Sushi Salon, Military Rd, Neutral Bay

Sushi Salon, Military Rd, Neutral Bay

Thursday 26 April, 2007

Tonight I was having drinks with some old school buddies at The Oaks. We started off in the front bar - nineteenthirtysix which is designed to have a comfortable 1936 feel. After a short while we were getting peck-ish so tossed up where to eat. Stay at The Oaks or wander across the road?

We walked across Military Rd to Koume Japanese House. There were only 2 tables occupied and the flooring was noticeably wet underneath. We sat down at a table near the rear before the smell of wet carpet was overwhelming. They were flooded by the rain the previous night but tried to stay open nonetheless. It was too much for our party of 6 so we left.

Unsure of where to go we decided to keep walking until we stumbled across the next Japanese restaurant. It arrived sooner than we thought - just 3 or so doors up from Koume is a new Japanese place called Sushi Salon. Entering via the sliding door you are confronted with a large dining space with wooden floor boards and minimal Japanese themed art work. At the rear of the restaurant is a sushi bar that was full so we all sat down at one of the tables.

They must have opened recently as the staff were wearing hand written names badges and there was a lack of attentiveness with their service. The food, however was fantastic. The menu was laughable with entrees numbered from 1 - 15 then the numbers jumped to 101 - 135 then back to 16. It was all over the place. We started with a selection of entrees to share:

- Vegetable tempura - lightly battered vegetables e.g. eggplant, zucchini, pumpkin

- Negimaki - rolled beef with shallots

Following these starters we all chose our own main meals. This was a really difficult decision as everything sounded so great. But we did see the table in front go for the hot pot and it looked really, really good. I couldn't go past the beef and vegetable hot pot and neither could 2 of my dinner buddies. The others opted for a sushi platter and teriyaki chicken dish.

The hot pots arrived at the table steaming. They were a decent size and filled with beef, noodles and vegetables as well as a broth. The broth had a sweetness to it and was just delicious, kind of like miso soup with the beef and vegetables gave it a meatier flavour.

We were all impressed by the food.

Sushi Salon - 87 Military Rd, Neutral Bay