When my friend suggested heading to Cuppage Plaza for Japanese, I was the least excited. Although Cuppage Plaza is known for being a treasure trove of Japanese cuisine, all my dining experiences had been bad. At least 3 times, no less.

However, my friend being a regular at Kazu Sumiyaki, assured me that I will enjoy myself. As such, reservation was made for a Friday night.

And reservation is a must. We arrived 15 minutes earlier, and had to wait outside as the table was not ready. We were waiting for a couple to finish their meal before we were to take over their table. And while we were waiting, we saw a group of 3 being turned away as they made no prior reservation and the restaurant was running at full house.

Kazu Sumiyaki underwent renovation in October ’13. My friend said the place has since lost its cosy feel as the restaurant has now become very modernised, with the owner using lots of black in the restaurant’s design.

And from the menu, we ordered:-

1) Nama cabbage & miso, $6 (above) – Fresh cabbage with bean paste. This used to be complimentary. So for regulars, do expect to pay when you request for this. And it’s odd that they charge the raw cabbage and miso paste separately at $3.50 and $3 respectively.

2) Buta ringo, $4.50 per stick (above, right) – Pork belly with apple. The one on the menu is ‘tontoro ringo’ (fatty pork jaw with apple) at $4.50. But we went with pork belly with apple cause while my friend wanted the pork belly, I wanted to try the apple variation. So while this was okie, it’s a better deal to go with the menu’s item. ‘Fatty pork jaw’ is $4 while it’s an additional $0.50 with apple. We were charged extra $2 for the apple to go with our ‘pork belly’.

3) Buta bara, $2.50 per stick (above, left) – Pork belly.

4) Shiso momo buta maki, $4 per stick (above) – Pellila ‘shiso leaves’ Japan pink pork roll.

5) Tebasaki, $4 per stick (above) – Chicken wing. So good! The skin was crispy with a tinge of saltiness (I presume it’s due to the salt which the chef probably sprinkled the wings with) while the meat was tender and juicy.

6) Tori liver, $2 per stick (above) – Chicken liver. My friend enjoyed this while I can’t quite get used to the texture.

7) Foie gras, $6.50 per stick (above) – So good! We had 4 sticks of these goodness!

8) Zucchini cheese, $2.50 per stick (above) – Cheese and minced chicken zucchini roll. I did not like this. The zucchini was too… Squashy?

9) Okonomi yaki, $2.50 per stick (above) – Kazu’s pancake balls – skewered!

10) Tako, $15 (above) – This is not from the menu. The one on the menu is ‘ika yaki’ (BBQ fresh slices squid) at $15.

11) Lamk yaki, market price (above) – Lamb chop. We were charged $14 per piece. The staff asked us if we wanted our lamb chop cut, which I immediately said to cut 1 piece and to leave the other un-cut. Oh yes, if you have it un-cut, you can literally eat it like a drumstick. Keke! And this was so good.

12) Uni kara, $25 (above) – This would be a seasonal item that’s not on the menu. I thought it was okie. Probably not the meatiest urchin.

13) Garlic rice, $7 (above) – Garlic fried rice. When this was served, we could immediately smell its aroma. So fragrantly good.

14) Yaki crepe, $10 (above) – Barbecue ice cream crepe. Our selection for the ice cream flavour within the crepe was banana. Crepe (skin) was intended to be slightly thick and chewy.

15) Yaki awayuki, $10 (above) – Barbecue ice cream rolled rice cake. For the ice cream, we went with the black sesame. And this was interesting. The rice cake is actually a layer (of mochi) wrapping around the ball of ice cream. I liked this, although I will have preferred it without the chocolate balls.

I am glad I finally had an enjoyable dining experience at Cuppage Plaza. Ha. Service wise, I will say the staff (who are mostly aunties) are not that friendly. Even though my friend is a regular, the aunties don’t give a hoot. But with a good sense of humour, we managed to crack them up. We had much fun enjoying the food and joking with the staff, who came very often to our table to check on us.

Related posts:

Dinner @ Kaiho Sushi // CLOSED Dinner @ Keria Japanese Restaurant Dinner @ Nanbantei Dinner @ Otowa // CLOSED Dinner @ Yakitori UMA 焼鳥馬