Fresh Bites, Citi Centre Arcade

Today I picked up my #CookbookThursday twitter prize from Dymocks Adelaide. Thanks guys!



I'm totes going to get my CWA bake on this weekend.

More importantly, I thought I'd check out how Fresh Bites in the Citi Centre Arcade was kicking along. Their karaage chicken roll was almost the roll of my dreams... almost.



The roll of my dreams has the following qualities:
- crunchy yet chewy and moist roll
- lots of crisp, fresh veggies and herbs
- kewpie mayonnaise
- Crispy, crunchy but still juicy chicken.
- I'm talking flavour and texture here people!

What let this roll down was the chicken - while juicy and plentiful the karaage chicken was neither crispy nor crunchy. The chicken had obviously been sitting under lights for too long.

This is a roll worth returning for though - every other element was well executed.

Can anyone help me find the roll of my dreams?

Fresh Bites, Citi Centre Arcade

The food court at Centre Arcade is badly in need of a facelift. Some of those shop facades have been around since at least the 90s and many are probably older than I am. Think places like The King of Sandwich and Mangia Mangia. That said some new blood is slowly starting to seep in - the spud place has closed down and banh mi / Japanese eatery Fresh Bites has opened in its place.

A teriyaki chicken wing was my sneaky lunch entree. The meat was firm, juicy and flavoursome but had lost a little of sweet glazed char flavour that the exterior flaunted. Tasty, but not super value for nearly $2 bucks.



Banh mi / Japanese fusion rolls really makes sense me and the one from Fresh Bite bought together the best of both worlds - sticky sweet teriyaki chicken from Japan; the baguette style bread and crunchy fresh salad from Vietnam; a dollop of kewpie mayonnaise for extra richness; and fresh coriander, spring onion and chilli to provide some cut through.



Hopefully newcomers like Fresh Bites will provide the impetus and bring in the new stalls and customers needed to make renovations at Citi Centre a reality.

Dozo Sushi Expess - Katsu Pork Roll, Pirie St

Just a quick blog one this time. I went back to Dozo Sushi Express (see my other reviews here http://theofficeeater.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/dozo-sushi-express-pirie-street.html and here http://theofficeeater.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/dozo-sushi-express-pirie-st.html) to try the katsu pork roll.



I was hoping for some mega crunch and more thoughtful fillings but I was to be disappointed. Same roll, same tomato, same cucumber, and because the sauce penetrated every bite and soggy-ed up and overpowered the katsu - the pork tasted practically identical to the chicken I had last time.



These rolls should be excellent so I'll return to Dozo to try another but I feel as though I'm destined to be underwhelmed.

Dozo Sushi Express - Tempura Chicken Roll, Pirie Street

Last week I promised myself that I'd return to Dozo Sushi Express to try out a mysterious menu item - the Japanese sandwich. Ordering the the tempura chicken sandwich I hoped that I'd end up with some mega-crispy chicken on soft white bread - something to rival the oyster po' boys and southern fried chicken sandwiches of the United States. I didn't quite get that but I did end up with a pretty tasty roll.

Let me start with the most defining element - the sauce. Teriyaki sauce and Japanese mayonnaise were applied liberally and amalgamated to penetrate every mouthful with its rich, savoury creaminess. The bun (light, soft and white as hoped incidentally) barely stood up to it and would most likely have drowned if I weren't such a fast-eating guts. The sauce also turned the once crispy chicken soggy. Don't get me wrong - sauce soaked batter is delicious but didn't provide the crunch I had hoped for. The cucumber and (out-of-season and therefore a little mealy) tomato were seemingly added as an afterthought.



This was a good roll but it could have been - and I think wanted to be - so much more. Had the integrity of the crunchy chicken remained intact and had the other fillings been give some more thought and attention (some pickles to cut through the richness for example) this have been truly excellent roll. Instead, it was just another sandwich at $7.50 price point. That being said, Dozo offers some interesting fillings (like potato salad or katsu pork) that have piqued my curiosity so I'll no doubt return to test these.

Dozo Sushi Express, Pirie St

A conversation with a fellow twitterer (have we come to consensus on what we call people who tweet? Twitterers? Tweeters? Twits?) made me realise that Pirie St is a bit of a blind spot for me. To restore my eating vision I ventured off to Dozo Sushi Express for lunch.

Armed with the knowledge from a colleague that I should get a bento box and skip over the sushi I ordered the Japanese curry bento. Served with dumplings, potato salad, rice and pickles this was I promising looking lunch.



The easiest way to describe the Japanese chicken curry is to take you back to an Australian 1970's dinner party. In those days curry was virtually unknown to Australian diners and our attempts at cooking curry were clumsy - gritty and sickly sweet with a pinch of Keens Curry Powder more for colour than flavour (but no more than a pinch! For all we knew foreign spices could lead to... dancing), no chilli (dancing again presumably) and dotted with sultanas. The Japanese curry was just like this - except much, much better. No grittiness, the sweetness was handled with a deft touch, there certainly more flavour than a pinch of curry powder and more than a suggestion of heat, and no bloody sultanas. An excellent curry.



