Night out at Nobu Perth

I'm a bad foodie sometimes, you can't blame me. There are way to many places to try and with each new openings it makes things even harder. There are only so many restaurants you can try in a week and in a year and I'm always booked to the brim as it is. Not to mention, it's not really good for my waistline nor is it good for my poor poor wallet who is always so fat from receipts and not so much cash. So it's not really surprising that it has taken me... hm... well let us see.. opened in September 2011.. finally ventured in March 16th 2013... 1 year and 6 months to get myself to Nobu.

There are many reasons why I haven't been there until now. Even this booking was a hassle. LM booked this one month in advance and she thought it was all booked and everything, but Crown seemed to have not received the booking at all when she called up two weeks later. By that stage all the good dining times were gone and they told her 930pm was the earliest time. This was rather annoying considering it was their fault that the booking didn't go through properly.

Anyway, we decided to try our luck and go early to get a walk in place at the bar. This proved to be rather unsuccessful with seating for 4 being spaced out across the square bar. We should have expected that considering it was a Saturday night and this was Crown, one of the only places to drink, eat and go out on a Saturday night (oh and the only place to gamble).

The bar area at Nobu

We decided to try other restaurants - Bistro next door, Merrywell outside - all knocked back. So ended up sitting in one of the bar lounges in the casino instead and drunk a bottle of Sandalford shiraz, long island ice teas and assorted cocktails, then half walking around the casino - losing our money at the roulette table before making our way to the couches outside of Nobu for some much needed hydration with H2O (and a gin and tonic for LM).

When we finally got in we were seated at the edge of the room so I'm not really sure what the layout of the dining area of Nobu looks like, but I can tell you I really like their lamps. The brunch holding the light area is like a lantern on a tree, love it.

SEE the lamp is pretty funky...

Anyway, the room seems to curve around and our waitstaff got us the drinks menu and we decided on a large bottle of sake (cold) to share and a glass of umeshu (plum wine) for AL.

Sake - way too much and I think we chose the wrong one too... wasn't exactly smooth

One of the waitstaff explained to us how Nobu menu works. She explained that Nobu is Japanese with a twist in addition to having flavours of South American as well (this is seen through their tacos). The menu is divided into cold, hot, teppanyaki, yakimono and sushi and sashimi and usually served in that order, unless it is requested that it isn't. It is also made for tasting and sharing rather than having a dish to oneself.

Let me tell you in advance that Nobu is not cheap. Sharing does not make it cheap. You would also most likely require two dishes each and perhaps a little bit more if you are big eater to be full. Don't expect yourself to be stuffed, but rather satisfyingly filled, not bloated. So, because we went in a group of 4 we ordered 8 dishes in total. 

We asked the staff to get the sushi dishes out first because we were starved. It was 1000pm by the time the food came out and all we've had was alcohol. 

We ordered tempura prawns (the one furthest away from you) and Unagi with avocado (Eel with avocado). 

Sushi roll cut - tempura prawn (furthest away from you) and unagi with avocado

Tempura prawns were an absolute disappointment, especially at $15, it was so average and nothing spectacular about it, in fact I should add that the tempura was rather soggy, making me think as though the prawn were fried beforehand and reheated perhaps? A let down. Should go to Aisuru or Kuza instead. 

The Unagi with avocado on the other hand was delicious. The Unagi texture went so well with the creamy avocado and the bbq sauce on the unagi did not overpower the whole dish. Having said that though, I'm not sure if ordering sushi at Nobu is worth it. But if you didn't I can tell you would most likely go hungry.

The next dish to come out to us was the cold dishes - the tataki tuna with tosazu. This dish was a definite highlight of the evening for me. HOWEVER, I picked up the first piece and there hair on it! I was going to point it to the waitstaff - there was none to be seen on the floor and my cousin ended up flicking it off. BUT apart from that piece the tuna was fresh (perhaps a little too fresh with the piece of hair in it??) and the accompaniments, consisting of spring onion, garlic, ginger and grated carrot was beautiful. Although you probably didn't need to put any of it on your Tuna. The Tosazu sauce was also fantastic. An enjoyable dish and wished there was more of it.

Tuna Tataki with Tosazu

We also ordered some tacos - it's weird to see tacos at a predominantly Japanese menu (regardless of what the waitress told us)... Anyway, we thought that the tacos came in a pair, but this was not the case. It was one taco but minimum order of two tacos. We ended up ordering two wagyu tacos and two scallop tacos. 

Tacos - wagyu and scallops

The tacos were tiny, teensy little things. We shared so I had a bite of the wagyu and AL had a bite of the scallop then we swapped. For one biteful, the wagyu punches a lot of flavours and the scallops were rather refreshing and light on the palate. Lovely, but for the price not worth it at all.

After our one bite taco experience the next to come out was the wagyu tataki. The wagyu was quality, fatty but still meaty and combined with the carrot, spring onion and garlic this was pretty good. Whatever sauce was on there wasn't too bad either. 

Wagyu Tataki

The wagyu tataki was followed by the signature dish of Nobu (and one that every person that's been there has recommended that I must get and not miss out) was the black miso cod. The cod has that smoked smell and was the sweetened by the miso. It was buttery soft and just melted in your mouth. Gorgeous dish, but priced at $46 for the piece you see below.. hmmm....  Granted the cod was cooked with love for almost a good day, but still... Not to mention I got a piece of fish bone. Not my night I think. I realise that it is really hard to get fish bone completely out of the fish, but all that was playing in my head was if this was masterchef, the chef would be given so much crap! And anyway, it was $46 and it was Nobu, so I really expected perfection and no bones! 

Infamous black miso cod

Our next hot dish for the evening was the scallops with wasabi pepper. I didn't expect it to come out with a colour array of vegetables. The scallops were cooked to perfection. The wasabi pepper in the dish was very very faint, in fact AL couldn't make it out at all. It would have been better if there was that little wasabi kick at the end of it all. I found the dish very pleasant and the flavours nice (a little salty - again can be bias as my salt tastebuds are a little sensitive), but reminded me of mum's stir-frys. Enjoyable nonetheless.

Scallops with wasabi pepper

To mix it up a bit we got the pork belly miso caramel. The miso caramel sauce was beautiful, but the pork was a little overcooked and was drying out a bit. Not bad, but not as good as it could have been.

Pork belly with miso caramel

Overall, the food at Nobu isn't bad, but for the price you are paying I'm not sure if it is worth it. I would say however, the seafood dishes and the sashimi are probably one of the best in Perth. Fresh, juicy and filled with flavours. However, hair in the dish is a huge no! and of course the bone in their infamous black miso cod..

There was a lack of waitstaff attention and getting hold of one was hard, I'm not sure if this has anything to do with where we were sitting or the time we were eating. But one of the waiter not knowing much about their plum wines or sake (although he was running back and forth asking another person..new perhaps?) -training required.

The food did come out quickly after we ordered it, which was nice considering we were starving by 10pm. Oh on that note, try not to go there at that time, you may find it disappointing with the serving size and the price. Better when it is an earlier dinner.

Will I go back? Maybe, but perhaps only for sashimi and seafood dishes. I can tell you it won't be anytime soon.