Nom, Darlinghurst

An invitation by a new found friend (Junji-san) to have Japanese food and sake cannot be turned down. The workplace must be left on time, and the gym gear can stay in the bag. The venue for the night is NOM.

A modest little shop which lets its cuisine do the talking

Tucked away in a little area just off Oxford Street lies Nom with it's red signboard shining brightly. If not for that, we would have easily missed it. Anyhow, Junji-san said he'll be late and to have a drink first. No need to tell me twice. :)

The narrow entrance way and a hungry missus

Stepping through the narrow doors, we were greeted warmly by the 2 ladies(I'm guessing mother and daughter) who worked there. we mentioned our bookings and were quickly ushered to our seats. Walking in, I couldn't help but notice bottles after bottles of Sake! My excitement started to grow!

SAKEEEEEEEEEE

Suntory penguin says "Kampai!"

 As an appetizer whilst waiting, we decided to get a couple of drinks and something to munch on. Now I haven't had a Sapporo since I was last in Japan so the first  drink had to be that. The missus decided to go for glass of hot sake. We then ordered the tempura okra to start with.

Okura Tempura

My first thoughts when this dish was served was "Wow!" It was evidently busy at around 7pm and the pair that worked that kitchen didn't let their standards drop. The okra was stacked nicely on a piece of parchment paper topped with some pretty leaf and a cone of daikon radish on the side. The batter had a nice light crunch to it and the Okra was cooked well.

Round 2 - Asahikiku Junmaiginjo

 With the first meal done and our drinks finished, it was time to start sampling the sake. We asked for a recommendation and the Asahikiku was served up hot. It was light yet complex in taste and had a hint of fruitiness to it. Nom allows you to also choose your own sake cup which I thought was pretty  cute. :)
Nom has a page full of different types of sake and it's on the cards for me to learn up on what the differences are. (Note to self - organize a sake tasting session with the gang)

By about this time, Junji-san arrived and the ordering began.

Mentai potato salad

The potato salad had a good balance of flavour. I could taste pepper with every bite but it wasn't overpowering in any way. It would have been nice if there were more fish roe :)
2nd carafe of hot sake was ordered.
 

Nikomi

 Next up was basically a beef stew dish called Nikomi containing konnyaku jelly and beef. It  was a simple homemade dish which I could see myself having more off. It was subtle in flavour and the beef was really tender.
3rd carafe of hot sake was ordered.

Karaage Chicken

I could smell the karaage chicken being cooked and when it was served, I wished we had ordered more! Deep fried perfectly, the crispy outer layer cracked with every bite. We savoured these by sipping on sake and nibbling away trying to make it last as long as possible.

Junji-san, a lemon slice and some sliced ox tongue

Junji-San explained that the Japanese version of Ox tongue is usually more tender when compared to the grilled Korean version. It had the consistency of a slice of ham and the accompaniment of lemon juice and pepper on the other side, this dish was a pleasure to eat.
4th carafe of hot sake was ordered.

Nom is a pocket rocket of an Izakaya restaurant. It has friendly staff and really good food. The range of sake is delicious and it's very obvious that the Obachan who cooks everything takes pride in what she serves to the patrons.
I'm coming back here again in the near future.
 

 

Nom
Address : 166 Riley Street, Darlinghurst NSW
Opening hours : Not listed, I suggest making reservations. 02 9332 1156
Google Maps

Bills, Darlinghurst

With 2 cafes in Sydney and 6 in Japan & London, one would expect the food and service at Bills to be nothing short of spectacular. Sadly it was not so....

usually, long queues = good food...

I began my Queens birthday long weekend with an outing to Bills on Saturday morning. We decided to try out the Darlinghurst cafe since that's where it all began. As I drove by and saw the queue, I was happy. Long queues usually meant good food :) So I quickly dropped the wifey and friend off to get a spot in line whilst I went off hunting for a car spot. Parking is painful in this area with most places being just 1hour free. 



Whilst staring through the window at other patrons eating with my face pressed against the glass (i jest), a delivery guy came by with about 4 boxes meat.  Noticing that it was from Vics Meat, I was excited, knowing that they bought quality stuff. Vics Meat is my go-to place for when barbeques are thrown. Visit it some time! :)

Anyhow, after about 30 minutes, we finally got a table inside.

Chic interior

Upon entering the cafe, we were greeted by a large communal table with artsy magazines, plants and 'fresh fruit' in the centre. The place looked good however the low ceilings only made everyone's chatter seem extra loud. We found ourselves raising our voices more than usual just to have a decent conversation.This is where it all started to go downhill...

After our coffees were ordered, we asked for a bottle of water and 3 glasses. When this was placed on our table, I had something that looked like a 3" long slimy beansprout root stuck to the side of the glass, half of it floating in my water. I'm usually not toooooo fussed about little things but this was quite gross, so I had it replaced. 

When the coffees arrived, I didn't bother taking any photos. No latte art, nice fern leaf , no hearts or cute bears, not even a blob of milk froth or anything that resembled the barristas pride in his work. It looked like he stirred it with a spoon!

Zucchini fritters, deep fried egg, haloumi, parsley salad, tahini yoghurt, pickles ($23.50!)

I planned to order the Zucchini fritters dish all along after recollecting a photo I saw from another blogger on Urbanspoon. I must say, she was a really good photographer.  :)

The 2 slices of  Haloumi had gone cold and rubbery, the deep fried egg was well...deep fried I guess, and rubbery as well. The pickles looked exactly like those that you would see at a Sushi Train outlet and I'm not sure if you can see it but, the parsley leaves I was given were really old and stringy. If you looked up any online dictionary, the word salad means "a dish of raw vegetables" I only had a vegetable (plural!) so how can it be a parsley salad! :P 

If I had to find a positive here, the Zucchini fritter was nice and crunchy. It was flavoured well. Now on to the missus's meal.

Corn fritters, roast tomato, spinach and bacon ($21.50)

What a waste of good meat! There were 2 slices of bacon on plate but they were cooked as 1! The kitchenhand didn't even bother to stretch it out on the grill. Sheer laziness. Then a handful of spinach leaves were placed next to the bacon and this was propped up by the corn fritter. Missus found a few slimy leaves between that pile. 

Once again the positive here would probably be the Corn fritter.

With the number of cafes out there still left unvisited, Bills for now is right at the bottom of my list of places to visit in the near future. The food and drinks were nowhere up to par with the prices charged for it.

If anyone from Bills is reading this, please take the above as constructive feedback. 
It is the collective thoughts of a few people who go out every weekend for brunch.