I love Japanese potato salad and this was a good one - rich, creamy and dotted with peas and corn. The crunchy yet creamy texture of the pickle was a pleasant surprise - I don't think I ever described a pickle as creamy before but this one definitely was. The miso soup was hot, salty and riddled with creamy tofu and seaweed.



The dumplings were a real disappointment. They were dry and cold and flavourless. The dough had the texture of cardboard and withered lump of meat inside had nothing to recommend it. There is no excuse to serve a dumpling this awful.

For 10 bucks a bento box at Dozo is a reasonable price for pretty tasty food - except for the awful, awful dumplings. The seating space is limited at Dozo so be prepared to either squish in, wait for seating or take your lunch away.

I noticed that Dozo has Japanese sandwiches on the menu. I have no idea what this would be but I'm curious enough that I'll be coming back to try these soon.

Tomodachi, Adelaide Central Markets

I really want to like Tomodachi - I truly do. And why wouldn't you? Tomodachi translates into English as 'friends'.



But I just don't like Tomodachi. Nor do I particularly dislike it. There is only one word that describes this eatery - bland... but perhaps that's the point (more on this later). However, Tomodachi always suckers me in with their massive cabinet of alluring faux food. I think there are examples of teriyaki chicken, tonkatsu, dumplings and various donburi in the photo below. 



I'm fascinated by how these dishes are preserved or styled or made or whatever they do (can any explain this to me?) And also why they do it - presumably a nice picture would do just as well. Anyway, this faux food acts as a gastronomic magnet (I think I just answered my own question) to my stomach. I went with the tempura prawns for lunch today (faux food close-up below). $9.50 for 4 massive prawns with tempura veggies, rice, miso soup and dipping sauce seemed like a massive bargain.



Unfortunately I was wrong-ish.  

The real dish looks extremely delicious, doesn't it?



Even close up it looks exceedingly tasty.



But it just wasn't it. It was bland, bland, bland, bland, bland. But I say again - perhaps this was the point.

Let's start with the bad. The batter on the (smaller than in the faux food cabinet of promise) prawns wasn't crispy or crunchy but more like a dagwood dog - without the flavour. The Japanese mash potato salad had no flavour whatsoever - no little carrot-y or onion-y or celery-y bits to give it character. The salad dressing had this unexpectedly weird fruitiness. The rice and miso soup were lukewarm - verging on cold. The wait was almost 10min.

Phew - enough of that... some good points now. .

The size of the meal was very generous (there were lots of crunch, savoury tempura veggies) - but do you really want to eat a lot of something that doesn't dance on the taste buds? The highlight of the meal was the special dipping sauce - it was rich and salty and sweet and bbq-y. And most importantly, the dipping sauce really uplifted the bland prawns. This is why I think the tempura prawns were left intentionally bland - the plain batter soaked up the deliciousness of the dipping sauce like a sponge. Is this the point or have I missed something?

But nothing NOTHING could save those horrible bloody potatoes.

Ajisen Ramen, Regent Arcade

I'm told tori karaage ramen doesn't exist in Japan. This seems a little weird to me. They have numerous iterations of fried chicken on one hand - and various types of ramen on the other hand. It seems like the most natural thing in the world to mash them together into a SHINING DISH OF GLORY - but apparently not. Apparently tori karaage ramen was invented to appease the western palate.

You learn something new everyday, don't you?

Whether this is true or not, Ajisen Ramen's tori karaage ramen is probably the best in the Adelaide.



Notice how the plump balls of chicken beckon with juicy promise? If you've read my previous post about Ajisen Ramen (where I wasn't happy with my practically dessicated chicken balls) you'll have some inkling on how pleased I was. See the fatty sheen of flavour floating on top of the broth? See the lightly braised cabbage? See the... eggy... egg? Heaven.

Tori karaage ramen may be a dishonorable western bastardisation of traditional Japanese cuisine but it'll always have a place near my heart - in my stomach, in fact. Check out Ajisen Ramen for Adelaide's tastiest version.   

Happy Bean, Southern Cross Arcade

I don't know how I missed the memo but today was apparently Tori Mayo Don Day.

I know this because when I ordered my Tori Mayo Don from Happy Bean so did the person in front of me... and the three people behind me.

Happy Bean is one of my regular Japanese lunching haunts (makimaki and ajisen ramen also regulars). The selection of donburi here is excellent and they're quick-ish getting their meals out (5 to 10min). If you go with one of their $5 specials (which I usually do) the price is most certainly right.



But today's cooler weather necessitated the purchase of a more warming and filling dish - Tori Mayo Don definitely fits the bill (plus it was Tori Mayo Don Day - or did I mention that already?)



