Sasuke Japanese Takeaway

Nestled among other more vibrant, more populated and overall more enticing strip of eateries, I never
gave more than a second glance at Sasuke. Truthfully, ok not even a first glance. Its less-than-attractive
existence just didn't entice me like a usual Japanese restaurant would have.

I should have known from theory that the more simply non decorated places are the ones who serve
mind blowing, amazingly delicious food because they focus on this strength. And so they should, a
restaurant's main job is a food provider after all. Sure, a feast for the eyes is great but a better feast for
the tummy is greatest!

Teriyaki Chicken - $8.40

Seeing meals for less than $10 is hard to come by these days. Fortunately, coming to Sasuke makes that an easy task. Their menu features many dishes at yummy prices. Can't remember if takeaway prices are different to dining in prices, but they should sit pretty close if they weren't the same nonetheless.


This token Teriyaki Chicken meal features tender bite sized chicken thigh pieces liberally drenched in sweet teriyaki sauce, which spills over as a flavoursome rice marinade. Served with a side of edible garnishes of cucumber and finely shredded cabbage and carrot makes for a good lunch option.

Gyu Don - $9.40

Ginger makes me want to throw up and cry. But this very dislike of ginger made me choose the Gyu Don, laden with the yellow stuff. It smelt, tasted and even looked so strong of ginger. WHAT THE HELL is wrong with me? The 40 degree heatwave must have fried my brains.


But even though I think ginger is putrid, eating stuff cooked with it is quite alright. Eating the thing itself is not. Food cooked with it adopts some of its sweet, slightly spicy undertones and is actually quite...edible. This bowl looks more like stir-fried onion and ginger over rice with a garnish of beef, but actually reminds me of home.


The meat lacks the overall sweetness and juiciness I imagined it to have. Thinly sliced rump steak gets its flavour from a soy-based sauce, and coupled with mass amounts of onion and ginger, I am a bit psychotic to order this.

Katsu Curry - $9.40

Less than 24 hours later, I dragged my cousin back here to try some more of their cheap and cheerful offerings. After extensive, overboard, annoyingly indecisive perusal of the menu, she finally came to the conclusion of something like, "I still don't know what to get!" Apparently one time, her friends had ordered, paid, and were eating their meals while she was still deciding on what to eat.

I digress. But seriously, her deliberation over the menu is like she's having her last supper and is choosing her last meal on earth. Something like that.

So it is with considerable improvement that she chose the Katsu Curry within 15 minutes or so. A typical dish of Japanese curry is served with rice with your choice of crumbed chicken breast or fish. It's good the sauce doesn't flood the rice and chicken, allowing the chicken to retain its freshly fried crunch but its dryness permeates through.

It also comes with a side note stating *No extra sauce*, which I thought a bit restricting. But I'm cool with that, I wouldn't want more of that sour! tasting curry sauce anyway.

Raw Salmon Sushi (10 piece) - $9.50

After being advised I couldn't choose any beef dishes that day as they had somehow ran out of that meat, I reluctantly jumped over to their sushi options. I thought this was a safe choice as they seem to promote this choice with freshness and efficiency, only being freshly rolled to order.

Sadly, freshly rolled means thrown together quickly and a rushed compilation of a sushi roll. The ingredients fell apart easily at a touch, before getting anywhere remotely near your mouth. Yes the sushi rice was sticky, but only because it was mushy. The salmon didn't taste that fresh and seemed to have watery content within it, which spoils the whole mouthful really. Proportion wise, the abundance of rice to salmon content seemed to be imbalanced.

I sound so angry. And no, I'm not done yet with my gripe! I sound like someone who hasn't taken their anti depressants. But really, life's too short to waste calories on bad sushi. And plus, charging extra for including avocado in my sushi was a bit annoying, being a pretty standard ingredient in sushi. It's like buying a sandwich and needing to pay extra for the lettuce inside it.


BAH, I don't think I've had such a negative reaction before! I'm okay with whatever and won't make a fuss even if I saw a live bug still in my food (which actually happened at a restaurant I probably won't ever return to again. It's not so much the bug that bugged me, but rather the manager's indifferent attitude to, HELLO THERE'S A MOVING INSECT ON MY PLATE?! It's like it was my fault that I spotted the bug. Grrrrr!)

Raw Salmon Sushi

I usually see the glass half full, but this time, I have to say Sasuke's glass was less than half.


At least it looks nice?


But like the phrase that's been used to death by society (who don't necessarily follows), looks aren't everything. You have to taste them first ;) It's the inside that counts.
These insides fell apart. You can't EAT presentation per se.


...


I thought I had found a local Japanese place that could provide me with regular dinners and satisfy my urges for Japanese...(food). After the little sushi incident, I had second thoughts about giving Sasuke a second glance. Not to say it has completely thrown me off, everyone deserves a second (third in this case!) chance to redeem themselves. I do like the place, considering I went back for breakfast the day after the first time I visited!


Menu wise, they go beyond the usual Jap dishes but still within the Jap cuisine. Fried rice, soup dishes, stir fried dishes, ramen are all available at reasonable lunch prices that extends to dinner. The choice to upgrade to a bento box is available for an extra $3.50 is an attractive option, which gives you the main dish, rice, salad, seaweed salad, potato croquette, 1 vegetable spring roll, and either 1 inari (sweet bean curd pouch stuffed with sushi rice) or 2 sushi (however $2 extra). All these extra surcharges! They have a full page in their takeaway pamphlet dedicated to all the extra charges for condiments. Even soy sauce. Gripe.


