Steven ter Horst Chocolatier... Devouring Delicious Delectables

Just thought I'd throw out a plug for a small, but gorgeous eatery in Adelaide; Steven ter Horst Chocolatier at 221D Unley Road, Unley. We came here a while ago now, after a night out with some friends of ours that had recently returned from Japan. Actually, they had known the owner, Steven, from a previous line of work and had introduced us.

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The claim to fame are the hand-made 'Belgian' chocolates... and there's a wide enough selection of these to keep even the most ardent sweet-tooth happy. Including L-kun, who was mesmerised by all of the different types of chocolate. But it was late, so he only was allowed one. Parents can be so cruel.

Supposedly, all the chocolates are named after female figures in his life... don't ask me who the 'Hedgehog' was named after though (I suppose she knows who she is). But the one thing is that they all look absolutely delectable.  

As I mentioned, there's also a range of absolutely divine handmade desserts. Be prepared to do exercise in the morning. In the meantime, grab a bite to eat, and a lovely drink and relax amidst a very soothing (and mouth watering) ambience.

And there's a great selection of drinks to be had - and yes you can even buy from a range of different flavoured teas as well.

Unfortunately I only had my small pocket P&S camera, so the photos aren't that good (and I've avoided showing other people in the photos out of courtesy). I'll have to come back here again (and of course... if I'm there, it would be rude not to grab a chocolate or three). Be warned however, it's only a small cafe, and is very popular. It's advisable to book ahead on 8373 1330... especially in the evening.

Enjoy!

Restaurant Review - Sato

Sato

131 Melbourne Street

North Adelaide SA 5006

(08) 8267 3381

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Well today was supposed to be a night out eating Mexican, however, we ended up at an old haunt instead... Sato Japanese Restaurant on Melbourne Street, in North Adelaide. This is a small restaurant that's been around for a few years now (it was previously known as Shibata a few years ago), and we've been here quite a few times before. As I may have mentioned previously, it's not that easy to find good Japanese restaurants in Adelaide. This has been one of the better ones in the past...

One of the good things about the restaurant is that even though it's small, they have both Western and traditional Japanese sunken tables... the tables are on a raised platform and it's shoes off and tuck your legs down in the cavity provided. L-kun loves sitting at these tables as he can always play underneath (which is like a mini-adventure for him). Unfortunately as this was a "on opportunity" visit, we hadn't booked and could get only the western style table. L-kun was very disappointed.

Drinks are reasonably priced, and a modest selection. T-chan always goes for her favourite "lemon, lime and bitters". Unfortunately they only have a small choice of Japanese beers: Asahi Super Dry, Kirin and Sapporo. Still, the focus isn't on the drinks here.

Now T-chan and I had ordered the sushi and sashimi banquets, with some extra food for L-kun. First off there's some appetisers...

Then that's followed up shortly by some marinaded fish tsukudani, mussels and broccoli. Small, but tasty.

Meanwhile, someone was getting a little impatient. Chopsticks (hashi) make for convenient drumsticks. Not a good look overall, and just a little rude. L-kun stop it! Still, L-kun was for the most part was on his best behaviour. Speaking of children, Sato is pretty good with kids, and we've always felt welcomed there with our son.

The next thing up was a Wafu Sashimi Salad. Overall it was quite nice - however, T-chan found that the Tuna sashimi slices were just a little dodgey (not bad, just not very nice). For myself, I thought it was ok, and overall complemented the meal well. The salad is not included in the banquet.

Now the banquet also includes 2 gyouza and 2 yakitori each. The yakitori (grilled skewered marinated chicken) was a bit of a disappointment. The taste was quite nice, but the pieces of chicken were actually too large for me... no, that doesn't mean that I was full, just that because the meat was thick, it felt more like it was braised rather than grilled. The gyouza were ok, and L-kun loved them (in fact we ordered another serving just for him).

Now the sashimi plate was reasonable (noting that T-chan was not so keen again with the tuna selection).. though I have to say some of the meat slices were on the small side. The thing about sashimi is that it's ALL about the freshness and selection of fish. As the fish is raw, extra care needs to be taken to ensure freshness - and hence anything less than excellent quality detracts fairly quickly. I personally thought presentation could have been improved, but was ok.

The sushi was better in terms of taste, and there was sufficient variety there to keep us happy. Noting that each of these plates are meant for one person, you'll perhaps find that for a big meal you do need to order something else as well.

The one thing that we were wary about (from previous experience) was how promptly the last dish was going to be brought out. In the past, we've found that they can be a little slow in preparing the ice cream. L-kun was also starting to get a little concerned as well, asking where the ice cream was...

The ice cream arrived shortly after (but still too slow for us... after all, there's not much to prepare). Sorry - the photo is after we'd already got stuck into it. The ice cream is part of the banquet meal, however they charge a $1.50 surcharge if you want Green Tea flavoured ice cream instead of vanilla.

The 2 banquets, plus salad, extra gyouza, plus drinks (including, I hate to admit it, three beers) all came to about $110, but we used our entertainment card which saved us an extra $25. We came out from the meal feeling relatively full and satisfied (with reservations).  My overall impression was that it was a nice night out (ok the three beers could have helped that), however for the money, we were expecting better quality and service.


The one other annoying note was that we actually didn't get one dish that we had ordered... though I can't remember if we ended up paying for it or not. Still - it's not a good sign if orders are not fulfilled. Shame we didn't realise until after we had left.

