Rengaya, North Sydney

*UPDATE: We did the 2 hour buffet the other day - $69 for unlimited orders off of their buffet menu. The menu items look (mainly) the same as the a la carte dishes, but it's noticeably not as tasty as the equivalents on the a la carte menu. In short - not as well-marinated, lower quality cuts.*

Rengaya is a new favourite of ours, especially when we're craving a post-movie Japanese BBQ feast. You can't be last minute when visiting on a Saturday night, though, as walk-ins are often turned away. The Boy's a fan of Yakiniku's range of restaurants, but the comfortable decor, large tables and good service have set this particular North Sydney branch apart. Little courtesies to make us feel more at home such as bringing us steaming hot towels instead of pre-packed wet wipes (though I love receiving those as well!) helped to stamp in a really good impression, and we weren't let down by the food either.

On our first visit, I thought the two of us would manage about 5 plates of meat, and I think if it were two girls and a serving of rice dishes, there might be a chance that that amount would suffice. The Boy doesn't like rice with his Japanese BBQ though, and we've gone through a minimum of 10 plates of meat each visit.

Exterior, guarded by a suit of samurai armour

Cosy interior

I know many people are put off by the concept of Japanese/ Korean BBQs because you pay a lot to cook the meat yourselves, and obviously you're not going to return if it's tough and bland when you can make it better at home. So far, we've found the meat to be marinated really well, with a wide range of average to premium cuts of wagyu. Many of the BBQ dishes also enable you to choose between two flavours, such as BBQ sauce and salt and pepper.

 

BBQ pit

Rengaya explains that regulations compel the use of disposable mesh grills, so after an hour or so of use we've found that the grill turns black and loses shape - but usually one of the waiters or waitresses walking by will notice it needs to be changed before we have to ask.

The Food

The oysters are fresh, tasty and quite large.

1/2 dozen oysters ($19.90)

Be warned, the chirashi-sushi is a full meal in its own right. We ordered a "small" portion (a large portion feeding 4) during our most recent trip because I thought it would be nice to eat the BBQ meat with some rice, and because the Boy pretty much left it to me to eat up, it took away my appetite. As a chirashi-sushi typically is, it's very colourful from the topping of sashimi and salmon roe. Quite tasty.

Small chirashi-sushi ($19.90)

It's fast becoming a tradition of ours to order 5 plates of BBQ scallops. It can be hard to grill them right, and it's important you dial down the heat of your BBQ because it's easy to overcook them and have them stick to their shells. Rengaya alternates between capsicums and corn when garnishing them - order enough scallops/ prawns and you won't have to order vegetable sides.

BBQ scallops ($13.90)

 

Not a fan of the BBQ prawns - I'm lazy and don't like de-shelling them :P

BBQ king prawn ($15.90)

 Were I to choose between the Premium Pork Loin and the Premium Pork Ginger Loin, I'd go with the original non-gingery one. Although I usually love ginger in my food, there's something about that ginger sauce that puts me off.

Premium pork shabu-shabu (loin) w/ salt and pepper ($15.90)

Ginger pork loin ($16.90)

 "Foil-yaki" mushroom is another favourite of ours. It's basically mushrooms in garlic butter sauce. You place the entire lump of foil on the BBQ and let it sizzle. Expensive for such a small amount of mushrooms, but it's so tasty...

Foil-yaki mushroom ($8.90)

 The wagyu beef rib is pretty standard - I liked it, but it can be chewy.

Wagyu beef rib ($19.90)

 

Ox tongue: standard stuff - tender, good, we always order it.

Special ox tongue ($14.90)

Of their dessert menu, we've only had their ice creams. I think the safer options like black sesame are still tastiest - shiraz was a bit of a miss for me.
 

Strawberry ice cream ($5.60)

Shiraz ice cream ($5.60)

Sesame ice cream ($5.60)

Bulgogi, Chatswood

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Bulgogi. My dad and I have been visiting them regularly over the past few years for their lunch specials (Dad gets cravings for seafood udon), but whenever I order beef-related dishes, I know there's a chance that the meat won't be great. One day, I saw Bulgogi was offering $29.00 Groupon vouchers for their Korean BBQ Wagyu Samplers for 2 with 2 bowls of rice, valued at $73.00. Not having tried their BBQ, I gave into my curiosity.

Barbecuing there is a little awkward, as the BBQ grills are not built into the tables, but are separate apparatuses. This meant there was limited room for anything else on our table for two. Metal pipes are situated over the BBQ grill to suck up any greasy BBQ smells.


The Wagyu Sampler consisted of 4 slices of each of the following:

• Wagyu rib finger
• Wagyu inside skirt
• Wagyu short rib
• Wagyu oyster blade
• Wagyu flap meat
• A mushroom and a couple of other slices of vegetables

Most of the meat was marinated nicely, but the cuts ranged from mouthwatering and tender to tough and suspiciously not so fresh. It's this inconsistency that puts off a lot of people, particularly those who decide not to give Bulgogi another chance after a negative experience with the meat.

