It is another beautiful day for dining out in sunny Perth. It was my sister’s birthday and her Japanese cravings kicked in. After scouting around she decided on eating at Ichirin, a small suburban Izakaya in the southern suburb of Leeming.
It is not my first time here and I know that Ichirin serves pretty decent food for good value. Whether its a crunchy Karaage or Fresh Sashimi you crave for, Ichirin has it all. Do note though that if you are coming in for their Omakase Menu aka “Trust the Chef”, that you book at least 2 nights in advance. As we did not make it for the Omakase, dinner was going to be a simple Izakaya meal. To start was some skilfully plated sashimi before going to a favourite of mine, the Agedashi Tofu. Simply crisp on the outside and sitting in a bath of soy, radish and finely grated ginger. Lean and tasty.
Then we go on to Ichirin’s Sashimi Carpaccio. Consisting of thinly sliced fish cook, this dish was almost like a Ceviche in the sense that the salmon that came out look slightly cooked by the Citrus Yuzu and Miso mixture. Refreshing in every bite, one simply could not stop with one bite. Then we stopped having the raw stuff as my dad calls it and move on to the more conventional warm dishes. The usual suspects made their appearance such as the Chicken Karaage and Gyoza.
As simple as it seems, Ichirin’s execution of these classics were people-proof favourites. Both juicy and moist on the inside, it was hard to fault. But if I had to pick the winner, it would be the Gyoza as it skin was cooked spot on and the mince on the inside was sensationally seasoned. The Karaage on the other hand, despite packing a load of crunch lacked an essential bite of ginger. Still it was very good.
But my seafood odyssea has not ended yet. This time with a sensational plate of octopus. At this point we did not expect the meal to get better only to be surprised by a melt in your mouth octopus. I looked on Ichirin’s website but could not find the name.
Not to be forgotten is the superb Teriyaki Beef Fillet. The marriage between a balanced Teriyaki sauce and a tender beef makes for heaven in mouth when paired with fluffy steamed rice. This was no different.
After finishing the night with some Matcha Ice Cream topped with Azuki (red beans), we were on our way home from Ichirin. A count of how many dishes we had, I had actually ordered about 9-10 dishes for the table with the crispy squid and tempura prawns not shown above. Was it too much? Definitely not as the Izakaya dining style consist of small plate in a social environment so you get more variety throughout the meal. The bill price at Ichirin? A very fair $170 with two bowls of ice cream and rice for a group of 4.