Ben-chan:

Location : ****

Atmosphere : ****

Staff : **(*) [note - overall ok, but missing orders is a big no-no in my book]

Flavour : ***

Value : ***

Overall : ***

T-chan:

Location : ****(*)

Atmosphere : ****

Staff : **(*)

Flavour : **(*) [note - tuna sashimi a definite negative]

Value : ***

Overall : ***

Now I started out by saying that Sato was one of our usual places out for Japanese in Adelaide... and in hindsight as I write this I wonder if they haven't started slipping. Whilst the friendly atmosphere was still there, the quality in the food had definitely suffered since our last visit. I wonder if we just caught them on a bad night?

So whilst our review might not be that glowingly positive, I'd still recommend trying them out... but I do think restaurants need to always be trying hard to improve their quality and service. Or at the very least maintaining the quality and service. Even though we like this restaurant, we have to be honest with  how our meal went... and this night Sato left a bit to be desired.

Restaurant Review - Ajisen Ramen

Ajisen Ramen - Adelaide 23 Leigh Street

Adelaide SA 5000

Phone: (08) 8410 2088

Well as a change of pace, today we present a short restaurant review... Ajisen Ramen here in Adelaide (actually there are two stores here, but we've only been to the Leigh Street one). The restaurant is actually fairly well known not only in Japan, but all around the world. It started out in the Kumamoto region in Japan...and spread progressively from there.

This was our fist visit to the Leigh Street Ajisen Ramen... for lunchtime. Our first reaction was that whilst Leigh Street has a very nice feel to it, it's still a little out of the way. At least on the weekend... during the weekdays, it's most probably well situated for lunchtime business crowds. Also, street signage could be improved a lot - not very distinctive, and unless you know that it's there, you could easily walk past.

On entering the restaurant there was a muted "Irrashaimase"... which is an almost universal cry of welcoming that you hear in Japanese shops. In fact, it can be quite unnerving the first time you go to Japan and you walk into a shop to be almost assailed by a sudden eruption of "IRRASHAIMASEEEEEEE!".  Anyhow... today was rather quiet - and you could be excused for not noticing.

On to the food... I thought I'd try out the namesake - Ajisen Ramen noodles... which are Kumamoto-style ramen. My impression was that I was expecting a stronger taste - however Kumamoto-style ramen is supposed to be milder in flavour. It was nice... but it wasn't a revelation. Having said that... it's been ages since we've found decent ramen noodles in Adelaide. And sometimes you have to put some reality checks on your expectations. And in all honesty, neither myself nor T-chan are familiar with Kumamoto-style ramen.... so we can't claim that it is/isn't authentic. The noodles themselves are quite different to the ones you'll find say in Sapporo... these were almost spaghetti-like.

And there's one thing to know about eating Ramen... eat it noisily. That's right, noodles are one of those things that the Japanese have allowed themselves to drop all pretense of reserve over. They eat ramen with gusto. Supposedly, there's a very good reason for this. Ramen should be eaten very hot, and the slurping-sucking-gargling noise that is made as you suck noodles (and air) into your mouth all goes to cool down the noodles whilst maintaining the flavour. It also adds to the sensory delight of eating... 

I'd also ordered some yakitori... but was somewhat underwhelmed. The presentation was not bad with the small salad to the side... however, yakitori is not haute-cuisine... IMHO it's beer food, the sort of thing you'll see a salaryman eating of an evening... it's cheap, and it's supposed to be super oishii. This was ok, but the marinade was not particularly clear.... and unfortunately the chicken was slightly over-cooked.

Now here's a small truth... T-chan is (like many Japanese) a bit of a ramen-snob. By that, I mean that she's a ramen fanatic at home in Sapporo... and flatly refuses to eat Sapporo-style miso ramen outside of Sapporo. In fact, there's often family feuds in Sapporo about which shop in Sapporo makes the best ramen... and it can get ugly at times. Wars have started for less. So today, T-chan tried one of the Bento boxes instead. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before she buckles under the weight of her need for ramen... she's just not there yet.

The bento consisted of:

Gyouza (a Japanese variant of a chinese dish)

Yakitori (skewered grilled chicken...we didn't realise that when I ordered)

Karaage (fried chicken)

Salad and rice.

The food was reasonable, and whilst T-chan thought that it was ok for Australia, she was a little bit disappointed. Having said that, it's a case of comparing with what else is available. Ajisen Ramen generally gets very good reviews here (especially from Australians as compared to Japanese). 

So overall - our reactions were this... out of 5 (*) stars.

Ben-chan

Location :  **

Atmosphere : ** 

Staff : **

Flavour : ***

Value : ***

Overall : ***

T-chan

Location :  **

Atmosphere : ***

Staff : **

Flavour : *(*)

Value : *

Overall : **

T-chan is definitely the hardest marker of the two of us.

So I would say, give it a go. It's not going to be like going to Japan. In fact, at least the serving staff were not Japanese from what I saw... (apologies if you were). It may not be super oishii... but, if you're hanging out for a decent ramen in Adelaide, then it's worth it. They're open 7 days for lunch, and every day except Sunday for dinner. My recommendation would be try them for lunch first. The atmosphere's a little sparse for a nice dinner out, but for a good hearty bowl of ramen noodles for lunch it would be hard to beat in Adelaide. The Lunch we had (ramen + yakitori + bento + coke) came to around $32AUD... but if you have an Entertainment Book, you'll get 25% off on presentation of the coupon.

Let us know what you thought...

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