomatoes, red onion and mushrooms in a mild garlic, chilli and black pepper sauce, served on a hot plate. It is the tasty, mildly peppery sauce that coats the fish and mushrooms that does it for me, and I wish there was more of it so I wouldn’t have to rub my fish pieces on the bottom of the plate to soak up more sauce, but it’s still good. I also like the ‘Tom Yum’ and ‘Green Curry’ at Thai Over and the excellent, efficient service provided by a petite staff member who has now memorised my approximately fortnightly ‘Vietnamese Fried Fish Steak’ order.

At Korea House (450 George St), my favourites are the ‘Bibimbap’ or ‘Kimchi Pork’. I really enjoy the spiciness and the variety of textures and flavours that you get from the nine or ten different toppings that go on the ‘Bibimbap’. The ‘Kimchi Pork’ is just stir fried pork and kimchi, which doesn’t sound very fancy but is nice and tasty (and slightly spicy), if you like kimchi. As a general rule, the barbecue meat dishes are also good choices. Most of their mains come with nice little side dishes of kimchi, mung beans and cubed potatoes (I think). Instead of the cubed potatoes, they used to include a type of seaweed, which I quite liked, but alas, not anymore.

And finally, whenever I have a hankering for ‘Kimchi Fried Rice’, I go to Tokyo House (367 George St), where the dish is not overly dry and the kimchi and beef pieces are juicy and succulent. Tokyo House also serves relatively cheap, fresh sushi and decent teriyaki and curry dishes. The biggest (no pun intended) plus point for Tokyo House is that the meal portions are quite large and the prices are reasonable, which enhances its appeal for those of us with healthy appetites and limited budgets.

Gordon Ramsay's Crepes Suzette

So we were eating paella and watching two French restaurants face off on F Word. When the dessert course came up, Gordon demonstrated how to make Crepes Suzette. I think, before the 30 second clip was even over, S was already on her laptop asking Google for the recipe. And, as soon as the show ended, S hopped off the couch and announced that we were making Crepes Suzette, "NOW"! I did not protest.

I, always her humble assistant, was put in charge of segmenting the oranges - which seemed daunting to begin with but was actually incredibly easy. When the job was completed, the segments looked as though they were quite professionally done, even if I do say so myself. After everything was put together, we decided to go one step further and got the blow torch out. We thought it would be a good idea to dust the oranges with sugar and caramelise (is that the right term?) them with the torch - hence the burnt bits in the pictures. It didn't really turn out exactly the way we wanted it to (think thin crème brûlée shell, S suspects that we should have used caster rather than icing sugar), but there were still tiny bits of caramelised sugar and it still tasted great.

Wonderfully soft, light crepes scattered with lovely juicy, citrusy sweet, sauce soaked orange segments, with faintly crisp edges. Absolutely mouth watering-ly, delicious.

Chili, Garlic & Prawn Vermicelli

NB: I recently edited this post/recipe (originally posted 28th October 2009) for a Critic article and am re-posting it because this version is cleaner. Plus this is one of my absolute favourite dishes, so I'm sharing it, again!

This is the dish that I am most proud of, even though I am not sure that I have the right to be proud of something that isn’t an original idea. I watched Jamie Oliver make something like it on TV once so I just followed the basic rules and added/changed whatever I felt like. Also, it isn’t a particularly unusual or novel dish. It is, however, absolutely delicious and that is why it is my favourite thing to make whenever I feel the urge to impress friends or family. Everyone I've ever made this for has loved it and has asked me to make it for them again.

I just love rich, nutty taste that you get when you bite into lovely golden brown slices of sautéed garlic. Combine that with tasty, springy grilled prawns, the zing of chilli flakes and the mellow, woody taste of shaved parmesan, and you have yourself a winner! Who cares about garlic breath when something tastes this amazing? Plus, as with everything else I cook, it is incredibly easy to throw together - so easy that I always keep a bag of frozen prawns in the freezer and a bottle of anchovies in the drawer just in case I feel the need to whip this up. Try it.

Chilli, Garlic Prawn & Vermicelli

Ingredients:

Prawns

Anchovies (80g, bottled in olive oil)

Garlic (Thinly sliced. Lots. There's no such thing as too much.)

