Shira Nui – Sushi Bar
Welcome to the monthly dtraCorp post (that’s what it seems like any way), we went to Shira Nui last week for Em’s birthday as part of what has now become an annual tradition (Japanese on Em’s birthday). Shira Nui is a sushi bar in Glen Waverley, a south eastern suburb of Melbourne, it’s widely known as a Chinese hub, but this Japanese restaurant has certainly made a name for itself. I’m not really a foodie so don’t expect me to lay on the big terms to describe the food, but I do have pictures (it was Em’s birthday so that’s my excuse) of all the dishes and can remember how most of them tasted. We had heard about omakase which is when you eat sushi with no set menu (well, probably the chef has a set menu in his head), and you sit there and wait for the chef to serve you the dishes. So we sat at the counter and waited to be served, the sushi comes out thick and fast, everyone getting the omakase gets the same stuff so you can get a preview of what you’re going to get if you so wish. Some of the sushi came with a squeeze of lemon (the chef did it, we weren’t given any) which I thought was a really good touch, I don’t think I’ve ever had that before and was thinking it would be on all the sushi or at least all the fish sushi, alas, it was not to be.
Pickled Starter, nothing special about this one, a little bit of fried pork under the pickled stuff.
Cod (or cuttlefish), the chef did an awesome Japanese accent (he is Japanese after all) so I couldn't tell whether he was saying cod fish, or cuttlefish (it wasn't chewy as I would expect cuttlefish to be that's why I lean towards cod), in any event, super smooth and tender, and with a splash of lemon, c'est magnifique!
Salmon, seared on one side with a blow torch (cooked sushi!), with a splash of lemon which I think is a great touch, yum!
Pike, again seared with a blow torch on one side, this one eat with soy sauce.
Barbecue Beef, so tender and soft, really yummy.
Clam is a bit chewy it turns out, pretty good.
Tuna Steak, seared on one side again, soft and tender as expected, yum.
Ocean Trout, still can't tell the difference between this and salmon, so yum!
Kingfish Baby, in the minority as uncooked sushi, yum.
Oyster, this one we thought was a bit rich, had a creamy sauce which I thought was a bit salty, the oyster was perfect though.
Sea Urchin, I think it was frozen or certainly chilled, has such a strange texture, I'm not a big fan of sea urchin.
Mango Parfait, tropical iced cream and fruit, I couldn't taste any mango, it had cheesecake in it, I'm still not 100% sure we got the dessert we ordered, but they did ask us if we ordered the dessert special, maybe I misheard what the special was.
mmmm yum! (most anyway) not sure about the sea urchin either.. it looks kinda weird. 🙂 Are you hooked on Japanese now?
lol, yeah totally, just had udon again tonight 😀 I want to learn how to make udon doesn’t seem that hard.