Japan City Eat Street, Chatswood

Myself and a few others made the inaugural trip to Japan City, located within the Chatswood Westfield, the day after it'd opened. This happened all the way back in March, but I've only recently uncovered the photos of our dinner, so you will have to forgive me if some of the details in this post is a little hazy. Still, I had fun eating there so I thought I'd share anyway!

Japan City is a cool concept - it's like a mini, Japanese-centric shopping centre within Westfield. It has its own food court or "Eat Street" on one side of the complex, and a retail section on the other side selling Japanese home wares, fashion, souvenirs etc. The "Eat Street" consists of numerous, distinct stations, which specialise in different types of food. For example, there was the Sushi Bar where we got our sashimi fix:

Quite pricey, but I do love the presentation, and everything was indisputably fresh. We also ordered a few types of nigiri:

Seared scallop nigiri (bottom) and what I think was Wagyu nigiri (top).

Prawn and salmon nigiri.

And then there was the Noodle Bar, which offers the usual suspects. As with everything else we ordered on the night, the two noodle dishes we ordered were shared between all of us. I think I've said this on many occasions, but I do love dining out with a large group of people. Unless they're stingy germ-o-phobes who won't let you steal bites off their plate.

Nabeyaki udon.

All our food came out quickly enough, considering that the restaurant had literally just opened. The Nabeyaki udon was heavy on the udon and light on everything else, lol. I could never see the point in ordering noodles at restaurants if the price is over $10 per serving, unless the noodles are handmade and the ingredients flown in from the Swiss Alps. Or something poncy like that. Otherwise, I'll make do with instant noodles at home. Not that I would ever voluntarily eat packet instant noodles, foul sodium-laden things they are. Okay, now I just sound like I'm PMS-ing. Moving on. The point is, if you're going to charge something hefty like $15-17 for a bowl of noodles, they better darn well be worth it. This wasn't. And neither was this:

Some other kind of noodle dish.

See what I mean by the details being a little hazy? I can't remember what the name of this noodle dish was, but I do remember the taste. It tasted...funny. I don't know if it was the leftover liquid from the preserved bamboo shoots (I'm guessing that's what those brown stick thingies are), but there was an almost chemical-like quality to the broth and noodles. We left most of it untouched.

Pork katsu with rice.

I think this pork katsu rice set usually comes with curry sauce, but my fellow diner preferred to eat it without the curry, hence the somewhat bare look to the dish. The pork was nice and tender, though, and the breaded crust very crunchy. I can't remember if this came from the noodle bar or the Teppanyaki House, which was where we ordered this teriyaki eel dish from:

Teriyaki eel.

Haha, is that a random mussel I see? The portion size was again on the smaller side, but the eel was well cooked and fatty, which is the way I like it. The teppanyaki beef, on the other hand, was a bit dry:

Teppanyaki beef.

My favourite from the night was the korokke, which for the uninitiated is like a creamier and richer version of the hash brown. The potato on the inside is mashed extensively, and then mixed with seasoning. There is usually some sort of filling in the middle, like meat, cheese, or vegetables. There were two kinds on offer (sorry, again the details escape me!), and we ordered four of each. They were served with a generous pile of sweet mayonnaise on the side. No skimping on portions here - these were huge! I won't tell you how many I had xD

Overall, I had a fun time dining at Japan City. Unless the quality of the food has improved drastically from when I went, I probably wouldn't go again, simply because you could get so much better Japanese food for cheaper prices elsewhere. Sorry, it was just too novel for me. And I'll stick with Ichiban Boshi for my next noodle fix.

Japan City Eat Street, Chatswood

Level 6, Shop 605

1 Anderson Street Chatswood, NSW 2067