Italian Herbs

Chili Flakes

Vermicelli (or any pasta of your choice, IMO it goes best with vermicelli)

Olive Oil and Salt

Parmesan (shaved)

Method:

1. Pat dry prawns and marinate in minced garlic (mince some of the slices), salt and olive oil to coat. Mix well.
2. Boil water with salt and oil in pot to cook pasta. Monitor as you cook.
3. ‘Grill’ prawns in hot dry pan until golden on each side. Prawns cook quite quickly, so be careful not to overcook them.
4. Remove cooked prawns from pan and reduce the heat to medium.
5. Pour in all the oil from the bottle of anchovies (it is important to use the oil from the anchovies), then when pan has cooled a little, add the anchovies too (if you add them immediately, the pan may still be too hot and they may burn). Add more olive oil if required.
6. Sauté anchovies for a while then toss in all the sliced garlic and sauté until soft and golden brown. Most of the anchovies will dissolve.
7. As soon as garlic slices start to brown, reduce heat to low. Add chilli flakes and Italian herbs and salt and mix well. You have to a bit more salt that you usually would, otherwise it will be bland.
8. Drain vermicelli, add to pan and toss well with other ingredients. Taste to see if it needs more salt. Add as necessary.
9. Serve topped with shaved parmesan.
10. Take one bite, widen your eyes and exclaim "OMG this is SO good!", then gobble it up and go for seconds.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Critic Issue 18

NB: If you're wondering what happened to issues 16-17, I had to use some of the material already posted on this blog and didn't want to repeat myself. I have/will post the new bits that were tacked on in those articles.

I’m a big fan of FoodWishes.com. Every recipe of Chef John’s that we’ve tried has turned out perfectly, and that is not something I can say about any of the current celebrity chefs. I’ve always wanted to have a typical ‘Southern’ meal, which to me, having been influenced by pop TV, equals fried chicken, cornbread and sweet potato pie. I have never been to the southern American states and have no idea whether any of this is actually ‘southern’, but regardless, this week's theme is (loosely) Southern food. Naturally we turned to our favourite authority on American food, and found a great ‘Buttermilk Fried Chicken’ recipe. The chicken turned out beautifully with a nice crispy, crunchy coating and deliciously tender, juicy, tasty flesh. It pays to invest in a proper thermometer to get the temperature of the oil right, but not critical if you make sure the oil is very hot before frying. We also made some corn bread, which was pretty good and really easy to make, and blanched green beans, for the full southern experience. All in all, it was a really good, satisfying meal, which is the ethos of Southern food (according to my TV).

I know (or hope) you're thinking, "Where are the mashed potatoes?!!". We contemplated making stock standard mashed potatoes or trying our friend E's Parsnip and Cauliflower puree recipe, and ended up doing the latter (it's the bed that the green beans are on, in the picture). It didn't turn out as 'mashed-potato-like' as I would have liked (maybe we added too much water because the damn thing wouldn't blend properly) but it was a little too airy/watery for my liking. It had a nice garlicky flavour, but there was just no bite to it. I might be tempted to try this again (will adhere strictly to the recipe if I do try it again) if I get a flash blender sometime in the future.

If you're going to try making the corn bread, click on the link to the original recipe and read the comments from people who have tried this recipe. Most people prefer it a little sweeter (so add a bit more sugar) and some added a can of corn. We forgot to add more sugar this time around so it wasn't as good as the first time we made it. Also, if you leave it in the oven for too long, it will dry out, so don't.

Corn Bread
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar (will taste better if you use a bit more sugar, see comments on original site)
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup shortening

Method
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the milk, eggs and shortening; beat for 1 minute. Pour into a greased 9-in. square baking pan. Bake at 220˚C for 20-25 minutes or until bread is golden brown and tests done.

On a separate occasion, I had an insane craving for Lemon Bars after watching an episode of Las Vegas, where the chef made lemon bars. I had never tasted them before but I knew I had to have them, so I found the easiest recipe online and….got D and S to make them. Even though they were not exactly like I imagined they would be (I thought they would be more custardy) they were still very good – soft, sweet, satisfying, lemony filling with a nice chewy crust. This recipe is a keeper.