Portion-wise, the Wagyu Sampler for 2 is more like a Wagyu sampler for 1.5. Or 1 person with a big appetite. We were still peckish after finishing it off, so we ordered a round of beef tongue and soft shell crab salad, since even I was starting to crave a bit of vegetable.

The beef tongue was a little tasteless, but wasn't bad after allowing it to caramelise a fair bit (i.e. until crispy around the edges).

Beef tongue ($16.00)

The soft shell crab salad was pretty good because of the generosity of soft shell crab, deep fried until golden and crunchy. The mixed salad underneath was bathed in a light balsamic vinegar dressing.

Soft shell crab salad ($13.00)

I wish I knew the one really tender cut of beef that was in that platter, as we really wanted to order another one of those. Too bad all the beef looked the same to our untrained eyes.

Sydney Madang & N2 Extreme Gelato, CBD/ Chinatown

Eating out is always a bit of a situation where you have a friend with life-threatening nut allergies. After a while you get a sense of which cuisines are generally safe, which cuisines are big no-nos, and which ones require you to interrogate the targeted restaurant. In the case of my friend, Japanese is the failproof choice, as there is minimal risk of cross-contamination. However, on our most recent excursion I really didn't feel like eating Japanese and thought, 'Hey wait a minute, there are no nuts in Korean bbq!' and proceeded to drag my friends around the city looking for a place where we could eat bulgogi.

We entered the alleyway leading to Sydney Madang and saw there was no line (it was 6pm on a Friday night, so all the other diners must have been busy having their pre-dinner drinks elsewhere. Once we left around 8, there was quite a long queue.). Ever the opportunists, the four of us snagged the last free table upstairs. We should probably have asked whether they use peanut oil in their cooking (my friend can't eat any nuts, but the slightest particle of peanut will send her to hospital). Alas, we neglected to do so and my friend is still alive, which is a pretty good sign.

Sydney Madang gives you your usual condiments - accompanying sauces, kim chi, fish cakes, seaweed and that really yummy cold potato. Unfortunately, rice isn't included so we had to order that separately. For four of us, two bowls worked out just nicely.

Condiments

Our pork belly arrived first, with plenty of fat to go around. It positively melted and oozed around the hot plate, creating a lovely mess of grease. Not exactly the most appetising description to read, but fat is always a great ingredient ;) They were less generous with the raw garlic and lettuce (about 5 thin slices of garlic and one handful of lettuce), so I didn't bother eating it the authentic way and just shovelled pork, rice and bbq'ed garlic into my mouth.

Pork belly ($15.00)

Midway through cooking the pork belly, our Korean seafood pancake was laid in front of us. In most Korean places I've been to, the pancake is either crispy but not tasty, or tasty but soggy. Much to my delight, Sydney Madang made it both crunchy and delicious. Inside were the usual seafood pancake ingredients - octopus, shallots, chives, etc. While ordering, we had been tossing up between the small and the large, and I'm glad we decided on the large, as I smuggled slice after slice onto my plate. It also provided a nice carby alternative to rice to balance out all that meat on the bbq.

Seafood Korean pancake, Large ($22.00)

Finally, the main event was delivered - the meat platter containing a little bit of everything - mussels, prawns, octopus, marinated pork, marinated chicken, marinated beef and bulgogi! The meat was fresh, and it was all flavoured beautifully. However, I think my favourite on that platter was that bulgogi beef in the centre - tender, succulent and marinated nicely.

Meat platter ($53.00)

I had my doubts about whether we had ordered enough, but at the end of the night, I was almost uncomfortably full. It was probably also best to have ordered three dishes for the size of the table we had - there would have been no space for a 4th!

And, of course, you know you've had a great meal when you exit the restaurant smelling like barbecued
meat!

N2 Extreme Gelato

As Sydney Madang only has a bit of ice-cream for dessert, we decided to pass on having it there and ventured to N2 Extreme Gelato in Chinatown. I'd heard good things about it, but looking back on it now, I think the experience is more theatrical than anything - it's pretty cool to see smoke, beakers and people making ice-cream in lab coats.

The ordering system is slightly confusing, as patrons tend to crowd around the cash register even when they have finished ordering. Then again, that's like typical food court behaviour, so you just end up asking tonnes of people whether they are in the queue.

Their range of flavours on each visit is limited, and there is a lot of risk involved. One of my friends selected the "Salty Jesus Juice", a bright red sorbet-like concoction, containing salted coke and red wine sorbet. It was quite unpleasant to eat - though it tasted like sour, bitter coke (which matches the description), there was something quite jarring about the flavours. She ended up throwing it out after a few scoops.

I was quite content with mine - a "Strawberry Blonde Geisha", consisting of green tea and bits of strawberry. The consistency was creamy and these particular flavours mixed well. Nevertheless, I don't think it'll be top on the list the next time I feel like gelato - I much prefer Messina, with its larger range and milkier/ creamier textures. And to be honest, at $6.00 a scoop, I'd rather go to Coles and pick up a tub of Connoisseur.

1 scoop ($6.00)