Kokoro Bento, South Brisbane deliciousness

I discovered this new little Japanese place while hunting down the IGA in South Brisbane.

Now, by now, if you read my blog, you will know that I LOVE gyoza. So maaannn was I happy when I stumbled across this place and they do 4 delicious steamed gyoza for $3.50! They are already cooked too so you don't even have to wait for them. Convenient and delicious AND cheap!

They have a wide variation of fresh sushi rolls,  priced at $2.50 or $3.00 depending on the fill. The soft shell crab, and tempura prawn are my faves however their salmon avo, teriyaki chicken and surimi rolls are all just as good.

The tempura prawn udon noodle soup is also one of my faves and they do it very well. They have your usual selection of Japanese meals - noodles, soups,  curries and rice meals. All really reasonably priced - under $10.

The staff are lovely and efficient, you grab your own condiments, (yes the soy and wasabi is free) along with your choice of eating utensils and off you go. I haven't actually sat down to enjoy a meal here, I always get takeaway, however it looks nice and if I had time I would sit and stay but the burdens of work are forever dragging me away.

It has quickly become busy but with fresh food like this at great prices, I shouldn't really be surprised at all! My new local lunch spot :)

You can find it down an alley, 32 Cordelia Street, South Brisbane QLD 4101. Behind the convention centre. Hopefully they will get an online presence soon as they will continue to grow!

Wara Wara wasabi bomb

I thought this restaurant was Korean with a Japanese influence but it seems they advertise it the other way around…

I love the fit out of this place. You walk upstairs to find a big, open space with a huge screen playing Asian pop music. There are booths all down one side with funky artwork behind them. The rest of the space are your usual wooden chairs and tables that are popular in Asian restaurants.

Thought this was funny - no I didn't dare try it!

My friend and I popped in after work at a whim, I had seen the place and wanted to visit for a while. She ordered the seafood stir fry noodles and I ordered the tempura prawn udon noodle soup, with a side of Gyoza of course!

The gyoza was delicious! I would definitely go back just for that alone. I love my gyoza and this one definitely withstood the quality and taste test!

Due to a minor communication misunderstanding, I ended up with the vegetable udon instead of the prawn. However when I explained this to them they were very sweet and apologetic getting me the prawn udon in no time. The soup was yummy, your standard udon noodle soup.

My friend’s meal was huge! The sauce was a light soy and garlic and there was calamari, fish and other seafood throughout it. The only thing that she disliked was the pippi like shell fish, but each to their own and she ate everything but!

Cute place to check out just for the atmosphere.

Mitoki –Kangaroo Point

Nestled in the heart of Kangaroo Point, diagonally across from the Story Bridge Hotel, you will find Mitoki. A cute little open aired Japanese restaurant with iPads to order from. The staff are of course, all Japanese and as they all are, extremely polite and sweet.

To celebrate their first birthday Mitoki had 15 of their favourite Tapa’s for $5 a plate. High five for us! Here we were expecting to pay a fairly decent amount for a nice meal and they say $5.. we say 10 please!

We started with 3 plates of the grilled salmon sushi, our personal favourite. I love the stuff.
Of course I had to get the gyoza, which to be honest wasn’t as nice as it could have been. The edge of the pastry was a bit dry or hard and the meat wasn’t amazing.

This was followed by Octopus balls which hilariously J, who hadn’t tried Takoyaki before, decided to put all but the whole ball in her mouth… followed by her gagging and spitting it out with ‘there’s something in it!’ Of course there is something in it, it’s an octopus ball! It has octopus in it! She didn’t like the feeling of the tentacles against her tongue evidently.
We also had edamame (a staple) and beef carpaccio (which was very similar totataki) with an Asahi beer. Nom.

The cheap tapa's deal runs until the 27^th October and then the prices are back to normal.. So go there.. go there now!