I think it’s safe to say that I love Japanese more than the average person. If I were to pick one dish I could happily eat meal after meal, it would be prawn and avocado sushi…throw in a side of edamame beans and miso soup and I would be in foodie heaven!
Perhaps the only person I know to rival my love for Japanese cuisine is my friend and food blogger, L. We had already scoured the menu, back to front, before even stepping foot in the place. And yes, we are that into it.
I arrived to a bit of an awkward scene – L sitting alone in a completely empty restaurant, with four staff members waiting attentively around the table. Looks like Itoshii doesn’t get much love during the week…but it should. It’s tucked away on the first level of the Morley Galleria, making it not the best spot for foot traffic on nights the centre isn’t open but does make parking very convenient and the service extremely quick for those with a mid-week booking.
The menu isn’t huge (which is a good thing for such an indecisive person like myself!) but I found a number of items that sounded interesting – hotate yaki for entree, ten pieces of the butterfly roll, miso soup and edamame beans.
The entrees came out and both L and I were taken by surprise at the exquisite presentation – everything perfectly cooked and still warm, yet given enough time and consideration put in to plating it all up. The hotate yaki comprised of four well-cooked scallops on a bed of avocado mixed with kiwi fruit (great combo!) and a sauce to pour over the top. Not the most delicate dish to eat but it tasted amazing; the unique mix of fresh avo and kiwi fruit complemented the delicate scallops really well.
On to the sushi and once again I was surprised (and slightly overwhelmed) by the huge serving size – ten pieces could have fed an entire family! The butterfly roll had tempura prawn, crispy potato, green tobiko, cucumber, carrot, crabstick, egg omelette and sweet garlic and chilli sauce. I think the chef deserves a round of applause just for managing to fit all of those ingredients into a single sushi roll! While it was an interesting mix of flavours, I found the the sweet chilli sauce overpowering and ended up scraping it off in a bid to taste the other ingrediants. I probably wouldn’t order such a complex roll again, call me boring but I like my simple prawn and avo sushi too much.
Why? I like the daringness of the menu; mixing unique flavours and coming out with a winning combination like avo and kiwi to accompany the scallops. Plus the staff are super helpful and friendly!
Why not? Sometimes simple is better (my preference for sushi) but hey, with so many Japanese restaurants opening in Perth it would be a shame if they were all exactly the same.
On the side: The edamame beans weren’t listed on the menu as a side dish but we asked and they happily prepared a big bowl of the warm and salty green beans. These are a must try if you haven’t had them before!
Check out L’s blog ‘Lettuce Muncher‘ for her take on foodie places in and around Perth.
leave the grind behind 