Lemon Bars

Ingredients:

250 g sifted all-purpose flour

120 g confectioners' sugar

225 g butter, melted

4 eggs

400 g white sugar

3 g baking powder

30 g all-purpose flour

150 ml lemon juice

Method:

Preheat oven to 175˚C. Grease a 9x13 inch pan. In a medium bowl, stir together 2 cups flour and confectioners' sugar. Blend in the melted butter. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until golden. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light. Combine the sugar, baking powder and 1/4 cup of flour so there will be no flour lumps. Stir the sugar mixture into the eggs. Finally, stir in the lemon juice. Pour over the prepared crust and return to the oven. Bake for an additional 30 minutes or until bars are set. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars. Dust with icing sugar (optional).

Gordon Ramsay's Cookalong Christmas Paella

S and I both love watching Gordon Ramsay's F Word, Cookalong Live and Hell's Kitchen. He is entertaining, intense, doesn't mince words and best of all, his recipes are relatively straightforward. Between the two of us, we have tried quite a few of his recipes that have generally turned out well, but only managed to photograph a few. As luck would have it, one of the ones I photographed isn't one of his better recipes.

Maybe it was because we didn't use a 'paella/large enough frying pan'. Or maybe it was because we forgot to heat up the store bought vegetable stock before pouring it into the mix. Nevertheless, these oversights/omissions would have only addressed the moistness issue, not the taste. Gordon's Christmas Paella (as seen on Cookalong Live) wasn't inedible, but it was bland and rather wet and risotto-like. I didn't really mind that it wasn't as dry as a paella should be, but the lack of flavour was unacceptable and thoroughly disappointing.

In retrospect, the dubious use of vegetable stock, rather than fish or seafood stock, in the recipe should have set off warning bells. Dissatisfied, I looked up meat paella recipes on the same website and found exactly the two missing things that I thought should have been in the recipe - in the meat paella recipe, the meat is cooked in the pan first, then the oil from the meat is used to flavour the paella rice and chicken stock is used. Therefore, to maximise the flavours of the seafood, I think Gordon's recipe should have had us searing an oily fish like salmon or cod, skin side down, in the pan first (or whole prawns, etc) and using hot fish or seafood stock.

We will definitely be making (or at least trying to make) paella again, since we love it and are on the hunt for a perfect recipe, and maybe next time, if we're in the mood for seafood paella, we will try Gordon's recipe again with our modifications. Otherwise, we will be testing this Chicken and Chorizo Paella recipe.

Anyway, we sat down with our bowls of paella and watched this episode of the F Word. By the end of the show, S was ready to try another recipe of Gordon's (from the show) to make up for the disappointing paella. To be continued...

Banana Bread

[Edit 25 May 2011: Updated recipe for perfect results!]

This has been my absolute favourite Banana Bread (or cake) recipe since C first shared it with me (Thanks C!), about six years ago. Maybe I'm just biased but no other banana bread or cake that I've tried since has surpassed it. And if that isn't enough, it is also so ridiculously easy to make it's almost idiot-proof - a deciding factor for me when selecting recipes!

Fresh from the oven, this aromatic (most baked good smell wonderful and this is no exception), mildly banana flavoured Banana Bread is deliciously soft, chocolatey, warm and comforting. It freezes well too, so you can make a few loaves, freeze them and just pop a cold (defrosted) slice in the microwave for 20-30 seconds to recapture that ‘oven fresh’ goodness. The chocolate chips will melt into heavenly pockets of goo within the lovely, soft, warm, bread/cake. Say it with me - Mmmmmmm!

The original recipe may be found here. I haven't made changes but I have edited it for brevity. I have tweaked it very slightly to my liking - this tweaked version produces the perfect banana bread IMO.

Banana Bread

Wet Ingredients:

60 - 70g softened butter

2 eggs

2 very ripe bananas

2/3 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Combine the wet ingredients above in a bowl then squish the banana with a fork and mix the ingredients together until mushy. In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients below and mix well with a whisk.

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon all spice
1/2 cup chocolate chips (Nestle's dark chocolate bits is best!)