It's good that the charges aren't hidden, all the options and separations are considerate but mind boggling. Those who want to alter their dishes and are intolerant of gluten and animal consumption are punished by having to pay extra money for requesting for dishes prepared to be gluten free or free of animal product. It's a nice gesture, but is tainted with the attached price tag!


Presentation food wise, good. Presentation shop wise, could do with a makeover. Limited seating probably makes takeaway a better option, since there's not much to look at inside or outside the restaurant, being pleasantly situated in and with large glass windows overlooking a very potholed carpark!


Portions are decent but if you're a big eater, you're not going to be full. I wasn't full.
We craved sashimi (FRESH sashimi) and got ready to drive to a different Japanese restaurant right after finishing Sasuke. Unfortunately 3pm is Perth restaurants' resting time and everywhere is usually dead.
I even left with my own souvenir of this place, casually thieved a spoon in my hand as I walked out. Accidentally.


(I gave it back though).


***
(08) 9445 7831


Mon - Thurs: 11.30am to 2.30pm & 5.00pm to 8.30pm
Fri: 11.30am to 9pm
Sat: 11.30am to 8.30pm
Closed on Sun and Public Holidays
*During Winter Months (Jun, Jul, Aug), Friday's Opening Hours are 11.30am to 8.30pm


***

Bbar Cafe

My first memories of this cafe are pretty much, "what the hell, it's a Medical Centre -___-"

Many thanks to Urbanspoon misleading me to a wrong address and many thanks to my bright self for
not thinking of looking across the road where a whole shopping plaza stood.

Originally on time, I was now 15 minutes late and was still driving up and down the same street like a
lost child, convinced that this place had closed down and been transformed to a Medical Centre.

So, so, so oblivious.

Still feeling like breakfast at a time way past lunch, it was good to see breakfast was still being served
until 2pm. Good news for early birds like me, whose day doesn't start until after 12pm. Call it lazy if you
must, while you drag yourself off the bed at 6am every morning :)

Zucchini & Pea Fritters, Smoked Salmon & Watercress Salad - $11.50

I started my day with Something light, that being a category in the menu and with this choice falling under that. And light and healthy it tasted indeed, with a green vegetable patty and all.
So not my typical order, because I usually judge people who eat salad.


The patty could have done with a bit more flavour, but it was a refreshing change to the usual items you see on breakfast menus. A generous inclusion of peas lines the fritters and makes for a good mouthful but I am more partial to the poppity pop sensation and sweeter flavour bursts accompanying corn fritters. And eating something yellow makes me feel better than eating something green.


Nevertheless, these were pretty ok but nothing too memorable. I'm a bit doubtful on just how watercress the watercress salad is, as it looks suspiciously like rocket instead.

Another angle

They say looking at green objects is meant to be good for you. So, sit and stare your guts out.
Much like what I'm doing at the moment as I am lacking inspiration with this annoying mind blank.

B Benedict with Smoked Salmon - $13.50

My piggy counterpart ordered a more standard breakfast dish, that being the B Benedict. This was a masterpiece stacked high with colourful layers of poached free-range eggs, smoked salmon, avocado, raw baby spinach and creamy liquid sunshine, fondly known as hollandaise, all atop circles of rye bagel.

Piggies who are pig lovers will be happy to see that the smoked salmon can be substituted with bacon or leg ham. This might have enhanced the whole dish's flavour by adding that extra saltiness, and made up for the hint of dryness in the bagel.

Hollandaise masterpiece - $Priceless

If you're wondering how the hollandaise tasted, I can't comment because...this happened.
And if you're wondering what happened to the hollandaise, which is probably more likely to be the case ... not much. There is no fascinating story behind this wild, vivid paint explosion on my canvas.


It's merely what you'd usually see on my plate after I'm done with it: piles of fat, crumbs of golden batter, splatters and smears of creamy sauces all left behind, painstakingly peeled, stripped off and cleaned of the original item of food. Picky or a health freak you think?


Nope. More a case of what you have to avoid when you're missing a gall bladder. Yeah it may defeat the purpose of ordering a dish like that, but I'll rather indulge in at least ONE (or two or three) delicious mouthfuls rather than ordering fat free salads for the rest of my life.


I must have left one heck of a good impression with this aftermath. This, is what I call art. And waiters and chefs must hate me for it.


...


Bbar Cafe operates on a very do it yourself style, with minimal reliance on staff. You find your own table, order and pay concurrently at the counter and obtain a table number. There is minimal interaction with staff, at least on my visit, but genuine service is still provided. Ambiance is a bit dull with no striking efforts made to liven up a cafe and decor is basic, but fanciness is just a bonus.


Their menu covers a variety of items, specialising more towards lunch item choices. Prices are fair and serving sizes are good representations of prices. What's tempting my taste buds the most are the availability of gourmet wood fired pizzas all throughout the day, and all the way til 9pm most nights. It's rare to find a local cafe in the suburbs that stays open for business for 13 hours straight!


Bbar, affectionately known to us Bieber Cafe, doesn't attract me as a young, screaming, crazy, off-my-head starstruck fan girl, although I may be converted after being exposed to more of their works and sample more of their items. You never know what sort of successes something/someone seemingly normal can achieve after all.