Are you like me and when you see the word “cafe” in an establishments name, you instantly think that it is a breakfast/lunch/grab a coffee venue? Cafe Ish do indeed serve breakfast and lunch, but don’t let the “cafe” in Cafe Ish deter you from having dinner here.
I had wanted to out Cafe Ish for a while and my visit was spurred by the need of a restaurant somewhere between the airport and city to take a couple of work colleagues for dinner before the need to drop them for their flight back home to Italy.
What better than a restaurant that offers a fusion of Japanese and Australian cuisines. I knew that they had crocodile and kangaroo on the menu, perfect for my two Italians.
There were five of us dining all up and we were early for our 6pm booking, the kitchen does not open up again from lunch service until 6pm. Even though we were early we were greeted with open arms and invited to sit down at our table and enjoy a few drinks until the kitchen started up again. Drinks came as well as some edamame which was greatly appreciated.
Chef Josh and his partner Ai run this little establishment. It is a great size with the space offering an intimate feel for tables of two, a relaxed atmosphere for a larger group and some pavement tables as well. They are licensed with a small but killer sake selection, wines, beers and liquors.
Josh suggested that we start off with some oysters and we take him up on his suggestion. We are presented with a dozen plump creamy bivalve molluscs topped with confit finger lime and sake granita. I could of eaten the whole dozen myself, but was a good girl and shared willingly with my dining companions (pfft not willingly at all I wanted to scoff the lot). They accompanied the sake, which Ai had recommended from her home town, beautifully. I could quite easily head back just to binge on the oysters with that delightfully cold dry sake.
I ordered a selection of dishes to share and first up was the bar plate. This consisted of crocodile, lotus & nori fried sandwiches with curry salt, fried potato & feta mochi with Davidson plum sauce and a bowl of edamame with garlic, chilli, soy & ginger. The bar plate is aptly named as this trio is delightful to have with a cold beer or sake and the sauce over the edamame was finger licking good.
The skewer plate again offered an assortment for all to try. There were four types of skewers; free range kurabuta kakuni infused with cinnamon, myrtle, soy, mirin & sake, grass feed Mirragong waygu with fresh Tasmania wasabi & soy, crocodile tail panko crumbed with Japanese curry sauce and lastly tofu, shitake mushrooms & spring onions with wattle seed teriyaki and lemon wedges.
The stand out favourite for me on the skewer plate was the kurabuta pork, moist and flavoursome with a nice fat layer. Unfortunately I found the waygu slightly tough and chewy. I didn’t get to try the crocodile tail but was advised that they were excellent.
I wanted to order kangaroo for our Italian visitors to try. My option for kangaroo was yaki udon of kangaroo loin, red peppers, bok choy, bunya nuts & soy and the guys seemed to enjoy their first taste of kangaroo.
Still feeling a little hungry we decided to order one more dish. I had heard rave reviews about Josh’s soft shell crab omelette, so it was a no brainer on what to order. Kara age crab omelette with garlic, chilli, soy, ginger dressing, avocado & shallots. A gorgeous light crepe like omelette filled with crisp soft shell crab, shallot and avocado served with a slice of lime and topped with watercress. Oh yes, I now understand why this is a Cafe Ish favourite, but it is to be no more as from what I understand Josh is taking this item off the menu.
Amendment to the above: Josh is a prankster and the omelette is staying – breath a sigh of relief everyone (see Josh’s comments).
All in all my dining experience at Cafe Ish was a winner. The use of beautiful Australian produce to create clever Japanese/Australian infused dishes. Great sake and from what I have been told some pretty good coffee as well, will be back to try that one day.
Sara xxx
Food looks delicious, fine dining standards?
heya,
heheh, the crab will never come off, one of my staff is leaving and asked me to post on twitter bout the crab…;)
was great meeting you specially for dinner.
Josh
The bar plate looks awesome, I absolutely loved those fried potato mochi when I went last time!
@josh – you scared me for a moment when I thought the soft shell crab omelette was coming off the menu!
I’m with you, whenever I see the word cafe I think: breakfast and light lunch. The food looks interesting, in a good kind of way. Glad that the Italians liked it.
You had me at fried sandwich. Good to see that Josh didn’t feature any artichokes that evening. lol
Those potato and fetta mochi are seriously addictive, and you must must try their wattle maccacino! I recommend both the hot and iced versions =D
Hi Three Cookies, the food is presented really well and is excellent in standard. In regard to fine dining (linen & silverware), it is more of a relaxed atmosphere.
Hello there Chef Josh, you bloody prankster you!! Was fantastic to meet you and Ai.
Hi Jacq, the mochi rock.
Hi Gaby, yep, cafe should not deter you from eating here for dinner.
Hi Helen, I don’t think I could ever eat artichoke at Cafe Ish, would be funny to see if Josh ever puts it on the menu as a joke. Those in the know would be giggling at those ordering.
Hi MD, I know, I know, I need to try the maccacino! Dank copious amounts of sake instead
Oh! oysters with Sake and Finger lime? that sounds delightfully refreshing.
Thank god the omelette isn’t coming off, I’m yet to try it!
Love Cafe Ish! I can’t resist a good soft shell crab dish too especially the omelette from Josh.