Oshin Japanese Restaurant for AYCE Sukiyaki

Oshin Japanese Restaurant
http://www.oshincity.com.au/

One of the things Marc and I missed the most about travelling through Europe was Asian food, or more specifically, Japanese food. Sushi shops were seen around the place but generally overpriced and crap quality. There are pleasures in life that I wouldn't have trouble giving up but sushi and sashimi is not one of them.

Upon coming home, it should be no surprise then that Japanese restaurants featured heavily on my must-visits. I was in town for one reason or another a couple of weeks back and stayed to have dinner with Marc. Because I was being such a cheapskate after Europe (holiday sent me broke), he suggested some kind of fast food, but I had just got a job offer and felt like a reward. It's very typical of me to want to spend money before I even officially earnt any. In any case, I suggested Oshin.

The restaurant is located on the first floor of an old building. The entrance way is small but there's a huge lit up sign outside so there's no chance of missing it. The decor is simple and clean with a clear Japanese theme.

Complimentary miso soup

I did go there with sashimi in mind but the shabu shabu special caught me eye. The offer was for all you can eat hot pot for $25pp so we decided to go for that. There was the shabu shabu option, which as far as I know means it has a clear broth soup base, and also the sukiyaki option. We chose the latter.

Raw ingredients

Sukiyaki is a Japanese beef stew flavoured with sweet soy. At Oshin, the sweet soy base was brought out on a singular gas stove. We then had a plate of raw veggies, sliced beef, tofu and vermicelli to add to the stew. Because it was an all-you-can-eat deal, we were also provided a form to tick if we needed top ups of anything.

Sukiyaki bubbling away

What I liked most about this meal was the beef itself. The slices were very tender and I liked that they were fresh slices, rather than the frozen slices you get at some hot pot stores. Because they were cooked in the sweet soy stew, they tasted flavoursome and marinated and didn't require any extra dipping sauce.

Marc and I had extra serves of beef and veggies but we weren't too interested in the tofu. As the stew evaporated away in the cooking process, a waitress came around and topped it up with more broth. The only thing I minded is that I often like to have a bowl of soup from hot pot but in this case, it was too salty to sip as soup.

I did enjoy the sukiyaki experience at Oshin. It was completely filling and satisfying because it was all-you-can-eat and we walked out of there wobbling and bursting. I particularly liked the beef slices but because there were veggies in the mix, we managed to have a fairly well-rounded meal.