Koume Japanese House, Military Road, Neutral Bay

Koume Japanese House, Military Road, Neutral Bay
Wednesday 20 December, 2006

After a quick drink at The Oaks we walked across to Kyushu for some takeaway - they didn't look too busy but every second table had a 'reserved' sign and the wait for takeaway was upwards of 40 minutes. No thanks! So, we walked back past The Oaks, crossed Military Road and walked into Koume Japanese House.

What a frantic little place! They were quite full and the dining space is small & cramped so we all squashed in and asked for menus. The hostess looked and sounded frazzled - she rushed in and out of the kitchen, back and forth between tables, to the register - it was hilarious to watch - but actually getting her to focus and take our order was a challenge.

We ordered beef maki (the rolled beef with vegetables,) 2 x beef teriyaki, tempura vegetables, salmon & avocado sushi, a large sushi & sashimi and japanese rice. Once we shared our order I couldn't wait to leave - it felt a little claustrophobic inside and watching our hostess at work was exhausting.

The best thing about being a local is that we walked to one of our dinner buddies' homes for a pre-dinner drink before returning to collect our meal - it looked like an enormous amount of food however between the 5 of us we polished it all off with only rice to spare.

The beef maki was good but not a patch on the pork maki you can order at Kyushu - it was served as a larger roll that unraveled as your transferred it from the takeaway container to your plate. The tempura was OK - I had a large piece of broccoli covered in batter but it hadn't retained it's crispness. The beef teriyaki was lovely with rice and the sushi was good.

There are so many small restaurants along that strip of Military Road and I am ashamed to say I haven't tried many of them. My mission over the next few months is to sample as many of the local offerings as possible...stay tuned!

Koume Japanese House - 8/81 Military Road, Neutral Bay - (02) 9908 4280