Then combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix until the ingredients are blended together. You may mix in a handful (1/2 cup) of chopped walnuts, pecans, dried cherries or apricots at this point if you prefer. Pour the mixture into greased loaf tins and bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Simon & Alison Holst's 100 Favourite 20 Minute Dishes Cookbook

Critic Issue 15 - Num Nums

When I happened upon Simon and Alison Holst’s ‘100 Favourite 20 Minute Dishes’ cookbook at D’s family home some months ago, I decided that it would be a good way to gain some insight on Kiwi home cooking as well as test the recipes of this Dunedin/Kiwi icon. Based solely on the appealingness of the pictures, we have tried six recipes, with varied results. The first, and the reason the cookbook came out of the cupboard in the first place, was the ‘Orange Syrup Cakes’. Fresh out of the oven, the cakes were nice, soft, warm and orangey but not so much after they’d been left to stand (for at least an hour, as instructed).

A few weeks later, we tackled two more recipes - both were relatively easy to make and I enjoyed the ‘Curried Cauliflower and Eggs’ so much that it has become a staple for me. The combination of cauliflower, eggs, potatoes and peas coated in mildly spicy, thick curry is great and it’s one of those tasty and hearty vegetable dishes in which you don’t miss the meat. Of course, each time I’ve made it since, I have modified the recipe to suit my laziness. As a result, the most recent attempt just wasn’t up to par, so I will have to go back to the original recipe.

The ‘Beef Stroganoff’ also turned out well, but we foolishly omitted an ingredient, which compromised the end result. There was a nice winey, beefy richness to the sauce but it was thin and lacked (for want of a better word) ‘punch’. That’s what we get for leaving out the sour cream, which would have given it a fuller flavour.

We did not have as much luck with the next three recipes. The ‘Stir-fried Chicken & Mushrooms’ recipe had, in my opinion, several superfluous ingredients, making it a little fussier than it needed to be. It turned out okay, but a week later, I managed to concoct a better version with far fewer ingredients and steps. The ‘Fish Battercakes’ were a complete and utter disaster. The batter was thick, hard and tasteless and those are the three things you don’t want in something battered and fried.

All the components of the ‘Black Forest Roll’ on the other hand, despite failing to turn into a roll, were delicious. The top layer of the cake stuck to the baking paper, even though we buttered and sugared the paper as instructed, and the cake cracked and all the filling oozed out the ends when we tried to roll it up. There was nothing to be done except scoop up the mess, dump it in a bowl, slap some extra filling on top and eat it all with a spoon. The undisputed star was the divine, luscious, sweet whipped rum cream filling (beat 1 cup of cream with ¼ cup icing sugar and 2 tablespoons of rum until thick). I’d recommend this as a cheat to enhance your desserts. There are about seven more recipes that I would like to try, and overall, it’s a pretty handy cookbook even though the instructions are a little more lengthy than I would prefer and the recipes aren’t as ‘quick and easy’ as I imagined 20-minute recipes would be.

Bruschetta Reprise with Garlic Prawns

About two months ago, I finally re-created the Garlic Prawns Bruschetta that I discovered at Oriole late last year. It was absolutely delicious, a hit with everyone, and therefore definitely worth all the slicing, seeding, dicing and sautéing. I've described them before, so I won't repeat myself. If you would like to try this, just incorporate the following steps into the Tomato Bruschetta recipe:

1. Finely slice garlic.
2. Season prawns with olive oil, salt and garlic.
3. Pan fry prawns and garlic slices in a hot, dry pan until golden brown.
4. Top each piece of tomato bruschetta with a prawn and a slice of sautéed garlic.
5. Immediately take a big bite, savour and commence synchronised gushing with friends and family.

Jitsu

I have to admit that I haven't been to The Jitsu in quite some time. These pictures were taken in February. Since then, I have been infatuated with Jizo and the infatuation is only wearing off now. I am at that point in the relationship where the rose tinted glasses have come off and I've discovered that there are some things that they don't do well. And, there are some things they don't do at all, like Unagi Don or Prawn Tempura.

Enter The Jitsu. Whenever we needed a sushi fix (and to whine and unwind), S and I used to go to The Jitsu and order a couple of sushi rolls, Agedeshi Tofu and Age or Yaki Gyoza. There's nothing like good food and great company to put me in the right mood again. It's my 'reset' button. If I am agitated and tense before (as I usually am at the end of a work week), I am mellow and relaxed after. It's a fail-safe formula.

I digress. These are the dishes that I like the best at The Jitsu:

Yaki Gyoza: These are the best that I've had in Dunedin. The bottom of the dumpling is crispy, which gives it a little extra bite, and the filling is juicy and delicious. I get lucky sometimes when I bite into them and there is (what looks like) a spoonful of broth or juice in the dumpling and I get to slurp up the juice before gobbling the rest of the dumpling. Yummy. The deep fried Age Gyoza is also good (crispier and just as tasty), but I prefer the pan fried and steamed Yaki Gyoza.