Tori Mayo Don is my favourite meal on the menu - and I presume it's widely popular judging from the  people ordering it. A big bowl of japanese rice topped with grilled (probably teriyaki) chicken that's been smothered in kewpie mayonnaise and garlic chives and then either blow torched or grilled again (I can't see into the kitchen). The dish is stick-to-your-ribs warming, rich and flabby (but flabby is a sexy Ruebenseque way rather than flabby in a Shane Warne before he met Liz way). You also get some wilted spinach and some lightly boiled carrot and beansprouts. I wouldn't mind something pickled to cut through all the fat but with a cup of miso soup it's a darn good lunch.

The one thing that irks me about Happy Bean is their crockery and cutlery. Sometimes you get proper bowls and chopsticks - sometimes the throw away stuff - it's pretty hit and miss. But you'll see me here almost weekly for donburi. .

Ajisen Ramen, Regent Arcade

Ajisen Ramen is a Japanese owned chain of ramen restaurants. For a number of years, the Leigh St outlet has served up probably the best darn ramen in Adelaide. They’ve recently opened up a new store in Regent Arcade. I was keen to test how the new outlet stacked up against the old one.

Ramen is a Japanese noodle dish with its origins in Chinese cuisine. Noodles are served in a flavoured broth and often topped with pork, chicken, seafood and even bloody corn. Almost every area in Japan has its own variation of ramen, from the tonkotsu ramen of Kyūshū to the miso ramen of Hokkaidō. Ajisen offers around 20 different types of ramen.

To make my comparison, I ordered my regular Ajisen meal: fried squid tenticles, Tori Karaage (fried chicken) Ramen and a ramune (Japanese lemonade).


Crunchy and tender, the squid here was easily as good as the squid from Leigh St. For visit to flavour country, douse the squid with a squeeze of fresh lemon and dip into the thick and rich Japanese kewpie mayonnaise.

The ramen was equally good, except for one aspect...


...the karaage was massively overcooked. Everything else was great. The veggies were fresh and crisp (and there wasn't any corn). The seaweed was delicious. The egg was eggy. Sprinkled with fried garlic, the broth was easily as good as Leigh St, possibly better. But the whole dish was let down because the chicken was dry and chewy. I hasten to add that in the many times I have eat at Ajisen Ramen, this is the first time I have been disappointed.

No ramen lunch is complete without a ramune. The blue ramune is lemon-lime flavoured and slightly sweeter than Western lemonade. It comes in a bunch of different flavours. I've only seen strawberry and melon, but I'm told you can get it in flavours like kimchi, wasabi and curry. Ramune is well known for the design of its bottle, and the drama of its opening. To open the bottle, a plastic nub is used to push the sealing marble into the neck of the bottle, where it stays during drinking.


The colleague I dined with ordered a fried tofu bento box. I'm told the tofu and seaweed salad was delicious. He let me try once of the grilled shitake mushrooms, which were smoky and satisfyingly meaty.

In short, I love Ajisen. And despite the overcooked chicken, I'll be back.

Obun Chef, Cnr Pirie and King William St

I’ve been interested by Obun Chef for a while now because I walk past it on the way to work. It’s one of the newer places along King William St and I’ve been hoping that, like the obun themselves, Obun Chef’s slightly crusty exterior contained a delicious gooey centre. Yesterday, I sampled Obun Chef.


The seating in Obun Chef is sparse, but you’d probably be ok to sit and eat lunch in there. A number of people were milling about waiting for food. In my view, large numbers of people waiting can mean one of two things. Either the place is popular because it’s delicious, or place is poorly run. Obun Chef is probably the latter. The wait was long and the meal was average. They were doing a special on teriyaki chicken and dumplings, so I ordered those. The signage promised a deliciously glossy whole piece of thigh…


… but they didn’t deliver. The chicken they served was chewy little strips. The flavour was good (they were really generous with the pepper and ginger) but the texture just didn’t cut it.

And the dumplings had bloody corn in them!


Don’t get me wrong. I like corn . But it doesn’t belong in a dumpling. Plus the dumpling skin was a bit rubbery and the meat filling a bit bland. It was an average dumpling.

Because the name of the place is OBUN Chef, I thought I’d pick one up. I’ve had obun before (there is a place in the Adelaide the Adelaide Central Market that does really good obun – except for their ham, cheese and corn (grrrrrrr, corn) obun), so I’m a bit of a fan (a big enough fan that if obun had a radio song I’d sing along (something like: I like obun and I cannot lie; all you other brothers can’t deny; when a chef walks in with yellow round thing and flaunts it in your face you get hungry!), but not so big that I’d join an Obun fan club and ask it to by my house… (apparently someone wrote a letter like this to Lucy Lawless, star of TV’s Xena: Warrior Princess!)). I tried the coconut obun.


This was one of the more disappointing obun that I’ve had. Unlike the obun from the market, this one was almost cold and tasted stale.


Disappointing obun (maybe I just got a bad one), the tough chicken and the obscurely corn filled dumplings aside, I’d probably try Obun Chef again… the salad wrap looks fabulous and they offer pancakes with strawberry and avocado (and not corn).