Picky Piggies: May 2017

You might not have heard of Sasaki, but you may have heard of Cafe Cre Asion. That's right, Mr Sasaki is the owner of both, and Cre Asion is one of the most visited cafes in Sydney.

Sasaki serves Japanese home cooking in the traditional Japanese way. You almost feel like you are in Japan. The setting gives a home-like feeling (at least a Japanese home) through a simple and plain decor - a concept of 'simplicity'.

The restaurant is small - 5 small tables and a bench fit around 22 people. The dishes and the menu text are small too, the consistent theme is small and delicate, even if it's overdone to get the message across.

Prawns, Apple & Coriander $17

These crustaceans were sweet and tender, a refreshing starter to begin the evening.

Egg & Crab $11

Chawanmushi (steamed egg) is a favourite of our's when visiting a Japanese restaurant. This one was no different, the soft jelly-like egg had a hint of crab flavour and came with a generous amount of crab meat on top.

Takimono (braised dish) $10

The takimono of the day was octopus with potatoes topped with powered bonito. These little tentacles were braised until soft and tender, and went really well with the humble potatoes.

Mushroom, Egg & Cheese $21

We liked the creativity of this dish, the mushrooms were coated with a thin batter and fried until crunchy (almost like a vegetarian popcorn chicken). The mushrooms were bathing in cheesy Gruyere foam with a running egg yolk at the bottom for extra smoothness. An interesting dish for sure.

Beef, Red Wine, Miso & Potato $24

You can never say no to meat that just melts in your mouth, and this is the dish. The beef cheek was rich and the mash was buttery.

Rice, Chicken & Mushroom $11

This was probably the most humble dish of the night, the rice had absorbed the flavour of the mushroom and chicken.

Pork, Salt & Daikon $26

The pork was cooked inside a salty dough and the fatty part was charred, which gave it a smoky aroma. The meat tasted quite light, and a slice of daikon with a spoon of miso paste helped to lighten up this dish. An interesting way of cooking the pork.

The dough was nice and charred and we were tempted to take a bite, however we didn't wish to get a salt overdose...

Apple, Rhubarb & Custard $7; Potato & Butter $5; Caramel & Nuts $6 (Left to Right)

All three desserts were bite-size, which was kind of consistent with the rest of the dishes. The apple, rhubarb & custard almost felt like apple crumble in a tart shell. The ingredients worked out well together.

Even though it said on the menu 'Potato & Butter', what we got was actually sweet potato and adzuki bean. This dessert was made of two thin sheets of sweet potato with a small nob of adzuki bean in the centre. We felt it was rather simple and were a little disappointed.

We liked the presentation of this little dessert, it was quite adorable to look at. The sugar glazed nuts and caramel ganache were burgered inside this thin waffle shell, which reminded me of a Korean ice cream which also comes in a waffle shell.

At the end of our meal, Mr Piggy and I concluded the restaurant gave us an overall feel of 'fine dinning' in Japanese home cooking. Each dish was rather small in portion, which made it not very ideal for sharing, especially for more than two people.

Food: 6/10
Service: 7/10
Atmosphere: 6/10

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