Agedeshi Tofu: It's tofu with a nice, fried, crunchy coating in a soy sauce mixture. I love it but there isn't much to say about it. Not the best that I've had but still pretty decent.

Unagi/Unaju Don: I don't know why they call it Unaju here when it is Unagi everywhere else. Regardless, I love the grilled eel on rice, especially when the soft, slightly chewy eel has been grilled well so that the edges are just a little bit crisp and the sweet glaze is caramelised. Like all fatty fish, this is delicious when warm, but not so much if you let it get cold, so wolf it.

Prawn Tempura Sushi: As I have mentioned numerous times, I love prawns, so of course, I love Tempura Prawns. What's not to love? Stick them in a a sushi roll? Great! These are particularly good if they are freshly made and served hot (i.e. the prawns have been fried to order). Some places make it with cold tempura prawns that have just been lying around, and it's usually a big disappointment, but I don't think that I've experienced that here.

Salmon Jitsu Plate: I've only had this once. I liked it but the glaze was a little too sugary sweet (as opposed to a more natural sweetness like the sweetness of honey or fruit) for me and picking out the bones from the salmon steak was a real pain in the butt. On the plus side, the mango salad was really tasty and although the dish is probably not an authentic or traditionally Japanese dish, at least it's something different.

Verdict: The Jitsu may not be the most authentic Japanese restaurant in town, but the food is decent and some dishes are, in my opinion, among the best in town. Hmm, now I feel like some Yaki Gyoza and Unagi Don.

Edit 29th June 2010: I may have to take this back. Ate at Jitsu last night and was very disappointed. The Yaki Gyoza, in particular, was nothing like what it used to be and the Unagi Don was just alright. I also tasted a little of D's Yakiniku Beef and was not impressed - meat wasn't charred enough and the sauce was too heavy and sweet and there was too much of it.

The Jitsu

133 Stuart Street

Dunedin

Pier 24, Again!

As I have previously confessed, after my first visit, I concocted a cunning, selfish plan to use S's birthday as an excuse for another indulgence at Pier 24. Even though I have made my birthday present to her sound purely selfish, I did in fact want her to share my latest, exciting dining discovery - so that we can enthuse and gush about the food together.

Starters

Roasted tomato & fennel puree soup, with monk fish and smoked prawns, mint & lemon mascarpone & parmesan crackers: S's comments - The soup had a smooth tomato flavour, with just a hint of fennel. Was pleasantly surprised at the flavour of fish and smoked prawns, which had good firm texture which made them nice to bite into.

Crisp, slow cooked pork belly pickled ginger & red cabbage slaw with toasted cashews, sweet tomato chilli jam: This was amazing! The pork was succulent, tender, juicy and bursting with flavour and the skin was crispy and savoury. I loved the way that the refreshing, acidic, sweetish-sourish pickled ginger and red cabbage slaw complemented the savoury unctuousness of the pork belly and just elevated the dish to another level. I have had cravings for this ever since! The only, not necessarily critical, thing that came to mind was that, though probably the best executed Western style pork belly that I've had, the skin was still a tiny bit sturdier than what would have made it perfect. I don't know how they do it, but the skin on good Chinese style roast pork back home is very light and crispy and is the highlight of the roast pork eating experience.

Mains

Braised Cadrona merino shank croquette, grilled double lamb cutlet, tomato braised fondant potato, caper & port jus: S's comments - Oh so yummy!!! Well cooked and so flavourful. The best (and most surprising) part of the dish was the lamb shank croquette, which I was aware of because I read it on the menu but totally forgot about until I cut into the croquette. The softest and juiciest lamb shanks I've ever tasted.

Roasted mahi-mahi fillet with crisp potato scales, sautéed green beans & asparagus with rocket aioli dressing: They didn't have mahi-mahi so it was actually kingfish and the potatoes were different too, but I can't recall what they were. This is what happens when you write about something you had two months ago. I really enjoyed this boldly flavoured fish. As soon as I tasted the savoury crusted fish, I felt that the flavours were very familiar but I didn't realise what it was until S pointed it out - it tasted like the southern Indian fried fish that we get back home when we have 'banana leaf rice'. When I order this again next time, I won't start with the pork belly because both dishes have intense flavours and are quite savoury. If I had started with something sweetish and more subtle like the 'prawns in wasabi mayonnaise', I would probably not have noticed the savouriness of the fish quite so much (I only 'noticed' the savouriness of the fish halfway through the dish).

