Kushi Izakaya is right on the money when it comes to lots of little sharing plates to have with drinks. Photo: Tenele Conway.
There’s one thing that really tickles my foodie sensibilities, and that’s lots of little plates with a few rounds of drinks, and it’s a dining format that Kushi Izakaya at the Capital Food Markets in Belconnen has absolutely nailed.
Of course, they didn’t reinvent the wheel; you can get share plates and drinks at dozens of venues across the city, but at Kushi, they’re bringing the Japanese izakaya tradition to life with a massive sake menu, Japanese beers on tap, some nice wines including the odd local wine, a fun little cocktail menu and share plates so good that you’ll be ordering a second round.
It’s a diverse and thoughtful offering that enticed me through the door on a Friday night, where I quickly found myself ordering little plate after little plate to wash down with an ice-cold Asahi.
The takoyaki balls topped with bonito are a delightful morsel. Photo: Martin Conway.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, it’s gotta be said, while this venue is cute as a button with its Japanese bunting and posters, it suffers slightly with the current chilly Canberra evenings.
The market’s spiel when they first opened was all about the eco-features of the architectural design being “naturally ventilated, ensuring a minimal carbon footprint”, but for nighttime dining, the effects of the minimal approach to heating, combined with Kushi’s proximity to the external doors, made for a cold dining experience.
I tell you this for one reason: you should absolutely go; the food is too good not to, but you should wear a few layers. Maybe close your eyes and pretend you’re in snowy Osaka. Although, in saying that, someone was dining in a sleeveless summer dress the night I visited, so perhaps I’m simply too soft for Canberra.
Rugged up in my winter coat, I pushed through, determined to be undeterred by the cold. It really wasn’t anything that a few beers couldn’t fix, and I stuck with the old faithful, Asahi.
Had I not been driving, I would have happily worked my way through the sake menu, which consists of more than 25 flavours, all decoded on a handy little explainer that breaks them down from sweet to dry and chilled to warm.
On the food front, we ordered a range of dishes to cover all the major food groups, including ‘fried things’, ‘food on sticks’, ‘meat cooked rare’, and the all-important ‘eggplant cooked till it no longer tastes like eggplant’ – the last being one of my all-time favourite categories of food.
It doesn’t get much better than pork on a stick, so we ordered two rounds. Photo: Martin Conway.
Impressively, everything arrived at the table one after the other with no delay, which meant we had a loaded table of food to fight over. There’s really nothing better than securing the crispiest piece of chicken through brute force.
With a good mix of flavours and textures on the table, we started with the beef tataki, Angus sirloin cooked sous vide to retain a deep, beefy flavour, then topped with raw onion, shallots and sesame seeds. It was more cooked through than the primarily seared versions you sometimes get, but the technique suited the dish beautifully.
Against my better judgment, we ordered takoyaki.
Too often, these fried octopus balls are so rubbery you could use them for a round of squash, but these were easily the best I’ve had. The crisp exterior gave way to a soft, almost molten centre with just the right amount of tender octopus hidden inside. Bonito flakes over the top added a deep savoury richness, and thankfully, there was no need to go searching for a racket.
The karaage chicken was overshadowed by some of the hero dishes but is a nice chaser for a beer. Photo: Martin Conway.
The karaage chicken looked golden and gorgeous, but needed a little more seasoning and oomph to leave an impression, and the final two dishes overshadowed it into obscurity.
The pork belly skewers, of which we ordered two rounds, were peak ‘thing on a stick’, something Canberrans know all too well with our annual meat-on-a-stick festival (aka, the National Multicultural Festival). These skewers consisted of thin ribbons of pork, almost like bacon, woven around a skewer and cooked at high heat. My advice is to eat this one as soon as it hits the table as the flavours are far better when piping hot.
The miso-glazed eggplant was the hero dish of the night. Photo: Martin Conway.
Then there was the miso-glazed eggplant.
Canberra has some very notable versions of this dish, and this one gives them all a run for their money. The eggplant flesh is cooked down really as far as it can go before it turns to liquid. It’s then cooked under a high heat until the sweet miso glaze caramelises into a stunning golden crust. It was so good that I had to draw an imaginary line down the centre of our second serve and then defend my territory.
By the final swig of beer and with the enthusiastic demolition of the eggplant, I had forgotten all about the cold, and looking around the room, no one else minded either. That’s the thing about izakayas. They’re built around communal dining, good company and rounds of food and drinks shared (or defended) across the table. Not even a Canberra cold snap can dampen that.
Kushi Izakaya is located at 15 Market Street, Belconnen. They’re open for lunch and dinner from Wednesday until Sunday, and for dinner only on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Original Article published by Tenele Conway on Region Canberra.
