This week marked the closure of a cafe that I had worked at for the past couple of months. Hey unemployment. So last night, the now-jobless work gang decided to get together and spend what little tips money we had accumulated.
In just under 6 months, our cafe had made a grand total of $350 in tips....wow - _- I'd like to take a moment to thank anyone who decided to tip us more than the usual generous 5c...
We decided we would all have a night on the town and spend our earnings. There were 5 of us so decided to go somewhere were were could share dishes. We went with Izakaya Chuji.
Now I apologise in advance for how poor the photo quality is. The ol' trusty iPhone isn't so good at taking pictures in the dark...
Inside, this place was buzzing. The restaurant is quite narrow and long, however it didn't feel like we were squished or crowded. We had luckily booked a table and were seated right away.
At the end of the corridor sat a nice little sushi and sashimi station, where a happy little sushi man was working.
The menu was about 7 pages long, and there being 5 of us meant we chose a couple of different dishes each to share.
The first dish we chose was the takoyaki (pancake balls with octopus meat). These are very popular in Japanese cuisine and are seen at most japanese cafes/restaurants.
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| Takoyaki (pancake balls with octopus)- 10 pieces for $10.80 |
Next we ordered a serve of the vegetable yaki soba noodles ($12.8)
Next came a serve of corn butter- which was practically corn and bacon cooked in a buttered sauce.
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| Corn butter ($8) |
Then came my favourite dish, the Age Gyoza. It was found on the specials board and it was deep fried prawn and vegetable dumplings (5 pieces for $7.50). It came with big dollop of that amazing Japanese mayonnaise.
Nothing beats a good chicken teriyaki. Every Japanese restaurant will have it on their menu, and you can be guaranteed every restaurant will do it differently. This chicken teriyaki was a winner.
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| Teriyaki chicken ($15) |
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| Tempura prawn has to be up there with the best tasting thing in the world |
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| Nasu dengaku (eggplant with miso topping)- ($9.80) |
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| Gyu kushi (grilled beef skewer with teriyaki sauce) $4 per piece. |
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| Edamame (boiled soy bean pods) $7 |
Ok I promise we are almost finished with dishes... Another we ordered was the small sushi selection ($20). I'm not a big fan of raw fish- and am a bit of a stubborn whimp and won't try them- so I just had some of the prawn sushi.
LAST but not least we ordered the shitake ebi hasamiage (mushrooms stuffed with prawns). Once again these goodies were deep fried....so you can't really go wrong.
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| Prawn stuffed mushrooms ($10.80) |
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| Props inside stairwell of Seamstress |
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| Ni hao ma |
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| So pretty, pity about my photo |
The cocktail menu was very extensive and we all chose something different.
I chose the "Grapefruit Julep". It had vodka, lime, honey, mint & pomegranate topped with fresh pink grapefruit juice and was served in a ballon of crushed ice ($14).
This one was called the "Champagne Daisy", raspberry syrup, cointreau, brandy, lemon juice & whites shaken and topped with champagne ($13).
This one was my favourite- "Sherry Cobbler". It was a beautiful blend of dry sherries, orange curacao, pineapple, lemon and orange wedges with a splash of sugar ($11).
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| I can't remember what this was...sorry |
So that was our Japanese and cocktail night out! I would love to head back to seamstress sometime to check out their dinner menu...
Izakaya Chuji
165 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne CBD
Seamstress
113 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne CBD