[Edit 8th August 2010: The kingfish is now on the menu with the following description - Roasted King Fish fillet with masala spice dust, sautéed green beans & fennel crisp potato scales with horseradish & lemon cream sauce.]

Mixed leaf salad, parmesan & basil dressing: Loved the taste of the delicious, mellow basil dressing, interspersed with the occasional nutty, fuller flavour of the parmesan shards.

Desserts

Warm dark Belgian chocolate cake served with a tart plum puree, vanilla mascarpone: S's comments - MMmmmmmm :) The cake was so soft, moist, and chocolatey.

Bitter chocolate ganache tartlet, strawberries in burnt honey & raspberry syrup, vanilla bean ice cream: Oh. My. God. This was beyond divine. I don't know why I keep thinking of this but if a gold bar tasted like chocolate, this is what it should taste like. Luscious, silken smooth, soft but solid, decadently rich, seductively shiny and potently chocolate(y?) - this is one of those things that tastes so amazing your brain switches off, you go stupid for a while as you do nothing but savour it and groan with pleasure. A chocolate lover's kryptonite. I don't know what else I can say except, try it.

Verdict: The second visit surpassed the first so I am looking forward to a third visit. Hopefully I won't have to wait too long. I already have a few things in mind that I would like to order.

Pier 24
24 Esplanade
St Clair Beach
Dunedin

Mei Wah Takeaways

Critic Issue 14 - Num Nums

Soy Sauce Chicken

Everyone has a favourite takeaway shop, and mine is Mei Wah Takeaways. Since fish and chips and the like have been covered in the Review Issue (issue 9), I am going to focus on ‘the other stuff’. The two things that I order the most at Mei Wah are the ‘BBQ Pork and Tofu on rice’ and the ‘Soy Sauce Chicken on rice’. They taste great and you get quite a decent portion for $8.90. Now, if you are one of those people who are grossed out by the texture of tofu, do not order the BBQ Pork and Tofu – duh. The tofu used in this dish is the really soft, smooth (silken?) kind and of course, when stir fried with barbecue pork and vegetables, breaks up. The end product isn’t particularly pretty but is quite tasty. The barbecue pork pieces are sweet and tender and the sauce that everything is stir fried in is savoury, garlicky and slightly spicy. Perfect hearty, comfort food for a cold day. If you can’t stand tofu, you can simply order the ‘BBQ Pork and Vegetables’ instead.

BBQ Pork and Tofu

The ‘Soy Sauce Chicken’, which is my favourite Mei Wah dish, is absolutely delicious. The chicken is delectably tender and moist and very, very tasty. Most of the time, the actual flesh of the chicken is quite bland and it’s the sauce or the flavour from seasoning on the skin that makes a chicken dish taste good. Soy Sauce Chicken, however, is traditionally made by steeping the chicken in a soy sauce mixture for quite some time, which allows the flesh to absorb the flavours, making it extra tasty. I don’t know if that is how they make it at Mei Wah, but whatever the recipe is, it’s a good one.

Half Honey Chicken

The ‘Honey Chicken’ is another, quite spectacular Mei Wah speciality. Basically it is honey flavoured deep fried chicken and you can order half a chicken, the whole chicken, with or without rice. The caramel brown skin is beautifully thin, crispy and savoury, with a light honey coating to give it that mildly sweet, honey flavour. Biting into a piece and tasting the salty sweetness of the skin coupled with the juicy, mouth-watering chunks of chicken is bliss, particularly when you have that ‘fried chicken craving’. I prefer this to KFC when I need my fried chicken fix.

Chicken and Cashew Nuts

I also like the ‘Chicken and Cashew Nuts’ dish, which, besides the chicken, comes with loads of cashew nuts and vegetables. The serving is such that I always have to split it into two meals. I realise that I have written about mostly chicken dishes, but generally you can order the same type of ‘stir fry’ dish with lamb, beef or seafood. I also really appreciate that most of the stir fry dishes come with vegetables, because then I can be lazy and not worry about my vegetable intake for the day.

Finally, if you’re on a budget, you may be interested to know that Mei Wah, which is just a little over a block away from the St David lecture theatres, offers really cheap lunch specials such as, a variety of fried rice, meat and vegetable and sweet and sour dishes for only $5.90, seven days a week. I think that these would fill you up a bit more than fish and chips or burgers.

Mei Wah Takeaways

660 Great King Street

North Dunedin

Pier 24

Sorry this is long overdue. We visited Pier 24 at the end of March and it's now June. I shall endeavour to write within a couple of weeks of visiting a place from now on, but there are still a few places from months ago (and some from last year) that I haven't written about. Bear with me.

I fortuitously first heard about Pier 24 a week before D's birthday. We were at a pot luck at M and H's (the same potluck for which D made the Triple Choc Brownie) and M, who always makes it a point to tell me about any interesting dining experiences, mentioned that they recently dined at Pier 24 as a large group and it was great. H even said that "the steak was like beef flavoured butter". That settled it.

Ideally located at St Clair Beach, the glass panelled exterior walls of Pier 24 allow patrons to enjoy a view of the esplanade and the water, no matter where they are seated. The interior décor is sleek, modern and polished, as was the service and the food. We ordered the following:

Starters

Mille feuille of prawn in wasabi lemon mayonnaise, with avocado, roasted cherry tomato dressing wonton crisps: Clean tasting, subtle and refreshing. I enjoyed the creamy, faintly wasabi flavoured mayonnaise and the crispy wonton skins but wasn't blown away. This brings to mind something that I've had back home and I think perhaps it would be interesting to serve this mayonnaise with whole, extremely lightly battered, fried prawns, for little extra texture and flavour.

Hummus & green olive tapenade, crostini: D ordered this because he had something before we went to dinner and he wasn't very hungry. He said it was all right.

Mains

Char grilled beef fillet, confit portobello mushroom, purée potatoes with truffle oil, caramelised onion glaze, parmesan & pepper crisp: This was D's main and he was very happy with it. I deciphered this from his nodding and his "wow, that's pretty good," as he savoured the meal, and believe me, that's about the most that I ever get out of him when it comes to commenting about food. I had a bite of the beef and concurred that it was indeed very good.

Grilled venison medallions, roasted garlic butterbean mash, maple roasted pears, pickled ginger and sherry vinegar glaze: This was fantastic. The lovely, melt-in-your-mouth tender venison was perfect, as were the accompaniments. I loved, loved, loved the way the mellow sweetness of the roasted pears and pickled ginger melded with the natural savouriness of the venison and the smooth, subtle mash rounded off the glorious symphony of flavours that was going on in my mouth. There is nothing else to do except make uncouth guttural noises and go "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"!!!

Steamed spring greens, soy & sesame dressing and Roasted seasonal vegetables, honey mustard vinaigrette: Both were well done but I particularly liked the steamed spring greens with the soy and sesame dressing. The green beans were just barely steamed and so were still crunchy and had a raw freshness to them. I really enjoyed the soy and sesame dressing, which was light and faintly savoury, sourish and sweet, all at the same time. That, together with the nutty, smokiness of the sesames, turned plain ol' broccoli and green beans into something quite special.

Desserts

Chocolate fondant, orange poached pear, dark rum & berry coulis, vanilla bean ice cream: D is a chocolate fiend and will usually order the chocolate dessert, no matter how good other desserts sound. This was his. I thought it was good, but he is not a fan of desserts that are served warm.

Ginger & lemon tart, fresh strawberries with limoncello syrup: I am a fan of all things citrus. Although I was expecting a 'tart' to be more dense, not have quite so much height and not be at all creamy, I still liked it. The filling was subtly citrus-y sweet, smooth, creamy and cheesecake-like. If I had no expectations at all of what I had ordered, I would probably have been a little more enthusiastic about it.

Verdict: I was happy enough with the experience to use S's birthday (which was only two weeks after D's) as an excuse to return. My self-serving birthday present to her was a dinner at Pier 24, and it paid off. The meal we had on D's birthday was very good, but the meal we had on S's birthday was amazing. To be continued...

Pier 24

24 Esplanade

St Clair Beach

Dunedin